ROAD HOUSE (2024) ***

Let’s address the elephant in the room:  Remaking Road House is borderline sacrilege.  The fact that it had Jake Gyllenhaal (who starred with the original Dalton, Patrick Swayze in Donnie Darko) in the lead was enough to at least get my curiosity up.  He brings an oddball energy to the film that helps to at least differentiate the remake from the original.  We also have a few slight variations on the old standby scenes from the original, as well as some that are not so slight.  The new additions to the story are sometimes unnecessary (like the UFC backstory), but the change in locale seems fitting enough for this incarnation. Doug’s Liman’s wild man direction also indicates they weren’t necessarily out to remake Road House brick by brick, but to create a loving homage.

Okay, now to address the second elephant in the room:  Some of the fight scenes have had CGI “enhancements” to make the various blows seem more violent.  However, the effect is often more cartoonish.  In fact, there are times when the film feels like a live-action Tom and Jerry movie.  (Not exactly a bad thing.)  CGI is also needlessly used for some of the stunt work.  I mean, I get it for a film like Star Wars.  It just looks odd seeing something that should look natural (like a truck trying to run someone over) appear so computerized. 

Okay, so now that’s all out of the way, I have to say, I enjoyed it.  There is plenty of fun stuff here.  I particularly loved how this Dalton takes the “Be Nice” mantra of the original to the extreme.  In one scene, he drives some guys he beat up to the emergency room.  (He even warns them when they’re about to drive over a bump!)

I also appreciated that the film found its own energy and personality.  Changing out the dusty desert dive setting for a beachy bar down in the Florida Keys was a clever touch.  (Also: That means there are crocodiles.)  It’s amazing how far something like a change of scenery goes to give the movie its own identity, while still giving the audience what they want (mostly) from a Road House remake. 

Conor McGregor also makes a heck of an entrance rampaging through a small villa bare ass naked.  It says a lot of how times have changed when in the original, the hero had a gratuitous butt shot, and in the remake, it’s the henchman who bares his derrière.