The Big Picture

Road House 2: Last Call
is a soulless sequel that fails to live up to the original’s legacy.
Killing off Dalton casts a pall over the film, making it illogical and disappointing.
The forced action scenes and weak script make it clear that this sequel should never have been made.

In the original Road House, Patrick Swayze’s character James Dalton famously said, “Pain don’t hurt.” He apparently never saw Road House 2: Last Call. Yes, before Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregorremade the 1989 Swayze classic, there was actually an official Road House sequel released directly to video in 2006. And watching it sure does hurt.

The film stars Johnathon Schaech as Shane Tanner, a New York City DEA agent and the son of the legendary Dalton. Considering there were only 17 years between the films and Dalton never mentioned having a son, it’s probably best to just accept it and move on. However, the truly maddening aspect of the sequel is that when the movie opens, the beloved Dalton, the best cooler in the business and the valiant hero who brought justice to the Double Deuce bar, is dead.

Road House A bouncer hired to clean up the baddest honkytonk in a Missouri town. Armed with a black belt in karate and a Ph.D. in philosophy, Patrick Swayze sets out to tame the Double Deuce for its owner.Release Date May 19, 1989 Director Rowdy Herrington Cast Patrick swayze , Kelly Lynch , Sam Elliott , Ben Gazzara , Marshall R. Teague , Julie Michaels , Red West , Sunshine Parker Runtime 114 Minutes

How ‘Road House 2: Last Call’ Came to Exist
Image via Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

According to Schaech, who also had a writing credit on the film, Road House 2: Last Call was intended to be a remake, not a sequel. That’s when Sony Pictures Home Entertainment stepped in. At the time, Sony had been releasing low-budget, direct-to-video sequels to popular films, often with little or no connection to the source material, such as Cruel Intentions 2, Hollow Man 2, and Single White Female 2: The Psycho.

Scott Ziehl, the man behind Sony’s Cruel Intentions 3, directed Road House 2: Last Call, and he oversaw a cast that also featured Jake Busey (Starship Troopers) and Will Patton, whose underrated acting career gained new followers after his role as Garrett Randall in Seasons 3 and 4 of Yellowstone. Richard Norton, Ellen Hollman, and Marisa Quintanilla rounded out the cast. The filmmakers approached Swayze about reprising his role as Dalton, but he declined, showing that he could still spot trouble like an ace cooler.

Related ‘Road House’ Earns Knockout Viewership Numbers in Its First Two Weeks Jake Gyllenhaal stars in Doug Liman’s remake.

The Many Problems with ‘Road House 2: Last Call’

In the sequel, Dalton’s son Shane gets pulled into a Louisiana blood feud when his uncle Nate (Patton), who owns the Black Pelican road house, gets brutally beaten by the dastardly Wild Bill (Busey), a former employee who is intent on acquiring the bar for Miami-based crime boss Victor Cross (Norton). It just so happens that the Black Pelican is in the perfect location to facilitate Cross’s drug-smuggling operations, and he won’t take “no” for an answer. Shane shows up in town, has a meet cute with the lovely Beau (Hollman) over a flat tire, and then proceeds to defend his uncle and the Black Pelican from the psychotic duo of Wild Bill and Cross. Mayhem ensues.

Aside from the typical acting and writing pitfalls of such low-budget fare, one of the film’s more glaring weaknesses are the overly choreographed fight scenes that make it seem more like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Road House. Apparently, everyone in this small Southern town is a karate expert, including Shane’s love interest Beau, an elementary school teacher and former Army vet who goes full ninja in the film’s final climactic battle. About the only person without a black belt is Wild Bill, and Busey’s clumsy, lumbering movements make him a laughable adversary for the slick Schaech. In their final confrontation, Shane side-kicks Wild Bill through an upstairs window of the Black Pelican and impales him on the bar’s wooden mascot. Pretty sure that’s how Casablanca ended.

Of course, the film’s biggest problem is Dalton’s off-screen murder. Shane started his law enforcement career as a Louisiana state trooper. One day, he came home to find his father shot to death. Instead of doggedly investigating the murder and apprehending the killer, he hightailed it to New York and became a DEA agent. Not exactly the ideal hero’s journey. Yet, in a miraculous coincidence, Cross and Wild Bill were responsible for Dalton’s death. Turns out that Shane had angered Cross while performing his state trooper duties, so Cross ordered Wild Bill to kill him, only for Wild Bill to shoot Dalton by mistake. The absurd circumstances of his death aside, killing the beloved Dalton casts a pall over the original film and renders this unwanted sequel soulless.

Possible Solutions to Dalton’s Death

Once Swayze refused to appear in the movie, the filmmakers had to address why Dalton wasn’t involved. Unfortunately, they picked the absolute worst way to do it. Why even make Dalton Shane’s father? Shane was basically raised by his Uncle Nate because Dalton “traveled around a lot.” Just make Dalton the uncle and Nate the father. That way, fans know that Dalton is alive and well and still having awesome adventures. There could even be talk of bringing in Dalton to help, but Shane wants to handle things and prove to his father that he’s his own man. The Dalton family gets a new chapter of badassery, and no one has to think about the legendary James Dalton being dead.

If Dalton must die, at least make his death mean something. Why is the beating of Shane’s uncle what brings him back home? Make Dalton’s death the inciting incident. The son is coming home to avenge his father. Dalton should be lionized. Make each scene one step closer to getting justice for Dalton. The way it is now, Shane returns home to protect his uncle and ends up accidentally solving Dalton’s murder thanks to a remarkable coincidence. That’s not good enough. Mystery elements could even be introduced to heighten the drama. Who killed Dalton? Was it a disgruntled employee, an old rival, or a crazy drug kingpin? Regardless, the key point is that Dalton’s death should drive the plot, not be a mere afterthought.

In the end, Road House 2: Last Call fails to live up to the original’s legacy. Schaech’s Shane is a flickering match compared to the charismatic supernova of Swayze’s Dalton, and the forced action scenes and illogical script scream direct-to-video. Any hope for a good time ended with the mindbogglingly poor decision to kill Dalton. All the gratuitous gun battles and denim-clad kung fu kicks in the world can’t make amends for that unforgivable sin.

Road House 2: Last Call is available for streaming on VUDU in the U.S.

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