Road House (2024)

Director: Doug Liman
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Daniela Melchior, Conor McGregor, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Williams, B.K. Cannon, Joaquim de Almeida, Austin Post, Lukas Gage, JD Pardo, Hannah Lanier, Kevin Carroll, Darren Barnet, Travis Van Winkle
Running Time: 121 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★)  

Whenever a cult classic is reimagined with modern sensibilities, response among devoted fans tends to be harsh, as so much of their appreciation stems from their memories watching it. Regardless of actual quality, 1989's Road House firmly fits in that category, where the viewing experience itself supersedes any perceived flaws, serving to make the inevitable remake that much harder to crack. Luckily, director Doug Liman understands this, or maybe more importantly, the original's place within the cheesy 80's action movie pantheon. 

To that end, this rebooted Road House is everything it should be, delivering the kind of trashy, over-the-top fun we don't get nearly enough of in the genre. You can actually understand why Liman's upset this skipped theaters and went straight to streaming since there's good reason to believe it could have been a big commercial hit. With the exception of some occasionally distracting CGI and a video game aesthetic, it's ridiculously fun, exciting entertainment that blazes its own trail, alleviating any concerns this remake would damage nostalgic feelings for its predecessor. 

When former UFC middleweight fighter Elwood Dalton (Jake Gyllenhaal) is asked by business owner Frankie (Jessica Williams) to work as a head bouncer at her Florida Keys roadhouse, he initially rejects the offer. It's only after a botched suicide attempt that he reluctantly agrees, arriving in Glass Key to the appropriately named bar, "The Road House." Overrun with gangs and nightly brawls, the seemingly mild-mannered Dalton tries to keep the peace, until realizing he'll need to get his hands dirty, delivering a brutal beatdown that sends a group of biker thugs to the E.R.

At the hospital, he meets Ellie (Daniela Melchior), a doctor who warns him just how deep the violence and corruption runs in this coastal community. So it isn't long before Dalton finds himself being hunted by yuppie crime boss Ben Brandt (Billy Magnussen) and his incarcerated father's psychotic enforcer Knox (Conor McGregor). As they look to add Frankie's bar to Brandt's criminal property portfolio, Dalton remains haunted by a traumatic event in his past. Pushed to the limit, he'll have to decide whether to skip town or stay and fight, despite the danger it could mean for him and everyone else.

At one point, a member of the gang describes Dalton as having the disposition of Mister Rogers, which does accurately sum up Gyllenhaal's zen-like take on a character that's very far removed from its original incarnation. Overtly alluding to classic Westerns in both dialogue and setup, this lone drifter unassumingly rolls in and surveys his new surroundings, striking up a friendship with precocious teen Charlie (Hannah Lanier) who co-runs a small bookstore with her dad Stephen (Kevin Carroll). 

The opening hour is terrific, as Liman immerses us in the local color of Glass Key, or more specifically The Road House itself, which would come across as a fun place to hang if brutal fights didn't spontaneously erupt every two minutes. Dalton never really loses his cool, at least not exactly, remaining calm and polite even when he's pushed, transforming into this ass-kicking machine only when necessary. And even then, he doesn't take a whole lot of pride in doing it. 

Liman's biggest coup is his casting of Gyllenhaal, who has the unenviable task of stepping into his late Donnie Darko co-star Patrick Swayze's iconic role. On paper, it's an odd fit, but the actor responds with a quirky and menacing turn that fits the material like a glove, arguably giving his most absorbing performance since Nightcrawler. Through a few nightmarish flashbacks, we already have an idea why Dalton's carrying all this guilt and emotional baggage. The anticipation is in waiting for the moment he has enough and finally snaps, unleashing the dark side of himself he's struggled to suppress. 

Given how physically dominant Dalton is, he's more likely pass as a full fledged superhero than MMA competitor, but no one's going into this expecting strict realism. We're too busy marveling at the action sequences, along with Garrett Warren and Steve Brown's jaw dropping stunt/fight choreography. If forced to draw comparisons, the whole thing has a relentless energy that may remind some of the Crank films, only with more narrative meat on its bones and superior performances.

Magnussen makes for a sleazy antagonist, but from the minute he memorably enters, Conor McGregor's sadistically unhinged lunatic steals the show, delivering exactly the kind of crazed, hilarious performance you hoped for, constantly blurring lines between the character and real life fighter playing him. Even the romantic subplot between Dalton and Melchior's Ellie works better than it should once it's clear her involvement isn't merely tangential. Dalton's scenes with bar owner Frankie are just as effective, with Williams's presence grounding even the looniest developments.    

In the last act, Liman steps on the gas and doesn't let up, delivering a spectacular boat chase sequence and final showdown between Dalton and Knox that's best seen to be believed. Hardly trying to recreate Rowdy Herrington's original, this Road House is able to stand by itself, summoning a similar spirit, but with an entirely new setting and characters. And by not holding back or pretending to be more than it is, we get a fast food meal of a movie that offers no apologies for its bombastic approach.               

Locked Down

Director: Doug Liman
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Stephen Merchant, Mindy Kaling, Lucy Boynton, Dulé Hill, Jazmyn Simon, Ben Stiller, Ben Kingsley, Mark Gatiss, Claes Bang, Sam Spruell
Running Time: 118 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★) 

Advertised as one of the first official pandemic movies, both shot during and incorporating COVID-19 into its plotline, HBO Max's appropriately titled romantic caper, Locked Down, wouldn't appear by defiinition to provide a happy escape from reality given its topic. But you'd be forgiven for not knowing it actually isn't the first to tackle this topic, as the critically reviled Songbird attempted a similar feat some months ago with a sci-fi bent, resulting in a creative disaster that offended nearly everyone who saw it, and even some who didn't. Whether there's such a thing as "too soon" before subjecting viewers to this dramatization, the better question might be whether the pandemic's incorporation into a cinematic plotline has anything constructive to say about either the event or our reaction to it. 

Locked Down does pass that relevancy test, even if it's best described as a light relationship drama, serving to confirm much of what we already knew rather than offering up any revelatory insights. One of those is that quarantine can be more of a stressor for some than others, bringing to the surface a myriad of issues not being directly addressed prior to this catastrophe. For its two main characters, this means endlessly getting on each other's last nerves and wallowing in their failures, both as a couple and individually, until a major opportunity comes along to shake them up. Most of it's handled well, even if you can argue its most exciting section is given the least amount of time and attention. Luckily, the protagonists seem real enough, played by two actors who together and separately are dynamic enough to overcome those faults.

Delivery truck driver Paxton (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and fashion company CEO Linda (Anne Hathaway) are a couple whose relationship collapsed prior to them being locked down in their U.K. home during the pandemic. Forced to continue sharing space together, a depressed and irritable Paxton gets a call from his eccentric boss, Malcolm (Ben Kingsley), asking him to step in and make some high-value deliveries under a false identity due to a shortage of drivers. Sensing the chance to finally move up the ranks and put his life back on track after an assault arrest 10 years earlier derailed him, he reluctantly takes the assignment. 

Embroiled in a work crisis of her own, Linda is tasked by her oblivious superior, Solomon (Ben Stiller) to clear out inventory at a nearby Harrod's department store where she used to work. But upon realizing her schedule intersects with Malcolm's delivery, she knows he won't be able to get past the security checkpoint she set up there. Agreeing to help him get through, they contemplate a plan to steal a £3 million diamond from the Harrod's vault, replacing it with the replica. But before attempting to gain access, they'll need to summon the courage to actually go through with this operation, and somehow manage make a safe exit without getting caught, or strangling each other first. 

After this and outings like 2015's The Intern, it's clear Anne Hathaway always impresses when playing CEO's and other similar Type A corporate personalities. It's an oddly specific skillset, but even trapped within the confines of a single location and planted in front of a screen for virtual meetings for much of the film's running time, it still shines through, with her baring the comedic load of these Zoom-centered scenes. Linda's an excecutive not completely comfortable in her own job or skin, which becomes apparent very early on when given the most unenvious of tasks, made that much more awful by the impersonal technological means by which she has to do it. A nervous wreck before, this meeting takes her over-the-top, drinking and smoking non-stop in hopes she can erase the person staring back at her in the mirror, a self-proclaimed sell-out she no longer recognizes. 

Paxton is wound just as tightly, taking to the street to recite poetry aloud to his locked down neighbors and procuring drugs from his backyard garden. And both he and Linda seem more than happy to virtually share their relationship failures with best friends David (Dulé Hill) and Maria (Jazmyn Simon), who look on in awe at this implosion in the making. Ejiofor, usually known for essaying cool, calm, and in control characters plays Paxton as an unfocused dissheveled mess, but in many ways similar enough to Linda that it's inevitable they'd be on the outs before quarantine even started. And now they're stuck with each other for what could be an indefinite amount of time, having long lost touch with the people they were upon first meeting.  

We know where this is going, as Paxton and Linda will attempt to pull off this heist together because, why not? It's by far the best, if not entirely most logical part of the film, assuming viewers aren't already burnt out by their lengthy monologues, virtual meetings and quarantine bickering by then. Still, it's hard not to be intrigued by the process behind their plan and wish there was even more of the actual heist than we get since Hathaway and Ejiofor are so good in those scenes with their back-and-forth, whether their characters are feuding, or on exactly the same page in working toward a shared goal in the film's last act. 

A filmmaker synonomous with efficiently delivered mainstream action entries like Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Edge of Tomorrow and American Made, this marks somewhat of a departure for director Doug Liman in being smaller-scaled and more character driven than usual. A lot of that feels like a necessity, while also giving off the impression we would have gotten something similar anyway, regardless of the circumstances. It's also not the heist caper it was touted as, which is either a positive or negative depending upon your mindset going in. But with him being so skilled at depicting this admittedly smaller slice of the story, you wonder why he just didn't go ahead and make that movie instead. 

Steven Knight's script seems intent on examining the effects of the pandemic through this couple, the worldwide health crisis providing less of a mere backdrop than the axis around which its entire story revolves. If a really well-off couple breaking the law to get even richer may not seem like the most socially resonant premise on paper, Locked Down is still fine for what it is, elevated greatly by its performances to end up a solid effort, if not necessarily the one we thought we'd get. That may not be an enthusiastic rave, but it succeeds in agreeably passing time that's been in longer supply than unusual. Consider it a measuring stick for forthcoming attempts at addressing the event, many of which will undoubtedly fare both far better and worse than this. 

Edge of Tomorrow

Director: Doug Liman
Starring: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson, Noah Taylor, Kick Gurry, Dragomir Mrsic, Charlotte Riley, Jonas Armstrong
Running Time: 113 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★ ½ (out of ★★★★) 

"Live. Die. Repeat." That's the catchy tagline for Edge of Tomorrow, and it's hard to accuse the studio of false advertising. But for the first half of its running time, the film feels like it's going to aspire for more than that, only to take a promising premise and one of the more interesting protagonists Tom Cruise has played, and instead settle into a routine action vehicle indistinguishable from his other recent offerings. And the set-up really is great, casting the actor in his familiar alpha male power position, only to pull the rug out and expose the character as kind of a bumbling fool, ill-equipped for the situation he's been thrust into. Initially, it could be described as Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers meets Metal Gear Solid, as everything surprisingly fires on all cylinders for a while. At least until a key reveal that causes the movie to go on autopilot.

When a race of alien Mimics take over Europe, public affairs officer Major William Cage (Cruise) is unexpectedly ordered by United Defense Force head General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson) onto the beaches of France to suit up for combat. As a high ranking official whose position is limited to a desk job motivating those in battle, rather than engaging in it, the terrified Cage objects to the assignment, even threatening to use his media clout to blackmail Brigham. Instead, he awakens in handcuffs at Heathrow Airport, discovering he's been labeled a deserter and is now being prepped for combat under the gruff Sergeant Farrell (Bill Paxton).

It's a losing battle, not just for the inexperienced Cage, but all the humans involved in the invasion. Only he's the one who has to continually repeat it, waking up each previous morning after dying in combat, hoping to eventually gain enough experience and information to defeat the Mimics. His ally is Sergeant Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), who agrees to train him, immediately recognizing the rare phenomenon he's experiencing and how they can use it to claim victory.

Right away it's apparent that the film is bucking more than a few trends and at least attempting to deliver something a little different than we've come to expect from the current onslaught of overblown action spectacles. When we meet the protagonist he isn't very likable at all. In fact, he's smarmy and egotistical, fully deserving of the "transfer" he's about to receive. That he also almost wets his pants at the thought of battle is just icing on the cake. Think of it as an extended feature length episode of Undercover Boss in battle, if the supervisor in question is forced not only to do the grunt work, but demoted against his will. None of these soldiers know who this guy is and at first glance understandably find him to be a real idiot.

What's surprising here is how good Cruise is at playing against type, excelling even when not cast as the smartest, most physical guy in the room. Through this Groundhog Day scenario, Cage is suddenly given more than enough opportunities to gather information and figure out how to defeat the alien race, with the script effectively exploiting every one of them. That Emily Blunt's Rita isn't a sidekick or love interest, but a fierce warrior guiding Cage every step of the way and training him for battle. They lose a bit of that heading down the final stretch, but Blunt's believability in the role never wavers and is easily the film's most valuable asset.

To say a movie looks and feels like a video game would in most cases be disparaging, but director Doug Liman invites complimentary comparisons to that medium for a change with some excitingly choreographed action sequences. And while slugging around a heavy, armored metal suit wouldn't seem to lend itself to the most practical or mobile means of combat, it manages to look a lot less silly on screen than you'd picture it described. More importantly, it's fun, and despite doubling as a virtual advertisement for Hollywood's over-reliance on CGI, the technology at least looks good this time, making it easy to get pulled in, even while watching on the small screen.

The eventual disappointment is only that much greater when the overexplanatory reveal kicks in and Liman hits the default button, making clear his intentions to cruise (sorry) along to the finish. Really the whole last 45 minutes or so are mind-numbing, as the characters go through the requisite motions of blowing things up and getting killed over an over again to take us to the thoughtless place we feared we were going before the opening credits started rolling. While it's unfair to necessarily expect deep introspection from an action spectacle, teasing us with it, only to then cop out, is a far worse offense. The blame could lie at the feet of the source material, author Hiroshi Sakurazaka's Japanese young adult novel, All You Need is Kill, which was the film's working title before common sense (and maybe fear of a possible Beatles lawsuit) prevailed. But is calling it something as bland and forgettable as Edge of Tomorrow really that much of an improvement?

For a while there, this really looked like this was actually going someplace intriguing. It's difficult when a film has a great concept but the writing feels forced to over-explain it, causing considerable disappointment. What the approach does provide is a definitive end point with numerous explosions along the way, and despite an opening that wisely teased the opposite, an opportunity for Cruise to further extend his decades-long run as a kick-ass action star. At least this time he's spreading the wealth with a co-star capable of matching him in an arena he usually dominates. Liman probably accomplishes all he can with the material he's working with, and as far as big action blockbusters go, you could definitely do worse. Far worse.