Roadhouse (2024) Review
A Troubled but Fun Remake
Roadhouse 2024 opens with a Post Malone song blasting over a fight club that features said artist shirtless, beating the shit out of another man. The fight scene includes:
Terrible dialogue.
Bad acting/line delivery.
Fantastic camera movement and cool switches to a first-person perspective.
Meaty action sequences.
Awful CGI.
That's essentially the movie! I was not expecting much from a 2024 Roadhouse remake starring Jake Gyllenhaal as our iconic lead, Dalton, but I was surely entertained by some of the over-the-top action, 80s-style lousy acting, and bad jokes. It's a clear throwback to a bygone era.
The one thing I loved was how seriously Gyllenhaal was taking on the role of Dalton in an otherwise dire movie. He's not trying to be this mystic bouncer figure like Swayze, but instead, he's going for this loser former UFC fighter living out of his car suffering from PTSD. He's constantly smirking, allowing the things to happen around him until it's time to hop in and deliver the pain, and he's very convincing in the action sequences. My favorite scene early in the film is when a biker gang confronts him. He's so charming as he warns these guys what's about to happen to them if they don't leave and then proceeds to wreck the whole crew and drive them to the hospital afterward in a hilarious scene. That was the stuff I was looking for when approaching this movie.
Doug Liman's swirling camera work and inventive fight choreography were quite good at times. He continued raising the stakes as the fights became more significant, and the consequences for Dalton and the people he grew closer to became more substantial. I'm a huge fan of some of Liman's works, most recently the sci-fi action-comedy Edge of Tomorrow, which is one of the best rewatchables in years. I could tell he was having a blast trying to find new ways to show fights on screen and admired the original 80s film. I think taking this story and making it grittier, darker, and more realistic does make sense, but it seemed to ruin some of the light charms of the cult classic.
The writing and supporting cast in Roadhouse are terrible. There are so many cringy lines delivered at a weird tempo that I'm confused by the direction Liman was giving the rest of the cast. Gyllenhaal is acting his ass off in some scenes, but he's surrounded by what feels like flat and forgettable characters who are sleepwalking through the set. Conor McGregor is awful at acting, but at least he looks alive and is having fun with this weird monkey strut! It's the same with Billy Magnussen, who's doing his best 80's villain impersonation, but the script is not giving him any favors. I was glad these two brought some intensity so I didn't doze off towards the middle of the film.
Overall, your mileage may vary with this one. If you go in as a fan of bad 80s films, you'll find a lot to love, but if you hate bad writing and supporting casts, I'd recommend this for a short plane trip. For most, there will need to be more than a good Gyllenhaal performance, fun action, and one-liners to save this one.
6/10
Written by Kevin J. Pettit
P.S.
The original Roadhouse is my mom and my favorite movie. We check in on each other by sending this text below. It's the iconic scene when a crew enters the Double Deuce to start trouble, and Swayze sees a knife on the end of one of the guys' boots. He points it out to the other bouncer, who confirms it. Love you Mum.
