Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
No Result
View All Result
Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
Home Movie

Jake Gyllenhaal Compels in Doug Liman’s Remake

rmtsa by rmtsa
March 9, 2024
in Movie
0
Jake Gyllenhaal Compels in Doug Liman’s Remake
74
SHARES
1.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


You might also like

The 10 Most Controversial TV Recastings Ever

Peacemaker Season 2 Trailer Previews Next DCU Project After Superman Movie

Rebecca Romijn Says ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Script Isn’t Finished

There are some key differences between the Dalton of Rowdy Herrington’s 1989 cult classic Road House and the Dalton of Doug Liman’s equally boisterous remake. To start, the stoic bouncer’s first name is now Elwood instead of John. He rolls into town — the Florida Keys, not Kansas City — on a Greyhound bus instead of in a new car. This Dalton walks everywhere, wearing down the soles of his cigar brown combat boots with each mile. His swagger is enhanced by a mellow kindness — at one point, a character compares him to Mr. Rogers (with a violent edge, of course). 

What hasn’t changed all that much are Dalton’s motivations and his notoriety. When we meet the infamous man, played here with compelling restraint by Jake Gyllenhaal, his face is shrouded by his black hoodie. He saunters into an underground fight club with a menacing determination. The camera trails him, soaking in his broad shoulders before detailing how meticulously he removes his sweatshirt and unties his laces. He’s ready to make some money. His unnamed opponent (Post Malone in sweaty glory) forfeits before Dalton can even take his shoes off. The inked fighter with the nasty growl is in no mood to die. 

Road House

The Bottom Line

Boisterous and lethal.

Venue: SXSW Film Festival (Headliner)Release date: Thursday, March 21Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Williams, Joaquim de Almeida, Conor McGregor, Director: Doug LimanScreenwriters: Anthony Bagarozzi, Charles Mondry 
1 hour 54 minutes

In Road House, which premiered at SXSW and will hit Prime Video on March 21, Dalton is haunted by his past as a UFC fighter. The details around a well-known fight between him and his best friend remain relatively mysterious. (Liman offers glimpses through Dalton’s nightmares.) Like Patrick Swayze’s original character, Gyllenhaal’s Dalton hesitates when asked to protect a bar from local goons. Money makes the decision easier. When Frankie (Jessica Williams) offers Dalton $5,000 a week, in cash, to clean house at her cheekily named Florida roadside joint (called The Road House), he gets on the next bus to the tropical archipelago. In the small community of Glass Key, he befriends a headstrong teenager (Hannah Lanier), trains a crop of amateur fighters (Lukas Gage and Dominique Columbus) and makes a new set of enemies. 

The film starts off as a straight homage to Herrington’s film peppered with one too many meta textual references. Easter eggs abound for the Road House-initiated and that lends the early part of the film a kind of tired stiffness. Dalton’s relationship to Charlie (Lanier), a literary teen who works at her dad’s bookstore, is a reliable excuse for the narrative (the screenplay is by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry) to overanalyze itself. There are more than a few moments when she compares Dalton to a cowboy and wonders if his appearance is the beginning of a Glass Key western. 

When Road House finds its own story, the film really takes off. The general narrative remains the same (this is still a campy adventure with minor-key humor and a host of lethal action sequences) but the details make good use of the new setting. Liman filmed the entire movie on location in the Dominican Republic, and uses the wide swaths of ocean to stage eye-popping boat fights and epic underwater brawls. 

Gyllenhaal’s performance starts in the shadow of Swayze’s — Dalton’s signature smirk and laconic posture are all here — before evolving into something more complicated. In the actor’s interpretation, the smile is a parallel narrative of Dalton’s emotions. It can be a smug gesture, a hint at greater knowledge or a warning of violence to come.

Where Gyllenhaal’s smile teases, his body indulges. The fight scenes in Liman’s Road House are just as bloody and ridiculous as those in Herrington’s. In early moments, Dalton takes on the low-level threats, and the focus is on a kind of intellectual combat that flaunts his precision and agility. Most of these bullies are the henchmen of Ben Brandt (Billy Magnussen), the son of an incarcerated mobster. The power-hungry heir wants to destroy The Road House so he can build oceanside resorts for a wealthy clientele. Later, when Dalton takes on a henchman (Conor McGregor) hired by Ben’s father, the fights become a battle of wincing blows and brutal attacks.

Where the movie feels less realized is in its romantic thread: Dalton’s relationship with Ellie (Daniela Melchior), an ER doctor, struggles to register as more than an afterthought. 

Still, Liman flexes his stylish direction, especially during the bloody confrontations. He toys with angles and perspective to keep these scenes dynamic. And even though Road House will likely be measured by the intensity of its fights, it manages to shape a surprisingly grounded portrait of the Keys, and perhaps the South more broadly, through its music. The fictional Road House stage becomes a lively showcase for real artists, from the “swamp-pop” of C.C Adcock and Tommy McClain to the funky electronic sounds of Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph. Their tunes, coupled with the company Dalton attracts, make nearly every moment of Road House an event.

Full credits

Venue: SXSW Film Festival (Headliner)Distributor: Amazon MGM StudiosProduction company(ies): [list production companies]Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Williams, Joaquim de Almeida, Conor McGregor, Lukas Gage, Arturo Castro, B.K. Cannon, Beau Knapp, Darren Barnet, Dominique Columbus, Bob Menery, Catfish Jean, Kevin Carroll, Travis Van Winkle, Hannah Lanier Director: Doug LimanScreenwriters: Anthony Bagarozzi, Charles Mondry Producer: Joel Silver p.g.a. Executive producers: JJ Hook, Alison Winter, Aaron Auch, Audie Attar Director of photography: Henry Braham Production designer: Greg BerryCostume designer: Dayna PinkEditor: Doc CrotzerComposer: Christophe BeckCasting director: Miguel Fernandez, Joseph Middleton
1 hour 54 minutes

THR Newsletters

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day


Subscribe

Sign Up



Source link

Tags: CompelsDougGyllenhaalJakeLimansremake
Share30Tweet19
rmtsa

rmtsa

Recommended For You

The 10 Most Controversial TV Recastings Ever

by rmtsa
July 27, 2025
0
The 10 Most Controversial TV Recastings Ever

Television is the perfect medium for longform storytelling, mainly because a multi-season TV show gives its audience plenty of time to connect and bond with its characters over...

Read more

Peacemaker Season 2 Trailer Previews Next DCU Project After Superman Movie

by rmtsa
July 27, 2025
0
Peacemaker Season 2 Trailer Previews Next DCU Project After Superman Movie

A new trailer for Peacemaker Season 2 has been released. The first season of Peacemaker premiered on HBO Max in January 2022. Created by James Gunn, the show...

Read more

Rebecca Romijn Says ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Script Isn’t Finished

by rmtsa
July 27, 2025
0
Rebecca Romijn Says ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Script Isn’t Finished

Rebecca Romijn is sharing an update on her return as Mystique in the highly-anticipated Avengers: Doomsday.  At The Hollywood Reporter’s San Diego Comic-Con suite, the Star Trek: Strange...

Read more

StoryTerra: an interactive map that lets you explore movies(among other things) based on where and when their stories take place!

by rmtsa
July 26, 2025
0
StoryTerra: an interactive map that lets you explore movies(among other things) based on where and when their stories take place!

I’ve been working on a project called StoryTerra, an interactive map where you can explore thousands of movies, books, games, and TV shows based on where and when...

Read more

Hot Toys Reveals Mr. Fantastic, The Thing, Sue Storm, and H.E.R.B.I.E. Action Figures — GeekTyrant

by rmtsa
July 26, 2025
0
Hot Toys Reveals Mr. Fantastic, The Thing, Sue Storm, and H.E.R.B.I.E. Action Figures — GeekTyrant

Hot Toys has revealed several new collectible action figures from Marvel Studios movie The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The first round of reveals include Regular and Deluxe versions...

Read more
Next Post
Tracii Guns Talks KK’s Priest, L.A. Guns Tour Kickoff: Exclusive

Tracii Guns Talks KK's Priest, L.A. Guns Tour Kickoff: Exclusive

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Browse by Category

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized

CATEGORIES

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized
No Result
View All Result

Recent News

  • Incredibly Popular Fantasy Series Confirms Surprising Prequel Release News
  • The 10 Most Controversial TV Recastings Ever
  • 2025 Los Angeles Area Emmy Award Winners

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In