When phrase received out that Doug Liman can be directing the reimagining of the 1989 Patrick Swayze basic, Highway Home, there was an instantaneous backlash from followers who maintain nostalgia in excessive regard. When it was revealed that Jake Gyllenhaal can be portraying Dalton, there have been additional outcries of injustice. And Conor McGregor? Oh, the horror!

Like Swayze stated, although, “Ache don’t harm,” and if audiences are prepared to toughen up and go into Highway Home with an open thoughts, they’ll discover that Liman’s model doesn’t harm, both. The truth is, it’s the right homage to the unique, whereas on the identical time branching out by itself to grow to be one thing new. It’s a throwback to motion movies of the ’90s with twenty first century methods that seize you by the collar and don’t let go, and if moviegoers are prepared to take the trip, they’ll be handled to a enjoyable couple of hours crammed with coronary heart, humor, and hard-hitting motion. It would not reinvent the wheel, but it surely’s a easy trip.

Jake Gyllenhall Is Elwood Dalton

Highway Home (2024)

3.5/5

Launch Date

March 21, 2024

Director

Doug Liman

Studio

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Silver Photos

Professionals

• A surprisingly glorious forged makes Highway Home enjoyable.
• The motion scenes are very properly designed by director Doug Liman.
• The Highway Home remake properly avoids nostalgic fan service.

Cons

• Highway Home was hardly a needed movie to remake.
• Dalton stays a weirdly obscure character with out a lot substance.

With assist from the opening sequence that units the tone of Highway Home with the right soundtrack, Jake Gyllenhaal is the embodiment of Elwood Dalton, an ex-UFC fighter whose status precedes him. He stays stoic, even within the face of adversity (and with a knife protruding of him), and his nonchalant perspective and disrespect for his personal security lets the viewer know that this can be a man with some demons. Any doubts about Gyllenhaal’s capability to tackle such an iconic function are shortly laid to relaxation.

Nevertheless, with a lot made about his previous, one would suppose that his backstory would play a extra distinguished function all through the course of the movie. Such shouldn’t be the case right here, and audiences is perhaps left wanting in the case of discovering out precisely what occurred to him and the aftermath that ensued. Whereas it is comprehensible that the movie needs to remain within the current, just a bit extra substance to Dalton’s historical past would have rounded out the character properly.

Conor McGregor Shines

There’s not a lot to say about Conor McGregor that hasn’t already been stated, however by way of Highway Home, the MMA fighter shines in his movie debut. Proper from his humorous introduction, the film pulls no punches, letting viewers know that this can be a man with a screw unfastened, and the right yang to Dalton’s yin. He’s a larger-than-life character with a good larger-than-life physique, and takes command of each scene he’s in with snappy — albeit typically cliché — dialogue, and expertly timed punches.

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McGregor may simply make the transition into an motion star if he so chooses. Highway Home is the right automobile for him to showcase his skills exterior the octagon, whereas on the identical time reminding viewers what introduced him to the dance. At age 35, and with one or two fights left in him, don’t be shocked to see his identify pop up within the credit of future motion pictures.

All Are Welcome on the Highway Home (Particularly Nice Supporting Characters)

Whereas all eyes can be on Gyllenhaal and McGregor in Highway Home, audiences can be pleasantly shocked by the supporting forged who make the rowdy institution in Glass Key, Florida, really feel like a household. Jessica Williams (The Every day Present), Lukas Gage (Euphoria), Dominique Columbus (Ray Donovan), and B.Ok. Cannon (Switched at Beginning) work along with Gyllenhaal to type that familial bond prevalent in most workplaces. Hannah Love Lanier (Particular Ops: Lioness) is a younger actress with a vivid future, and her scenes with Gyllenhaal inject loads of coronary heart into the movie.

Associated: Jake Gyllenhaal Breaks Silence on Highway Home Streaming Controversy

Daniela Melchior (Quick X) because the ER physician is an acceptable love curiosity for Dalton all through, and her ties to the villains come as no shock for many who’ve seen the unique. Billy Magnussen (Spy Children: Armageddon) is the right spoiled wealthy child who needs Williams’ Highway Home for his personal nefarious functions, whereas his band of minions like J.D. Pardo (Mayans M.C.) and Arturo Castro (The Menu) do an exquisite job performing as chum to Gyllenhaal’s nice white. In fact, it wouldn’t be a small city and not using a few corrupt cops, and the wonderful Joaquim de Almeida (Quick 5) doesn’t disappoint.

The Selection of a New Technology

Ultimately, this isn’t Patrick Swayze’s Highway Home, and audiences would do properly to not go in anticipating their nostalgia to be fulfilled with a bevy of fan service. The movie stands by itself two ft for a brand new era with motion sequences which can be top-notch, an ending that — dare we are saying — leaves the door open for a sequel, and performances and surroundings that ship from begin to end. Followers of the unique will simply spot some references to the 1989 film, however fortunately, they’re few and much between, leaving this Highway Home to function by itself.

Highway Home made its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 8, 2024, and can hit Prime Video on March 21.