Highway Home earns 2.5 stars (out of 4) from Us Weekly film critic Mara Reinstein.
Confirmed: The unique Highway Home shouldn’t be an untouchable piece of artwork. Starring Patrick Swayze as a Missouri bar bouncer with a mullet and a violent streak to match, that is the blessedly brainless ’80s film to observe on a long-haul flight when attempting to go the time. Spinning it into one thing contemporary and enjoyable for 2024 shouldn’t be troublesome.
So why is the remake so grueling to observe? Even with a recreation Jake Gyllenhaal within the lead?!
Maybe the predictable twists, one-dimensional characters and distracting CGI are guilty. Or that the climactic motion sequence is about approach outdoors the roadhouse bar … and in a speedboat on the water. However that’s all too simple. The large downside is that although Gyllenhaal brings his enviable display presence (and boasts abs that will make any Ken jealous), Highway Home finally devolves right into a Critical Film and calls for the viewers to deal with it as such. Bloody no!
In each variations, plot ought to be thrown out the window together with the dangerous guys. Right here goes anyway: Gyllenhaal is completely credible as Elwood Dalton, a former UFC middleweight on the downswing due to a shady incident that ended his profession. (Publish Malone performs certainly one of his ready-to-rumble opponents.) His repute attracts the eye of a girl named Frankie (Jessica Williams). She owns a roadhouse within the sunny Florida Keys named, um, Highway Home. However her institution retains getting menaced by a bunch of motorcycle-riding goons. She wants Dalton. And he wants the lofty $20k-a-month wage.
At first, dropkicking the biker gang is a breezy day on the seashore. In a too-rare gentle second, Dalton casually asks the dudes about dental insurance coverage and for the placement of the closest hospital earlier than going all UFC on them. (He finally ends up piling them into his automotive and driving to the ER with a Seaside Boys track blaring on the radio.) He quickly realizes they’re all simply minions. Villain No. 1 is Ben Brandt (Billy Magnussen), an influence participant determined for the keys to the Highway Home so he can please his offscreen jailed father and develop the property. So, principally, an obnoxious and controlling tech bro in every other motion film.
As a result of Brandt has corrupted the native police and few would dare to care about grasping real-estate holdings within the Sunshine State, it’s as much as Dalton to guard the Highway Home and save the city from all these bullies.
Jake Gyllenhaal underwent a full physique transformation for his upcoming function in Highway Home, a remake of the 1989 film of the identical identify. “It’s been an unbelievable expertise working with precise actual fighters — reimagining a basic — there’s been numerous the bodily,” Gyllenhaal, 43, advised Leisure Tonight in January 2024. Gyllenhaal […]
Dalton additionally finds time to fall for an ER physician (Daniela Melchior) who strongly disapproves of him strong-arming the incorrect crowd. With an absence of chemistry and fervour, the romance — ostensibly only one kiss — serves zero objective besides to remind audiences this intimidating bouncer continues to be coping with some obscure trauma. What a wasted alternative to make worthy use out of Gyllenhaal in brawny action-hero mode.
Highway Home ’89, in fact, has its personal points. (There’s a motive it solely grew to become a cult basic years later.) However its sweaty, rough-and-tumble motion scenes made up for the shortage of substance. A lot of the fights on this 2.0 model have been clearly created on a flowery laptop — and carry little emotional punch. (This, despite the fact that Dalton refrains from weapons and knives and completely fights together with his fists!) Much less is extra: There’s no must endure the rigamarole of low-rent explosions and a crocodile assault and that boat chase when it’s rather more satisfying to see the assured Dalton extol his information in regards to the anatomy of the human physique after which disarming a person’s finger so he can’t pull a set off.
Not even the second-half entrance of Conor McGregor’s Knox — an ultra-violent henchman hellbent on killing Dalton as soon as and for all — can enliven these workmanlike proceedings. The MMA champ is neither horrifying or silly-cartoonish in his big-screen debut; to be truthful, the character is written as he have been a cast-off from a Quick & Livid entry.
Highway Home lately made headlines as a result of director Doug Liman was incensed that the studio determined to skip a theatrical launch and go straight to streaming on Prime Video. Contemplating his resume contains the really entertaining Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Fringe of Tomorrow, The Bourne Identification and Go, the transfer appeared like a misguided mistake. Now it is sensible. Don’t beat your self up for skipping it.
Highway Home streams on Prime Video Thursday, March 21.
