STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful
Dalton (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a former UFC fighter, whose career came to a shattering halt after a bout went wrong. He moves to the Florida Keys, and takes a job by bar owner, Frankie (Jessica Williams) whose business has come under attack from a group of violent thugs. He attracts the attention of Ben Brandt (Billy Magnussun), the son of a notorious drug lord, who is struggling to run things, and Knox (Conor McGregor), a hulking brute with whom he is drawn into a shattering final confrontation.
In a day and age when the 'reboot' has become the accepted norm, when modernised versions of classic films from years past are updated to modern audiences, who may not even have heard of the original film. But to me, Rowdy Herrington's 1989 beat em up/shoot em up fest is one of the quintessential 80's action films, and I'm sure to many others. And so, naturally, my first thought is simply: it won't be a patch on the original. But even with this in mind and appreciate it as much as I could on its own merits. But sadly, even from this viewpoint, Doug Liman's modernised take on the original film falls desperately short.
Some may say it's unfair to even consider the original film when reviewing this new one, but being so fond of that film, what else can I do but compare it, and see how far short of the mark it falls compared to that?!? And as a result, the main thing that comes off...is it's just so unconvincing. Unlike the original. Where the roadside Double Deuce bar, with bikers loitering around outside, created such an uninviting impression, complimented by a cramped, tight, smoky inside, that created such a genuinely brutal feeling. This trendy, cosmopolitan new version, with its open space design and tree palm roadside location, totally fails to recapture that, along with bouncers who don't look like they could fight their way out of a wet paper bag (unlike the grizzled, mean looking ones in the original), and whose fight scenes are pathetically unconvincing.
Cast wise, in the lead role, Gyllenhaal, making a name out of remakes after 2021's The Guilty (which I'd bet far fewer are aware of), and who's allegedly been quite vocal of his dissatisfaction with the film's stream service fate, certainly has an impressively ripped physique, and gives his Dalton a more wise-cracking persona over Patrick Swayze's calm, philosophical but alternately icy and unnerving portrayal, but...he's also less convincing. Dalton's back story, involving his guilt over taking a man's life, is more closely examined here and far more prominent, through some vividly relived flashbacks to the incident, but sadly no more affecting. Former real life UFC fighter McGregor I imagine is aping Marshall Teague's role, but just comes off as a mindless lunatic, whilst Magnussun's whiny, shrieking overseer really makes you appreciate Ben Gazzara's original cruel, sadistic kingpin.
I was determined not to write it off. I tried to give it a fair chance. And I tried not to think too much about the original. But sadly, my memories of it, along with a weak, apathetic plot, sadly just expose what an inadequate, unsatisfying mess this is. *
Dalton (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a former UFC fighter, whose career came to a shattering halt after a bout went wrong. He moves to the Florida Keys, and takes a job by bar owner, Frankie (Jessica Williams) whose business has come under attack from a group of violent thugs. He attracts the attention of Ben Brandt (Billy Magnussun), the son of a notorious drug lord, who is struggling to run things, and Knox (Conor McGregor), a hulking brute with whom he is drawn into a shattering final confrontation.
In a day and age when the 'reboot' has become the accepted norm, when modernised versions of classic films from years past are updated to modern audiences, who may not even have heard of the original film. But to me, Rowdy Herrington's 1989 beat em up/shoot em up fest is one of the quintessential 80's action films, and I'm sure to many others. And so, naturally, my first thought is simply: it won't be a patch on the original. But even with this in mind and appreciate it as much as I could on its own merits. But sadly, even from this viewpoint, Doug Liman's modernised take on the original film falls desperately short.
Some may say it's unfair to even consider the original film when reviewing this new one, but being so fond of that film, what else can I do but compare it, and see how far short of the mark it falls compared to that?!? And as a result, the main thing that comes off...is it's just so unconvincing. Unlike the original. Where the roadside Double Deuce bar, with bikers loitering around outside, created such an uninviting impression, complimented by a cramped, tight, smoky inside, that created such a genuinely brutal feeling. This trendy, cosmopolitan new version, with its open space design and tree palm roadside location, totally fails to recapture that, along with bouncers who don't look like they could fight their way out of a wet paper bag (unlike the grizzled, mean looking ones in the original), and whose fight scenes are pathetically unconvincing.
Cast wise, in the lead role, Gyllenhaal, making a name out of remakes after 2021's The Guilty (which I'd bet far fewer are aware of), and who's allegedly been quite vocal of his dissatisfaction with the film's stream service fate, certainly has an impressively ripped physique, and gives his Dalton a more wise-cracking persona over Patrick Swayze's calm, philosophical but alternately icy and unnerving portrayal, but...he's also less convincing. Dalton's back story, involving his guilt over taking a man's life, is more closely examined here and far more prominent, through some vividly relived flashbacks to the incident, but sadly no more affecting. Former real life UFC fighter McGregor I imagine is aping Marshall Teague's role, but just comes off as a mindless lunatic, whilst Magnussun's whiny, shrieking overseer really makes you appreciate Ben Gazzara's original cruel, sadistic kingpin.
I was determined not to write it off. I tried to give it a fair chance. And I tried not to think too much about the original. But sadly, my memories of it, along with a weak, apathetic plot, sadly just expose what an inadequate, unsatisfying mess this is. *