If ever a film epitomised the thrill of sticking on an action movie after a night out, it's the late Patrick Swayze's 1989 beat-'em-up Road House, now delivering the best of nostalgia highs 35 years later.
Remaking a pulp classic always sounded like a foolhardy venture, even with director Doug Liman and star Jake Gyllenhaal attached. And so it has proven to be: this is a fight-filled-but-forgettable offering that lacks the original's wry charm and character actor class.
Relocating the barroom brawling from Mississippi to the Florida Keys, Gyllenhaal plays the iconic Dalton, now a former UFC fighter who takes the bouncing job from hell in an infamous watering hole. A land grab is behind all the mayhem and soon Dalton is squaring up to the local overlord's son (Billy Magnussen), cheap muscle, crooked cops, and, ultimately, a human wrecking ball (Conor McGregor, some lines landing better than others) brought in from out of town to finish the job.
Liman has shown his gifts across genres - his CV includes Swingers, Go, The Bourne Identity, and Edge of Tomorrow - but his latest outing feels like the work of a jobbing director in a rush rather than a name who knows how to take his time. Here, Gyllenhaal's star quality is undone by crazy tonal swings, workaday allies and adversaries, OTT set pieces, and a showdown that's just ok. You're watching a leading man giving it his all while never getting enough to work with in return.
Bluntly, better stuff went straight to video back in the day - and you know where to go in the wee small hours.
Road House is streaming now on Prime Video.
