Sheer swagger propels unlikely film remake
‘Who taught you shapes?” It might be a throwaway one-liner delivered very late in the action, but it’s symptomatic of the winning, sometimes self-effacing, swagger that lifts this somewhat questionable remake of one of the odder cult classics of late-80s to – whisper it – becoming strangely compulsive viewing.
That it’s uttered by the currently muchmaligned (mainly due to his alleged offscreen scarf-hoarding) Jake Gyllenhaal to the compellingly mad multi-format pugilist Conor McGregor (who really should know a thing or two about the differences between squares and octagons) just makes it even more inspired.
As the title suggests, this is a reimagining of the 1989 Patrick Swayze vehicle that delivered a heady mix of all-out-action and Top Gun-esque, possibly unintentional, high camp. Thankfully – and smartfully – it’s more a riff than a direct spiritual revisit to the original material that had more than a whiff of sexism pervading its testosteroneheavy storyline.
That said, this is still pretty much a boys’-only adventure (albeit one that this time women can enjoy for more than just the leading man’s muscles and lustrous hair) with Gyllenhaal’s “cooler” at the centre of the action.
He’s former MMA star Elwood Dalton, reduced to unsanctioned and impromptu fights, after bloodlust got the better of him in one particular bout. Still struggling with his demons, he somewhat reluctantly agrees to head to the Florida Keys to help roadhouse owner Frankie (Jessica Williams) solve her ongoing issues with problematic patrons.
“Hemingway used to drink here, but lately we’ve been attracting the wrong clientele,” she explains, while offering him $5000 a week for his services.
Once in the one-bar, one-bookshop town of Glass Key, Dalton quickly demonstrates his special set of skills (and dark sense of humour), not only tackling a group of motorbike-riding ne’er-do-wells, but also driving them to the nearby hospital and diagnosing their injuries (pretty much all inflicted by him). It’s in the ER that he also encounters Ellie (Daniela Melchior), a doctor initially unimpressed by the invasion of “rage-filled dickheads”.
But although his direct action appears to have the desired effect, Dalton is warned that he needs to brace for a retaliation. Nefarious local businessman Ben Brandt (Billy Magnussen) has ambitious plans and an incarcerated dad who demands that Frankie’s business fail – and this a place where family ties run deep and even the cops aren’t as helpful as they could be.
Pitched very much as a modern-day western, this Road House should appeal to fans of screenwriter Anthony Bagarozzi’s pitch-perfect 2016 “period” (1977, if you must know) action-comedy The Nice Guys and director Doug Liman’s 90s and noughties cinematic confections Swingers, The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
There’s the same innate desire to entertain, immerse the audience in a very particular world and populate it with an array of colourful characters.
Sure, it’s not exactly subtle (especially McGregor, whose psychopath Knox makes one hell of an entrance and doesn’t bother ever to dial it down), but thanks to Bagarozzi, Liman and a disarmingly charming Gyllenhaal (Ambulance, The Guilty), there’s just enough substance among the simmering tension and – sometimes – half-baked sizzle to keep you hooked.
Road House is available to stream on Prime Video.