Worth: $14.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Jake Gyllenhaal, Jessica Williams, Conor McGregor, Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen, Joaquim de Almeida, Lukas Gage, Austin Richard Post
Intro:
… just the right blend of fun and threatening.
A lone outsider trying to escape his past arrives in a small town and ends up helping the locals stand up to an overbearing group of outlaws. As young bookstore owner Charlie points out to washed up ex-UFC Champion Dalton Hicks when he rolls into town, it sounds like the plot of a Western. And she’s not wrong, it could be any of a dozen cowboy dime novels, or perhaps even something right out of a 1989 action flick.
In this bloody and stylised remake of the Patrick Swayze-starring cult hit, Jake Gyllenhaal tackles the lead as Dalton Hicks, while Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Edge of Tomorrow) brings his uniquely visceral energy as director. The biggest downfall of the film is going to be the fans of the original, who walk into this unable to view the 1989 film and its 2024 cousin as separate entities. While they have similarities in basic structure, they’re worlds apart in execution. In fact, Liman’s reimagining has more in common with the kind of flashy, fast-paced thrill ride that usually serves as Dwayne Johnson’s bread and butter.
Gyllenhaal alternately smirks and broods his way through what is pretty unsurprising fare as far as the plot goes, but he navigates the balancing act of vulnerable and haunted and yet always ready with a wise-cracking quip in a way that does him credit. Connor McGregor, seeking a rebranding after years of dodging controversy, steals every scene as the unhinged henchman Knox. He’s the human incarnation of a Looney Tunes character and just the right blend of fun and threatening.
The film is slick and funny, with a screenplay by Chuck Mondry and Anthony Bagarozzi, regular Shane Black collaborators. No one here is treating this like any kind of deeply cerebral outing, it’s visually chaotic in exactly the way it ought to be — there are boat chases, spear guns and yeah, even a crocodile, because why not? With Liman at the helm, we wouldn’t expect anything less, which makes it all the more unexpected that Prime Video has thrown it direct-to-streaming. For a film full to the brim with larger-than-life action so clearly made for the big screen, it’s a baffling choice to deny its intended arena.
