Summary
Road House’s stuntman defends the CGI used in Jake Gyllenhaal’s fights in the reboot. Starring Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor, the Doug Liman-directed film is a remake of the 1989 movie of the same name.Road Housewas released on Prime Video this year and was met with high success in terms of viewership. Since then, the production ofRoad House 2has been confirmed, though there are still a lot of details left up in the air in terms of casting and plot.
At the time of writing, Jake Gyllenhaal is the only actor confirmed to return inRoad House 2.
Speaking with theCorridor Crew, stuntperson Eric Linden justifies some ofRoad House’s CGI effects that were used in its fight scenes.
The stunt actor explains that the “stunning” fight sequences are done by splicing together “part of their fist” and “part of the punch” from the pre-visualization stage. Linden did note that the team working on this process in the pre-vis may have outperformed those working on the actual finalized, CGI versions. Check out his explanation below:
They would do this in the pre-vis. Splice all this stuff together using part of their fist, part of the punch, part of their face when it wrinkles from when it like hits. And the results are stunning. Oddly enough, the guy that was doing all the pre-vis stuff, did it better than the guys who did the movie.
It Led To Outside Criticism Toward The Movie And Gyllenhaal
TheRoad Housefight scenes in question were some of the more controversial elements of the action film. Back in March,John Wick’s Scott Adkins, who is well-versed in stunt work and action scenes, came after the film for its use of CGI, writing, “what’s with the CGI fight scenes.” He noted that Patrick Swayze, the lead in1989’sRoad House,did not need computer-assisted fights, and explained that a 2006 film calledThe Rebeldid far better in using the effect sparingly.
Critiques like this led to the diminishing of Gyllenhaal, as some felt that the actor should not have needed to rely on CGI so much. As Linden explains in the video, McGregor himself is an intense fighter who could instantly learn multi-step fight choreography for the screen. While McGregor’s work, on the one hand, makes theRoad Housescenesstand out as more realistic, the CGI was seen as a detractor to many, despite the amount of work that went into it.
Not everyone, however, shares the opinion thatRoad House’s CGI detracts from its value. This recent Corridor Crew episode was not the only time the VFX crew has highlighted its CGI work. Back in June,the team broke down theseRoad Housescenes, noting that they thought it was a “really successful” moment and “different from anything else [they’ve] seen in a fight scene.” Because of the contentiousness of the first film’s CGI, it will be interesting to see howRoad House 2either curbs or maintains these VFX techniques.
Road House
Cast
Road House is a remake of the original 1989 film, which followed protagonist Dalton, a Ph.D. educated bouncer at the roughest bar in the south known as the Double Deuce. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Dalton, with two major changes including Dalton being a retired UFC fighter and the bar locale being in the Florida Keys.
