Road House Review: Jake Gyllenhaal’s Latest

Road House

The latest Road House adaption has so much backstory conflict that it almost makes up for the fighting. Last month, 1989 film writer R. Lance Hill sued MGM Studios and Amazon Studios, the remake’s producers, for copyright infringement. Doug Liman, the remake’s director, has chastised Amazon for distributing the picture on streaming services only.

Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry’s adaptation follows the script. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Dalton, a former UFC champion who has struggled. When he gets a job as a Florida Keys Road house bouncer, he knows he has no choice. He arrives and advises the other bouncers on how to manage the violent situations that always develop among the club’s cruel and inebriated clientele.

Road House Is Different From The Original

Gyllenhaal’s Dalton is less of a peacemaker than Swayze and more likely to provoke trouble. A bad biker gang arrives and wrecks the roadhouse. Dalton lets them escape after luring them outside. They mock him, clearly inept.

In the 2015 boxing drama Southpaw, Gyllenhaal played a shredded fighter. Dalton is a typical protagonist with a traumatic past that keeps him up at night. Gyllenhaal, who always plays the nice guy with wild energy, makes those demons believable despite their look.

No one else is convincing except Jessica Williams as the roadhouse’s gruff proprietor. As a growling hit guy who tries to take Dalton down, Irish professional fighter Conor McGregor makes an impression like a wrecking ball.