Road House: Paying homage to the original

BY HAELEY CARPENTER / Digital Media Director

“Road House” (1989) was reimagined and reinvented in 2024. The classic movie remake is about Dalton (played by Patrick Swayze in 1989 and Jake Gyllenhaal in 2024), who is hired to help run security at a dive bar named Road House. People who want to own the bar get involved and cause trouble. 

The original movie is a classic, one that I grew up watching once my parents decided I was old enough. It was hard to go into the new movie knowing that nothing could beat the original one, but I tried my best to keep an open mind.

There are not many instances where the remake is better than the original and it is no different with this movie. The root of the plot is the same and so is the running time, 1 hour and 54 minutes, but there are plenty of differences that set the two apart. 

The biggest being Patrick Swayze versus Jake Gyllenhaal. I think we all know that the obvious winner is Swayze. One is a classic romantic movie heartthrob and the other is most commonly known as Taylor Swift’s ex-boyfriend.

The writing for the two actors were very different. Swayze’s version was a man of few words and had less anger management issues and had a background as a bouncer. The writers for Gyllenhaal’s version tried to be too much like the superhero Deadpool but the humor did not translate well.

Swayze’s version was seen as scarier. He walked into Road House the first night and everyone cowered from him, already knowing his name and reputation. Gyllenhaal’s character walked into the bar and people had to Google him to find his history.

I will say, I liked the more thorough and in depth background of Gyllenhaal’s version.

In my opinion, Post Malone had no business being in this movie. And Connor McGregor’s accent sounded so fake (yes, I know he is actually Irish) that it distracted from the scenes. I also just didn’t like how arrogant he was.

One thing about bringing McGregor in is the boxing moves he brought with him. In the original movie, Dalton has a black belt in karate but seems like his fighting style has been learned from cleaning up bar fights. In the remake, Dalton has a history of being a UFC fighter so the fight scenes with McGregor’s character, Knox, were very boxing heavy.

The camera angles in the fighting scenes were strange in the remake. The angles in the original movie stayed the same the whole time but in the second movie there were character points of view where the watcher was the camera and the arms were on either side of the screen, which was awkward.

Also in the fighting scenes, it was more gory. The knives going into the people were very obvious and graphic while they were more implied in the first one. 

I really wish Dalton's father figure/friend/mentor, Wade Garrett (played by Same Elliot), from the original movie was in the second movie. Ideally, I wish that Patrick Swayze was still alive to play the character, but unfortunately, he passed away in 2009. 

I think that Garrett’s character was important to the original movie and the plot development. Making Dalton choose between Garrett and his love interest was a huge part of the original plot that I feel should have been in the remake.

One thing that I liked about the 2024 version was the female representation. There was more respect for women in the remake than the first. In the original movie the women were paraded around, sometimes topless. The only lead or supporting female role was from the love interest and even then, she was boring.

In the remake, the women not only keep their shirts on but have much bigger, more exciting roles. One is the owner of Road House, one is the bartender and one runs a bookstore, plus the doctor's love interest.

While this was a big step in the right direction, I wish we could have seen more from them. Maybe get in on the fighting instead of just talking about a big game.

Both versions have their lists of positives and negatives, but they were both good, just in different ways. Personally, I still liked the original movie more.

There was less focus on the fighting and violence and more focus on a well-rounded, in-depth plot. In the end, nothing can beat the original work of Patrick Swayze, Sam Elliot and the classic style of 1980’s movies with a good mix of action and romance.