“Roadhouse” should be a holiday movie. Hear me out.
I really only watched “Road House” on Amazon to hype myself for Conor McGregor’s future return to the Octagon before one in his string of fights that have since been called off.
While it was entertaining to see him in his few starring moments in “Roadhouse,” a movie about someone trying to turn over a new leaf should be something holiday-appropriate. Because there’s nothing like the holiday breaks that give us time to reflect on things in our lives that are bigger than our careers.
Image: IMDB/Roadhouse (2024)
For fight fans, the choreography of the action scenes were fun and decently done… just the right level of violence you’d expect from an MMA-themed film. When the film rapidly switches the vantage point from audience to the fighter and back again, you know they took the effort to create a more immersive experience.
Image: IMDB/Roadhouse (2024)
It was a real treat to watch Mystic Mac, well, be himself. McGregor is a showman through and through, and portrayed brash, over-the-top hitman Knox to the hilt. I wouldn’t even call it acting, every shocking thing he did wasn’t shocking to people who have followed his life inside and outside the cage.
Image: IMDB/Roadhouse (2024)
McGregor’s character, Knox, was hired by the main villain, local crime boss Ben Brandt, to kill the protagonist. McGregor is quite a colorful personality and it bleeds outside the cage as well. Every now and then he would make headlines for fights which are not on the clock, so it’s likely people view him as a real-life anti-hero.
But let’s go to the actual protagonist and anti-hero of this story: bouncer and ex-UFC fighter Elwood Dalton, portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal.
Image: IMDB/Roadhouse (2024)
Jake Gyllenhaal doesn’t disappoint in his portrayal of a former fighter trying to start over, having previously starred as a boxer in “Southpaw,” among others, so this role (“tough guy who’s been through some things”) and genre isn’t new to him.
Image: IMDB/Roadhouse (2024)
Some of the memorable dialogue gives us some insights on Dalton’s worldview in the midst of trying to turn over a new leaf.
Anger
Boss’s Henchman: Wait. You don’t have to do this.
Dalton: Oh <sighs>. I wish I didn’t. But I’m angry. It takes a lot to get me angry, but when I am… I just can’t let go. I wish I could… but your boss and Brandt really pissed me off.
Image: IMDB/Roadhouse (2024)
Romance
Dalton: That one in every 15,000 produces a pink pearl.
Ellie: Sounds romantic. Unless you’re a conch. Because what actually happens is the conch gets a bit of grit inside its shell, which causes extreme irritation.
Dalton: “Extreme irritation…” that leads to something beautiful. How is that not romantic?
Image: IMDB/Roadhouse (2024)
Life
Charlie: So, this is it? You’re just gonna ride off into the sunset?
Dalton: That’s always how the story ends, right?
Charlie: No, not always. Sometimes the hero stays and makes his own little homestead.
Dalton: I don’t think I’m the hero in this particular story, Charlie.
Charlie: So, maybe you’re not the hero. I got news for you. You ain’t the villain either.
Image: IMDB/Roadhouse (2024)
So for those who haven’t seen this film, I won’t spoil it with Dalton’s reaction to this exchange.
But as the human experience takes place in an imperfect world, with human beings being as flawed as we are, we’ve all done things we regret. And many of us feel like an anti-hero more times than we care to admit.
Image: IMDB/Roadhouse (2024)
However, whether we feel like an anti-hero or not, we all need redemption, and this is why.
Maybe we haven’t killed a friend in the Octagon - like Dalton has. But we have all done wrong at one point in our lives. And we try to make it up by doing good. However, when we do this in our own strength, we will realize it is all temporary, and that…
Romans 3:12b English Standard Version 2016 (ESV) “No one does good, not even one.”
Image: IMDB/Roadhouse (2024)
We will always fall short of the standard that we know exists. So what’s the only way to transcend disappointments with ourselves, and ultimately, with life?
John 14:6 English Standard Version 2016 (ESV) “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
The only permanent redemption arc for life is when you allow Jesus, the Redeemer of all, to become your Lord and Savior. It doesn’t mean you will never be frustrated or disappointed again, but it does mean that you will experience true freedom from knowing you are fully known and fully loved.
Your life will never be the same.
And it’s the only redemption arc that counts for eternity.
Image: IMDB/Roadhouse (2024)
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