Synopsis:
Troubled former UFC middleweight fighter Elwood Dalton makes a living scamming fighters on the underground circuit. He is approached by Frankie, the owner of an unruly roadhouse in the Florida Keys community of Glass Key, who offers him a job as head bouncer. Initially hesitant, Dalton takes up the offer after narrowly averting a suicide attempt with a freight train that destroys his car. He takes a coach bus to Frankie's establishment, simply called 'The Road House,' and befriends Charlie, a teenager who runs a bookstore with her father, Stephen.
At the Road House, Dalton fends off a motorcycle gang working for local crime boss Ben Brandt and personally drives the injured thugs to the hospital, where he meets Ellie, a doctor who tends to his injuries. Staying in Frankie's disused houseboat, Dalton mentors the other bouncers and becomes popular with the locals. After an attempt on his life by gang leader Dell, Dalton finds him lying in wait at his houseboat. He throws Dell overboard but is unable to save him from being killed and eaten by a crocodile.
Knox, a psychotic enforcer, is tasked by Brandt's incarcerated father to hunt down Dalton. After an unexpected date with Ellie, Dalton is threatened by Sheriff 'Big Dick' to leave town at gunpoint but is rescued by Ellie, who is revealed to be the sheriff's daughter. She explains that her father is in league with Brandt, who has inherited his wealthy father's drug empire. Brandt meets Dalton at the Road House and taunts him about his past: in a UFC title fight against a friend, Dalton was overcome with rage and killed his opponent in the ring. Knox arrives with Brandt's men, and an all-out bar fight ensues, leaving Dalton badly beaten.
Frankie admits that Brandt has been buying up property to build an expensive resort, but she is the lone holdout. Dalton decides to leave town but discovers that Charlie and Stephen are in the hospital after Brandt's men burned down their bookstore. Enraged, Dalton kills one of the thugs responsible and captures a sheriff's deputy making a large delivery of Brandt's illicit cash, framing the deputy for the murder and taking the money. The sheriff soon informs Dalton that Brandt has kidnapped Ellie and will exchange her for the money.
Stealing a motorboat to reach Brandt's yacht, Dalton finds him with the sheriff, who tells him that the kidnapping was a lie to lure Dalton aboard, but Brandt reveals that he actually is holding Ellie hostage. Tempers flare as Knox approaches in his boat, but Dalton detonates a bomb and finds Ellie below deck. Fleeing the sinking yacht by motorboat, Brandt recaptures Ellie while Dalton commandeers Knox's boat. Catching up to Brandt, Dalton and Ellie leap off as Brandt is launched on top of the Road House.
Climbing ashore, Knox hijacks a pickup truck and crashes into the Road House, leading to a brutal fistfight with Dalton. When Brandt orders him to kill Dalton, Knox snaps Brandt's neck instead. He prepares to finish off Dalton with a shard of wood, but Dalton gains the upper hand and repeatedly stabs Knox into submission. The sheriff arrives, agreeing to cover up for Dalton.
As Frankie and Stephen begin to rebuild, Charlie says goodbye to Dalton as he waits for his bus out of town. Stephen discovers Dalton has left them the trunk of cash as the bus pulls away. In a mid-credits scene, Knox has survived and assaults the hospital staff, leaving in his gown.
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal as Dalton | Daniela Melchior as Ellie | Conor McGregor as Knox | Billy Magnussen as Ben Brandt | Jessica Williams as Frankie | B.K. Cannon as Laura | Joaquim de Almeida as the sheriff | Austin Post as Carter | Lukas Gage as Billy | Dominique Columbus as Reef | Arturo Castro as Moe | JD Pardo as Dell | Beau Knapp as Vince | Hannah Lanier as Charlie | Kevin Carroll as Stephen | Robert Menery as Jack | Darren Barnet as Sam | Travis Van Winkle as Dex | Jay Hieron as Jax "Jetway" Harris.
Release:
Road House had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 8, 2024 as the opening night film, and was released in the United States via streaming on Prime Video by Amazon MGM Studios on March 21, 2024. It is the first film to be released as part of the centennial anniversary celebration of the founding of MGM, with a "100th anniversary" variant of its 2021 logo unveiled at the start of this film.The film did get a special theatrical release at 17 cinemas operated by the Army & Air Force Exchange Service on March 16, 2024. Liman wrote an editorial piece in Deadline Hollywood criticizing Amazon for bypassing a wide theatrical release for the film after they purchased MGM and announced a $1 billion investment to release 12–15 films a year theatrically. He wrote that he would not be attending the film's premiere at SXSW in protest. Gyllenhaal responded by stating that while he sympathized with Liman's views, Amazon made it clear that it would have a streaming release for the film. Liman ultimately attended the SXSW premiere. On February 27, 2024, the original screenwriter for the 1989 version, R. Lance Hill, sued MGM and Amazon claiming copyright infringement and also accusing the studio of using AI–generated voices of the actors to complete the project during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike; Hill was hoping to bar the release of the film.
Staring: Jake Gyllenhaal | Daniela Melchior | Billy Magnussen | Jessica Williams | Joaquim de Almeida | Conor McGregor.
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