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Join UsStar Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Daniela Melchior, Conor McGregor, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Williams
Director: Doug Liman
What’s Good: Gyllenhaal’s performance is electric, and Daniel Melchior also brings a lot to the table, their chemistry is quite satisfying to see.
What’s Bad: The film definitely feels like something that should be on streaming, from the production values to the way the story moves along.
Loo Break: The first act of a movie should be quite important but here it feels like the story doesn’t start, but on the second act, quite curious.
Watch or Not?: The film becomes a must-see only if you are a huge fan of Gyllenhaal.
Language: English (with subtitles).
Available On: Amazon Prime Video
Runtime: 120 Minutes.
User Rating:
Remakes and reboots will never stop, at least for the past couple of decades; it seems like Hollywood will always choose to go back to something that worked in the past, even if it was a long time ago, before even thinking to do something new and fresh. Doug Liman’s new Road House remake fits the bill of something that maybe shouldn’t exist, but it does, to the teeth, and the result is a film that can be quite entertaining, but it definitely doesn’t have the quality to be a big theater release.
Road House Movie Review: Script Analysis
Road House comes to us after a big controversy dealing with how to measure if a film belongs as a streaming release or if it should be released in theaters. The situation is quite interesting and really speaks to the ways the film business has changed in the last decade. Before the pandemic, a film like this Road House remake would have gotten a theatrical release, no doubt about it, but in a post-pandemic world, the truth is that people would probably prefer to see something like this at home.
Why? What is the difference between this film and those that reach cinemas worldwide, well, for once, there is the situation of the scale and the way the film moves. At times, the movie feels more like an episode of a TV series, a sort of special pilot episode, than a movie. The first act is especially guilty of moving along as if nothing is really happening in terms of story or characters. It definitely sets a mood, but it is curious that the movie doesn’t think that it should grab people’s attention right away as if it believes there will be more episodes after this one.
In a sense, the film could be a better prestige TV series than a film franchise, but it is hard to say if Jake Gyllenhaal is ready for that commitment. Outside this strange TV vibe, the movie goes crazy when it comes to presenting its fight club type of plot, and it definitely feels like it is happening in another reality, one where every single person wants to fight, and they live for it. This hyperreality is quite fun and makes for one of the best elements in the film.
As it stands, the film does one thing right, and that is giving Gyllenhaal a chance to really show what he can do as a performer; you can feel that he is definitely committed to the role, transforming his body and creating a character that is worth following around. The dialogue and the way the scenes play out are not the most elegant examples of filmmaking you will see this year on screen, but they do their job of transmitting the essence of the characters and what they want to do.
Road House Movie Review: Star Performance
Jake Gyllenhaal has become quite an attraction as an actor; his skills as a performer cannot be overestimated, and yet, his results at the box office seem to be quite inconsistent. Hollywood has tried many times to make Gyllenhaal into a mainstream actor, but audiences seem to reject him again and again in the format but embrace him in smaller and more serious acting work. Thus, the fact that Road House got a streaming release feels right at home with Gyllenhaal’s record, but this doesn’t diminish his power as an actor.
Daniela Melchior, on the other hand, is proving to be quite a captivating presence on screen, matching Gyllenhaal’s energy beat for beat and just looking incredibly on the screen, all beauty and charm. Meanwhile, Conor McGregor debuts as an actor in this film, and it is quite surprising that the fighter manages to be an actual character in the film. It is unclear if McGregor can establish himself as an actor in the future, but at least here, his energy fits completely, and he makes for a great villain.
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Road House Movie Review: Direction, Music
Doug Liman is quite a solid director; sometimes, and some other times, he can be quite inconsistent with the quality of his work; here, in Road House, the work of the filmmaker leans more to the second option, where we see the movie have this TV quality that you wouldn’t expect from someone like Liman, and also creating a strange sense of fakeness during the fights, which at the core of the movie are some of the most important scenes in the film.
Almost every single fight feels fake in some way; at times, they can be really blood-pumping, but this feeling is never retained throughout the entire film. The music composed by Christopher Beck does the job, but this is not a soundtrack you would listen to on its own, and no one really expects to. At the end of the day, the film stands as a production that clearly didn’t meet the new standards for a theatrical release. Liman might not like it, but he made a TV movie, and that is where people will watch it.
Road House Movie Review: The Last Word
Road House feels more like a special pilot to a TV series than an actual theatrical film release, and while the movie can be fun, it can also be inconsistent in its narrative and visual choices. At times, the film definitely has the intent to go all crazy and deliver exactly what people want to watch, but this is also accompanied by a strange first act that really doesn’t do the movie any favors in hooking audiences to the screen. Nevertheless, it is a perfect movie for a lazy Sunday in bed.
Road House Trailer
Road House was released on 21st March 2024.
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