By John Mulderig
Back in 1989, Patrick Swayze found an action vehicle in the tale of a brawling bouncer hired to keep the loutish patrons of an Indiana bar in line. Switch venues from the American Midwest to the Southeast, and substitute Jake Gyllenhaal’s biceps for Swayze’s, and you have the wholly unnecessary remake “Road House” (Amazon MGM).
His glory days as a mixed martial arts fighter behind him, and strapped for cash, Gyllenhaal’s haunted loner, Dalton, reluctantly accepts a job offer from Frankie (Jessica Williams), the owner of a rowdy beachside tavern in the Florida Keys.
Dalton hasn’t been off the Greyhound long before he falls for Ellie (Daniela Melchior), a doctor who offers to stitch him up after a fight. But romance takes a back seat to Dalton’s ongoing crusade against a small band of motorcycle goons relentlessly determined to pillage his workplace.
What Dalton doesn’t initially realise is that these Hells Angels wannabes are, in fact, the minions of local crime lord Ben Brandt (Billy Magnussen). At his imprisoned (and unseen) father’s bidding, spoilt rich boy Brandt is out to force the closure of Frankie’s tavern as part of a real estate scheme.
When young Brandt’s stooges fail to deliver, thanks to Dalton’s superior smackdown skills, Brandt senior sends in brutish hulk Knox (real-life boxer Conor McGregor) to get the job done. With his arrival, the proceedings approach a crescendo of sweaty, grunting mayhem.
As scripted by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry, director Doug Liman’s love song to meatheads at first registers as merely vulgar and tiresome. But “Road House” degenerates into outright immorality as Dalton eventually seeks vengeance on the bad guys for endangering Charlie (Hannah Lanier), a young lady who he befriended on his arrival in the Sunshine State.
Conor McGregor spoke of enjoying ‘every second’ of his acting debut.
“I was just in awe of it all, to be honest with you, the whole process,” he told gamesradar.com. “I didn’t know how I was going to take to it. I didn’t know whether I was going to like it, to be honest. I’m a fighting man – that’s my bread and butter. It’s where I come from… I’m not an actor, but I’m showbusiness. That was my vibe to it. I felt that. I enjoyed every second of it.”
PICTURE: Jake Gyllenhaal stars in a scene from the film “Road House.” (OSV News photo/Laura Redford, Amazon)