Road House

Back in the 80´s you didn´t have to adjust everything to what was acceptable or not, all you needed was big muscles, cheesy dialogue and naked women and everything would turn out perfectly. Why do i bring this up? People seem so sensitive these days if a woman is nude on screen or show her feminine sides. Back in the 80´s they just threw their clothes off and everyone was cheering. Those were the good days of VHS violence and i am pretty sure that the only way we can keep these films alive in modern society is through independent horror and action films. The 80´s had so many films with really fun characters they didn´t care what was politically correct or not, these films just wanted to entertain the audience. I am so happy i was a teenager back in those days because i got to experience everything that would be forbidden today in ordinary super markets. You could get Playboy magazines, horror magazines that would show pictures of decapitated bodies, some of these super markets even sold ninja action VHS films if you were lucky. We could probably talk about the 80´s for several hours but let´s talk about a film that really have left a legacy among VHS video violence fans. And that is the 1989 action film Road House directed by Rowdy Herrington ( actually the same director who directed the Bruce Willis action film Striking Distance in 1993, worth checking out ). Road House is still considered today to be one of the true classics in legendary actor Patrick Swayze´s film career. Swayze plays the character James Dalton, a professional bouncer working security for a club in New York city. Although Dalton may seem stable and cool he is still struggling of the memories when he killed a man in self-defence by ripping out his throat. Businessman Frank Tilghman ( Kevin Tighe ), recruits Dalton to take over security at his club "Double Deuce" in Jasper, Missouri. What Frank doesn´t know is that Dalton can´t be bought for any money, he only does what is right and whatever it takes to make it work. Road House is that kind of classic action fighting film that fits really well into this time period. The dialogue is cheesy and the fights are of course the biggest highlights. If you have not seen this film you should watch it on streaming or on physical media. For several years i have heard rumours of a remake until i finally saw that actor Jake Gyllenhaal have ben chosen to play Dalton in the new Road House remake. Not only that but i also noticed that UFC fighter Conor McGregor would also be in this film. Since it´s been 35 years since the original film with Patrick Swayze came out, does this remake feel good enough to stand on it´s own or is this a remake that never should have seen the light of day?

Troubled former UFC middleweight fighter Elwood Dalton ( Jake Gyllenhaal ) scamming fighters on the underground circuit. He is approached by Frankie ( Jessica Williams ), the owner of an unroly roadhouse in the Florida community of Glass Key, who offers him a job as a head bouncer. Once everyone get to see how Dalton approach drunk customers and put them in place, the reputation of this bouncer is spreading across town. But not everyone is happy that Dalton is cleaning up the trash, especially well known criminals who have plans to build a luxuary resort.

I know that the latest Road House remake have diveded a lot of people if they enjoy this film or not for taking a different approach than the 1989 film. I personally don´t mind that this remake does some things differently since you can´t do a remake the same way as the 80´s classic and make it look exactly the same. That would have been silly honestly so i think they did a good choice going for a more modern update, and still showing respect for the original film as well. I do have some smaller negative opinions on this remake but let´s get to the positive first. First of all i think Jake Gyllenhall did a really good job on his physical performance in this film. He looks like he is in fantastic physical shape and his fights works really well ( perhaps not every single scene but most of them ). The fighting scenes in general deliver some fun scenes and since i am a fan of old school fighting action films this is a film that´s definetely made for fans such as myself. UFC fighter Conor McGregor may not be the greatest actor of all time but i actually enjoy his over the top performance in Road House. He must have been aware of that people would not see him as an Oscar winning actor so he went into his role in this film and seems to enjoy himself. The music scenes actually feels like a tribute to the 80´s film with mostly rock blues music being played. One of the most negative details i feel they could have fixed in this film is not using CGI fights. I understand that physical fight scenes takes a lot of hard work and practise to get a scene right, but fans of fighting films will see the difference between a physical fight scene or a CGI fight scene. And i promise most fans will definetely prefer physical fight scenes over any CGI effects, you can pretty much ask anyone and they will agree with me. The plot is very thin and if you have a problem with that this might not be a film for you. I actually don´t have a problem with that since a film like Road House doesn´t need a complicated plot since the original film didn´t really have a strong plot either. Overall i will say this is a fun fighting action film that actually embrace some of the 80´s vibe and make a more modern approach instead. Director Doug Liman ( who also directed the Tom Cruise highlight known as Edge Of Tomorrow, a must see ) clearly knew he had a lot of things to consider making this film, knowing how many people worldwide love the 1989 film. I think he did a good job with this remake and show that you can make an updated version of a classic. If you don´t take this film seriously at all and know it´s meant to be silly, i would say Road House is worth a watch on Amazon Prime if you love the original film or fighting films in general. Excuse me for a moment, i need to head down to Road House for a whiskey night. Something tells me that chairs will be flying when Swedish singer Hans Martin enter the stage ( no one fights harder than Hans Martin fans when they hear hit single Pärleporten, trust me from personal experiences ).

Rating: DDD