Dalton (Jake Gyllenhaal) is the kind of man who, when he turns up to shady winner-takes-all fights in the middle of nowhere, the other guy just gives up rather than face him. The other guy is played by Post Malone, so maybe it's not as big an achievement as it seems, but it is a nice twist to start off the film with Dalton not fighting someone.
It's easy money, so it's hardly surprising when Dalton knocks back an offer from Frankie (Jessica Williams) to come work at her roadhouse for a month beating up the endless supply of thugs who are trashing the place. But aimless drifting isn't for everyone, so before long he turns up in the Florida Keys all ready to demolish the thugs - only to discover that the thugs aren't just random bullies, and he's got himself into a situation he might not be able to resolve with his fists.
Or maybe he can, because despite the occasional gesture towards being a traditional movie, this version (directed by Doug Liman) isn't really interested in anything beyond figuring out ways to get Dalton cracking skulls. Dalton's supporting cast are introduced then ignored, while the mechanics of the evil scheme barely seem to matter - which, to be fair, they don't.
Instead, the tension builds from within. Dalton is supernaturally laid back for an ultimate killing machine, casually dismantling goon squads then personally driving them to the hospital. Even as things escalate around him, he remains an easy come, easy go kind of dude - because, as is eventually sketched in, when he does get angry, bad things happen. Will the bad guys find a way to piss him off? Is this movie titled Peaceful Resolution?
While mainstream humanity is all but superfluous here, chief bad guy and perpetual failson Ben Brant (Billy Magnussen) is an enjoyably overmatched chump, and as the most bungling of his bungling goons Arturo Castro gets a few good laughs. The real threat shows up half way through in the form of Knox (Conor McGregor), and while the film semi-successfully sells him as both a loose cannon and a comedy loon in every scene, McGregor himself comes away as a performer you don't really need to see ever again.
Much, much more importantly, there are numerous brutal and aggressively filmed fights, organised in such a way so as to ensure the pummelings steadily escalate from the aborted underground fight at the opening to a climax involving a murderous and physics-defying clash of near-naked godlings in the ruins of civilisation itself.
While Liman has been complaining that his film didn't get a cinema release, it's much more in tune with the current wave of ultra-bruising direct-to-streaming actioners - and seen as such, this road house is well worth a visit.
- Anthony Morris
