By Joshua Hudes
Staff Writer
Jake Gyllenhaal’s Dalton is the character to which a nebulous conflict of self-destruction, anxiety and focused determination belongs in this reinterpretation of the cult classic from 1989. Released almost exclusively on Prime Video on March 21, “Road House” was directed by Doug Liman and tells a similarly themed yet excessively self-conscious form of that narrative.
The 2024 adaptation of “Road House” examines a former UFC Middleweight champion whose abhorrent impulses as a physical and mental fighter for sport brought him to a point in life where his urges needed to be put to better use. Thus, he takes advantage of his bruised and controversial reputation to gain monetary funds by winning in underground fights he never even has to partake in.
Once the character of Frankie approaches Dalton to act as the bouncer for her bar down in the Florida Keys — ironically named “The Road House” — he feels a certain rejuvenation of physical and mental spirit at first.
Dalton’s occupation at the bar causes disruptions for the local crime lord and causes strife between not just him and the crime lord’s goons but between his past and future identity. Having the name of the imagined town be called Glass Key invites no shortage of self-evident metaphors for both the plot of the film and its implied self-awareness. It makes for a film whose plot significance is transparent as much as it is sleek, similar to that of an actual glass key.
Based upon a screenplay by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry, the tone which Liman seemed to want to make pop was the crazed exhaustion yet effortless suave evident within the actions of every character within this world. It is an ingredient within this style of action cinema which is not as mainstream as it was in the Reagan Era of American culture. The creed and dogma of all characters main and side were presented straight-forwardly, seldom any cracks within the film’s veneer of dignity.
The 1989 version starring Patrick Swayze and directed by Rowdy Herrington stuck to its guns by having a series of events arrive one after the other in ways more ridiculous than the next. There might very well have been a recognition of its purpose as a bombardment of ornate images sewn together by a manageable thematic undercurrent of escaping the past. Still, no one in that film’s diegesis ever breaks the spell and calls attention to its pastiche as a Western. The camerawork barely, if ever, underscores through its technical wizardry the full-on wackiness of such a concept to the point of partial parody. That film’s charm was engraved within its DNA not just through its acting and studied fight choreography but also through its earnestness of emotion.
The 2024 adaptation of “Road House,” while attempting to hold onto all of these elements, lets go of much of that tonal confidence. It is understandable that Liman and the writers might not have been able to envision a film made currently which reflected the original’s campiness to such an extent. It is admirable for them to discover a way to surround this story and these characters within a contemporary backdrop. Notable as well is the illustrious representation of the Florida Keys and the backstory for Dalton being instilled with the bestial ferocity lacking in the original.
Additionally, one of the film’s technical breakthroughs in its depiction of high-octane action is the use of the Red V-Raptor Digital Camera. It uses a technique known as speed-ramping which can shift the momentum of a piece of film for dramatic effect. This supplied at the very least a sense of character to the way it was shot.
What all these elements failed to provide was a distinction of voice. Its story seemed to exist so much within the shadow of what the prior film had done that its cinematic hand-waving appeared rather empty. Removing the camerawork, one is left with a film in which a little girl literally calls attention to how Dalton is the Western archetype with a shady past whose story will not end well. Excluding the decent production value, one is given the remnants of a previous film’s go-for-broke outlandishness which can never resolve the tension between being genuinely serious or winkingly self-serious. The physical and mental trek Gyllenhaal’s Dalton goes through therefore never wholly commits to the bit.
This is not to imply that films have never succeeded in balancing that form of cinematic storytelling in which tonal mixtures are presented as an intentional artistic choice. This might just be a case of the writing and directing either not being of the highest caliber or not subsisting on the same wavelength.
It was known for a few good months from Liman himself before the premiere of the film at the South-by-Southwest Film Festival that he would not be attending the premiere of his own film.
A heated debate oscillated back and forth between himself and the film’s distributor, Amazon MGM Studios, as a result of an apparent failure to sustain a partial theatrical run. An exclusive streaming run on their platform, Prime Video, was the end result which prompted the boycotting of his own film.
According to Liman, the company’s expenditure of funds for theatrical runs of their films was unfulfilled because of Amazon buying up MGM. Having appeared after all at the premiere on March 8, he clearly reevaluated his previous declaration. Akin to the main character in this film, it might’ve been possible that Liman felt trepidatious at the beginning towards arriving at his premiere out of dismay that he would acknowledge the person he aimed to never become.
Liman thankfully remained earnest and stuck to his guns regarding how he felt the film should have been experienced. At the very least this proves that in spite of the misfire, a voice of some kind was existent.
It is regrettable that this voice which spearheaded “Road House” could not have been channeled towards a more tangible and concentrated vision than the one audiences got.
