Road House (2024) Review: A Fun Watch!

Directed by Doug Liman, Road House (2024) is a remake of the 1989 film of the same name and stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Daniela Melchior, Conor McGregor in primary roles. The story revolves around a former UFC fighter, who takes on a bouncer job at a bar in the Florida Keys and discovers more trouble than expected.

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Positives

• On Target – This movie aims to be a retro 80’s/90’s style action flick and it really didn’t miss there. The story is stupid, the action is over the top and characters are basically out of a comic book. The movie isn’t meant to be taken seriously and I appreciated that vibe it was shooting for.

• Letting Gyllenhaal and McGregor Have Fun – The two people that are the shining lights of the movie are the top two billings with Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor. Gyllenhaal seemed like he was having fun playing Dalton and he can honestly play any role. This was probably the ceiling in terms of what we could expect from Conor McGregor on screen and well he does it well. His acting wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and he was a good counterpart against Gyllenhaal.

Negatives

• Terrible CGI – Director Doug Liman is known to make some awesome action movies with the likes of The Edge of Tomorrow, Mr & Mrs. Smith, and The Bourne Identity in his resume. Each one of those listed movies give a variety of grand action sequences or cool hand to hand combat scenes. In this movie, I didn’t know what I was watching as he kept using some awkward CGI effects and transitions during the fight sequences. It made the fighting and action feel fake and took away what should have been straightforward fights.

• A Little Too Stupid – I wasn’t expecting an Oscar worthy script watching this, but a lot of the story and fight sequences were so bad. I honestly started to wonder if the bar was so important, why were they going after Dalton the bouncer while the owner was able to roam around freely like she wasn’t in any danger? The fight sequences made no sense and the dialogue was beyond corny. I know I was supposed to turn my brain off but this movie wouldn’t let me.

If you look up the 2024 definition of a popcorn flick, this movie would probably be in the first paragraph. I really appreciated the fun nostalgic feel of the movie and the two leads having a really fun time on screen. I just wished they didn’t use so much noticeable CGI during the action sequences and that they didn’t have a group of 12 year old boys approve the dialogue.

Some things didn’t make any sense and I really questioned at times if Dalton was possibly the worst bouncer of all time as he mainly sat around for a majority of the bar fights. That said, strap in and enjoy this movie for what it is. It worth a watch for fun and to burn some braincells at the same time.

‘Road House (2024)’ Rating – 3/5

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