The Roadhouse introduces us to a Jake Gyllenhaal like we hadnt quite seen yet. Elwood Dalton (Gyllenhaal's character), is a cool, calm man with long suffering temper. A strong retired fighter, who faces challenge with a hard will to break. The movie tells many other stories through a plot that is easy to follow. Many of us have watched this after seing a few trailers.
Dalton is a supposed famous ex fighter, down and out, hustling for money at a street beef event where he gets a blade stuck in him. This apparently happens all the time.
It takes you through a fun journey of many stories while focusing on this small towns issue at hand.
I think the fight scenes were very entertaining and very well choreographed, Conor was most definitely the more enjoyable and entertaining character and did a good job of embracing himself into well... a more exaggerated version of himself. The line delivery was good and left some very hilarious moments.
It is worth the watch if you are any sort of a Connor McCrazyMan fan. McGregor plays an unhinged hitman named Knox. He is really off his rocker in this fun performance. He really throws you for a loop. I really liked the short scene at the bar after Knox and Dalton cross paths for the first time. He says, "There's something wrong with you. Me too." This is a funny and relatable line; to our human experience.
A fun ode of respect from one fighter to another. A sort of mutual respect. Enough for each fighter to fight until death as an ode to the skill and REASON for their opponents desire to fight. There are also many fun scenes that are great modern adaptations/takes on some of our favorite fight scenes over the years of watching movies. All in all, I enjoyed the film. I think it will inspire action films in the future.
I really think there will be a sequel in the near future. I think Roadhouse could be more standalone films or even become a catchy franchise. I havent looked up the budget for the film but I feel like they did not spend much for the film and were yet able to provide a very entertaining film. A strong story that is easy to watch, and will have you likely clutching your seat. I am also losing a point over a few small things that I care about but you dont have to agree to them. But I think theres a chance that might change in the future if there is continuation to the characters story with ties back to the other characters and stories from the first film.
Images are screenshots from the movie unless stated otherwise