ROAD HOUSE TBC

Scars and bars…

★★★★★ OUT NOW PRIME VIDEO

SEE THIS IF YOU LIKED

ROAD HOUSE 1989 Swayze is effortlessly cool as fists fly and the Jeff Healey Band rips up the stage.

FIGHT CLUB 1999 The bare-knuckle bouts still hit hard in David Fincher’s takedown of consumer capitalism.

SOUTHPAW 2015 Gyllenhaal gets ripped as the troubled champ in Antoine Fuqua’s enjoyable boxing drama.

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At one point in Doug Liman’s remake of the 1989 Patrick Swayze punch-up, the musclebound Dalton (Jake Gyllenhaal) growls: ‘No one ever wins a fight.’ Well, that’s not quite true in a bruising, bone-shattering blockbuster that updates the original with some sunny locations and the movie debut of Irish UFC fighter Conor McGregor.

Getting back into the same squarejawed shape he managed for Southpaw (2015), Gyllenhaal’s Dalton is a moody ex-UFC fighter haunted by his past. Sleeping in a car and without even a mobile phone to his name, he’s at rock bottom - until, that is, bar owner Frankie (Jessica Williams) implores him to come down to her joint in the Florida Keys to clean up the scum and villainy that is currently ruining her business.

After a near-death encounter with a train, Dalton takes a Greyhound to the Sunshine State – arriving with a suitcase on wheels, bizarrely – and he’s soon donning a floral shirt and showing just how handy he is with his fists. An early encounter with some goons is particularly amusing: after beating them all to a pulp, he then generously drives them all to the nearest hospital.

Indeed, for a film that isn’t exactly the most sophisticated work you’ll see this year, Anthony Bagarozzi and Chuck Mondry’s script comes blessed with some funny lines: ‘What are you whittling?’ says one brute to another, as he carves out some wood with a knife. ‘A stick,’ comes the reply. ‘What’s it gonna be?’ says the first thug. ‘A smaller stick.’ It’s a random exchange, but an enjoyable one.

Dalton is shocked when someone suggests the sequels will involve dirty dancing and ghosts

Though this remake was produced by action veteran Joel Silver, who was also behind the original, it has been updated considerably. Gone is the grimy honky-tonk bar in Missouri, replaced by a more upmarket watering hole. Likewise, the sexist portrayal of women and casual nudity has largely been banished, even if the plot’s basic template has been retained.

This time, Dalton finds a home on a leaky houseboat, not a farm. Meanwhile, transposing the story to Florida, with its beautiful aquamarine coastal views, gives the film a more arresting visual palette than its predecessor. It also allows Liman (The Bourne Identity, American Made) and his writers to set up plenty of action on the water, including one neat moment when the film’s wild-eyed villain, Ben Brandt (Billy Magnussen, amusingly OTT), is being shaved on the deck of a catamaran by a very nervous barber.

DIRECTOR Doug Liman STARRING Jake Gyllenhaal, Conor McGregor, Jessica Williams, Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen SCREENPLAY Anthony Bagarozzi, Chuck Mondry DISTRIBUTOR Prime Video RUNNING TIME 114 mins

Road House really picks up when hired hand Knox (McGregor) arrives, in one of the most arresting entrances you’ll ever see – naked, walking through a market, causing havoc. Quite an introduction. Hired by Brandt’s incarcerated father, who feels his son isn’t running his empire well enough, this tattooed, bearded monster – sporting a pair of purple trousers when PRIME VIDEO he finds some clothes – is soon on Dalton’s tail. Despite his lack of previous screen experience, McGregor is charismatic enough to go up against Gyllenhaal. He’s funny, too, picking up a golf club at one point and yelling, ‘Been a while since I’ve been clubbing!’ as he takes out multiple opponents.

Sadly, Liman’s Road House doesn’t have the same easygoing vibe as the original (much of which was down to Swayze’s laconic turn). Instead, it relies on some big-scale stunts. Some are impressive, like the moment Dalton is scooped up in the back of a pick-up and thrown over the side of a bridge and into the water below. There’s also some major speedboat action, which Liman orchestrates with real aplomb.

Unfortunately, the film’s connective tissue isn’t that engaging. Dalton

‘Road House really picks up when hired hand Knox arrives, in one of the most arresting entrances you’ll ever see –naked, walking through amarket, causing havoc’

befriends the owners of a local book store under threat, including youngster Charlie (Hannah Lanier), but it’s hardly thrilling. Likewise, his relationship with local medic Ellie (Daniela Melchior) – echoing a plotline from the 1989 film – doesn’t exactly set the pulse racing, even with her character’s connection to the villains.

From End of Watch to Ambulance and The Covenant, Gyllenhaal has frequently proved how good he is in action movies, and he’s typically watchable as the ‘world’s most notorious fighter’. It’s just a shame the script is as robust as soggy tissue paper; Brandt’s desire to shut down Frankie’s bar is anything but compelling, while Dalton’s traumatic backstory lacks any emotional heft.

In the end, Road House is a solid actioner, a frolic that Liman marshals competently. This is a fun Friday-night fight-fest, best enjoyed with a few bevvies – brash, loud, knockabout and liable to leave you with a cauliflower ear or two.

THE VERDICT Road House 2024 misses the grungy vibe of the original, and the plot is bang average, but Gyllenhaal rocks and McGregor’s presence has bite.