I won’t bother you with my scattered thoughts on the original Road House. I found the film, watched it again, but it didn’t have audio description. I remember watching the original when I was maybe 10-12 year old, and it was a cable edit. So, no sex, trimmed down graphic violence, and weird substitutions for cursing. Then, some 30-ish years later I watched the original again, without audio description as a refresher. it is an action film, so it wasn’t very helpful, but it triggered some memories.I kinda just really remembered how badass Patrick Swayze made it look as a kid. The remake, which doesn’t even need this title, was predictably a blast, and there’s a reason for that. Doug Liman (Edge Of Tomorrow, The Bourne Identity) is behind the camera, and Jake Gyllenhaal turns in an unexpectedly great performance, just like he was in the underrated The covenant last year.
This time, our mystery man isn’t known for cleaning up bars, but rather just one of those death wish individuals who can hold his own in a fight. He’s approached about saving a bar in Key West from unsavory folk who keep trying to trash it, and soon our bouncer-for-hire finds himself caring about these people, and embroiled in a plot about developers trying to obtain beachfront land. And, then Connor McGregor shows up.
Gyllenhaal, from everything I’ve heard, really beefed up fo this, and actually participated in as many stunts as he was legally allowed to be in. That level of commitment makes a lot of films better, because then the director doesn’t have to resort to fancy cuts and edits to try and mask the fact that the lead actor has a stunt double. It’s one of the big best kept secrets about the John Wick and Matrix franchises, as well as everything To Cruise is in. Keanu and Cruise do their own stunts. Hell, even Dev Patel is getting in on this and was injured multiple times during Monkey Man. Visually, it makes a huge difference.
And when you bring in someone who is a professional fighter like McGregor, that’s another person not afraid of the action. Road House also keeps things light enough that it feels like cheesy fun. The stakes could be high, and some major stuff does go down, but then you’ve also got this band that keeps playing over in the corner during full on bar brawls. It’s cheesy choices like that which resonate with fans of the cheesy goodness of the Swayze classic.
No, this isn’t winning any Oscars, but we need dumb fun as much as we do artistic merits of achievement. cinema is everything, from silly comedies and kids films, to over the top action and period drama. All you have to do is do your thing well. Road House mostly balances the tone. And, with the way things are left, a sequel starring McGregor wouldn’t surprise me at all.He’s actually a pleasant surprise.
The audio description here, which is produced by deluxe, and narrated by Roy Samuelson. A film like this lives and dies from blind audiences on whether or not it has audio description. Long fight sequences absent of dialogue, totally over the top set pieces, bonkers action choices, character deaths, all of that really integral stuff has to be conveyed for us to be able to watch the film and enjoy it. Samuelson’s narration is really good, in that the fight sequences are well described, and the go for broke mentality of every sequence is captured perfectly. Road House is madness in the best of ways, but it works because it is accessible madness.
Final Grade: B+
