Road House (2024) * *

 

Directed by:  Doug Liman

Starring:  Jake Gyllenhaal, Conor McGregor, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Williams, Daniela Melchior, Lukas Gage, Joaquim de Almeida

The Patrick Swayze-starrer from 1989 wasn't begging for a remake, but we have one anyway.  The original movie wasn't a great film, but it had style and a detestable villain played by Ben Gazzara.  The idea of Gazzara shaking down the three or four businesses left in a tiny Missouri town doesn't make much financial sense for him, but we were pleased when Swayze kicked his ass.  Not much about was believable, but it didn't need to be.   It served its purpose.

The 2024 version doesn't have much of a purpose.  Its action scenes contain inexplicable and unnecessary CGI.  Billy Magnussen gives us a spoiled rich guy with a powerful, imprisoned father, but he doesn't hold a candle to the quietly menacing Gazzara.  Gyllenhaal has the body of a former MMA fighter turned professional bouncer hired to turn around a Florida bar being terrorized by Magnussen and his cronies so she would sell her property.  In movies about land deals, there is always one holdout.  Gyllenhaal protects it while still being a relatively nice guy.  He thrashes a group of thugs and then gives them a ride to the hospital.  What a dude!

Much criticism has been levied at Conor McGregor making his film debut as Knox, the beefy maniac who is hired to get rid of Gyllenhaal's Dalton (whose first name is Elwood).  Sure, McGregor gives an off-kilter, edgy performance that drifts occasionally into scenery chewing, but we respond to him.  He's more memorable than anyone else in the movie, so I don't see where the pans are warranted.  He could play wild-eyed, crazy villains in the future.   In Road House, we take satisfaction in seeing him get his clock cleaned.

Gyllenhaal is a skilled actor and he more or less does the job.  The movie itself is meh.  It may even tempt me to push the 1989 version to a three-star review.  I'm still debating that.