Starring Patrick Swayze as the bouncer with a past, who is hired to restore calm to a rough roadside bar in Missouri, "Road House" was slated by many critics when it came out in 1989, "but has since become a cult favourite", said Nicholas Barber on BBC Culture.
Now, we have a loose remake, starring a "ridiculously buff" Jake Gyllenhaal in the Swayze role. He plays Elwood Dalton, a mixed martial arts champ whose career ended after he "pummelled an opponent to death". Elwood is inhabiting a seedy world of bare-knuckle boxing when he is persuaded by Frankie (Jessica Williams) to come and drive the brawling bikers out of her beach bar in Florida (which is called Road House, but isn't one). Cue a host of fight sequences in which Elwood breaks arms, cracks heads and sends bodies flying. It's all watchable enough, but the punch-ups are not as well choreographed as in the original, and though it contains decent lines, the film as a whole contrives to be both mindless and over-complicated, with lots of characters and subplots that are thrown in, but not developed.
Article continues belowThe Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.