Jake Gyllenhaal Compels in Doug Liman’s Remake

Jake Gyllenhaal in ‘Highway Home’

Laura Radford/Amazon Content material Providers

There are some key variations between the Dalton of Rowdy Herrington’s 1989 cult basic Highway Home and the Dalton of Doug Liman’s equally boisterous remake. To start out, the stoic bouncer’s first title is now Elwood as an alternative of John. He rolls into city — the Florida Keys, not Kansas Metropolis — on a Greyhound bus as an alternative of in a brand new automotive. This Dalton walks in every single place, carrying down the soles of his cigar brown fight boots with every mile. His swagger is enhanced by a mellow kindness — at one level, a personality compares him to Mr. Rogers (with a violent edge, after all). 

What hasn’t modified all that a lot are Dalton’s motivations and his notoriety. Once we meet the notorious man, performed right here with compelling restraint by Jake Gyllenhaal, his face is shrouded by his black hoodie. He saunters into an underground combat membership with a menacing dedication. The digicam trails him, soaking in his broad shoulders earlier than detailing how meticulously he removes his sweatshirt and unties his laces. He’s able to make some cash. His unnamed opponent (Submit Malone in sweaty glory) forfeits earlier than Dalton may even take his footwear off. The inked fighter with the nasty growl is in no temper to die. 

In Highway Home, which premiered at SXSW and can hit Prime Video on March 21, Dalton is haunted by his previous as a UFC fighter. The small print round a well known combat between him and his greatest good friend stay comparatively mysterious. (Liman provides glimpses by Dalton’s nightmares.) Like Patrick Swayze’s unique character, Gyllenhaal’s Dalton hesitates when requested to guard a bar from native goons. Cash makes the choice simpler. When Frankie (Jessica Williams) provides Dalton $5,000 every week, in money, to wash home at her cheekily named Florida roadside joint (known as The Highway Home), he will get on the subsequent bus to the tropical archipelago. Within the small neighborhood of Glass Key, he befriends a headstrong teenager (Hannah Lanier), trains a crop of beginner fighters (Lukas Gage and Dominique Columbus) and makes a brand new set of enemies. 

The movie begins off as a straight homage to Herrington’s movie peppered with one too many meta textual references. Easter eggs abound for the Highway Home-initiated and that lends the early a part of the movie a type of drained stiffness. Dalton’s relationship to Charlie (Lanier), a literary teen who works at her dad’s bookstore, is a dependable excuse for the narrative (the screenplay is by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry) to overanalyze itself. There are various moments when she compares Dalton to a cowboy and wonders if his look is the start of a Glass Key western. 

When Highway Home finds its personal story, the movie actually takes off. The overall narrative stays the identical (that is nonetheless a campy journey with minor-key humor and a number of deadly motion sequences) however the particulars make good use of the brand new setting. Liman filmed the whole film on location within the Dominican Republic, and makes use of the vast swaths of ocean to stage eye-popping boat fights and epic underwater brawls. 

Gyllenhaal’s efficiency begins within the shadow of Swayze’s — Dalton’s signature smirk and laconic posture are all right here — earlier than evolving into one thing extra sophisticated. Within the actor’s interpretation, the smile is a parallel narrative of Dalton’s feelings. It may be a smug gesture, a touch at better information or a warning of violence to return.

The place Gyllenhaal’s smile teases, his physique indulges. The combat scenes in Liman’s Highway Home are simply as bloody and ridiculous as these in Herrington’s. In early moments, Dalton takes on the low-level threats, and the main focus is on a type of mental fight that flaunts his precision and agility. Most of those bullies are the henchmen of Ben Brandt (Billy Magnussen), the son of an incarcerated mobster. The facility-hungry inheritor needs to destroy The Highway Home so he can construct oceanside resorts for a rich clientele. Later, when Dalton takes on a henchman (Conor McGregor) employed by Ben’s father, the fights develop into a battle of wincing blows and brutal assaults.

The place the film feels much less realized is in its romantic thread: Dalton’s relationship with Ellie (Daniela Melchior), an ER physician, struggles to register as greater than an afterthought. 

Nonetheless, Liman flexes his trendy route, particularly throughout the bloody confrontations. He toys with angles and perspective to maintain these scenes dynamic. And though Highway Home will doubtless be measured by the depth of its fights, it manages to form a surprisingly grounded portrait of the Keys, and maybe the South extra broadly, by its music. The fictional Highway Home stage turns into a vigorous showcase for actual artists, from the “swamp-pop” of C.C Adcock and Tommy McClain to the funky digital sounds of Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph. Their tunes, coupled with the corporate Dalton attracts, make almost each second of Highway Home an occasion.