Road House: Reboot It or Leave It Alone?

Right now it doesn’t appear that the Road House reboot is set since it appears to be a fantasy in the minds of the execs that could possibly make it happen. But with talks of Doug Liman and Jake Gyllenhaal being attached to the project it’s a little more likely that the movie could be made eventually since getting one step closer to the reality is what it’s about at this stage. One could bet that a lot of people would love to see a cameo or two in the reboot since Road House is still one of the most favored movies from its era since Patrick Swayze was, at that time, at his peak when it came to being cool and being seen as a top leading man. The funny thing is that this movie had only increased in popularity over time, and it’s likely that it will continue to do so long as people remember the simple yet compelling story of a cooler that came to a place called the Double Deuce and cleaned house in the most effective way. 

Another aspect of this movie that’s fun to point out is that it wasn’t insanely flashy when it came to the action sequences. The fighting wasn’t overly flashy, it didn’t incorporate a lot of fancy movements that could just barely be followed. They were bar fights, and even the fights outside of this weren’t too bad either since they kept things simple and to the point. There’s no doubt that martial artists might point out a few glaring errors here and there since every movie with a fight scene or two has them. But Road House was more or less about a failing bar that hired on an expert in hand-to-hand combat who also believed in solving things in the nicest way possible until that moment was long gone. Dalton was the kind of guy that didn’t try to start fights in the bar since he knew that people didn’t go out to drink and get roughed up. 

Getting Jake Gyllenhaal as the lead is a little confusing since compared to Swayze, Gyllenhaal isn’t the most laidback guy in the world, and in fact, he might even be more like one of the villains that were seen throughout the feature. But to be clear, not a lot of people could have taken on this role and done that well with it since Patrick Swayze was the epitome of cool at one time and nailed this role in a way that a lot of other guys couldn’t have accomplished. Dalton was the type of individual that a lot of guys wanted to be like since he was cool without having to be too aggressive and he was deadly without having to let everyone know about it. The overall story of Dalton coming to the Double Deuce is more than just a guy straightening out a bar, it’s about a guy that came in and had to help straighten out a town. Sam Elliott playing the part of Wade Garrett was great as well since he was the balance point to Dalton if the guy needed one. He was Dalton’s friend and mentor and he knew very well that Dalton had landed himself in a bad situation. 

Bringing Elliott back for a cameo wouldn’t be too hard since he could play another character and be there just long enough to appease a lot of the old fans that would love to see him again. But the question of leaving this movie alone or rebooting it is a good one since Road House did have a few flaws throughout the movie, no matter that some folks would remember it as being perfect. But the question is whether a reboot could really do anything the original couldn’t, or if it would prove that reboots aren’t always the way to go? Some movies benefit from a big way when given a reboot since some of the former plot holes and questions that people had get solved and answered without hesitation. But there are times when a reboot can simply try too hard and come off as a second-rate copy that isn’t even worth the name. 

It’s tough to say what would happen to a reboot of this movie, whether giving it the star power it needs would make anything better or if it wouldn’t matter since fans are going to like what they want anyway. It might be worth a try if only because it could be a lot better than the 2015 plans to reboot the movie using Ronda Rousey might have been. But a word to execs on this one, if you’re going to reboot Road House you need to stick to the source material as much as possible while still creating a unique movie. Fans tend to respond a little better when seeing such things.