Son of Dalton is no Bigger or Better
If instead of making "Road House 2: Last Call" as a sequel, called it just "Last Call" and got rid of all the extremely weak and obvious connections to "Road House" it still wouldn't have been a good movie but at least it wouldn't have come across as a sequel trying to prosper on the back of Patrick Swayze and "Road House". But they didn't and so what you get in "Road House 2" is a less than solid storyline which at times tries to pay homage to the original and hopes that having a few hunky actors, some hot actresses, a cliche loud bad guy and a few fights will be enough to make you part with your money. Actually that probably makes "Road House 2" sound terrible because it's not quite that bad and once you totally remove your brain the various fight sequences no matter how choreographed they come across are entertaining.
Whilst working undercover on a drug bust, DEA agent Shane Tanner (Johnathon Schaech) learns that his Uncle Nate (Will Patton - Remember the Titans), the man who raised him whilst his father the legendary bouncer Dalton worked, has been hospitalised, rushes down to be there for him. And whilst there Shane quickly discovers that former bouncer Wild Bill (Jake Busey) put Nate in hospital because he wants Nate's club The Black Pelican as it's in the perfect location for bringing in drugs through the swamps. Unwilling to let Bill get away with what he's done Shane keeps the club running whilst giving Bill and his heavies a taste of their own medicine and in doing so discovering that Bill and the people he works for are connected to the murder of his father many years earlier.
Now to be frank Patrick Swayze's "Road House" wasn't some great piece of movie making but it entertained with it's mix of action and cheesy dialogue but it didn't need a sequel especially one which arrives straight to video 17 years later. And that is one of a long list of issues because the way it connects to the original with Dalton's son, never knew he had one, coming to the aid of his Uncle who raised him is poor. It does try to build up some mystery as to why Uncle Nate raised Shane but the minute we learn what happened to Dalton you can see the connection between Shane and the bad guys long before they even try to explain it. Maybe I am being harsh but there is little which will surprise you when it comes to the storyline and some twists are almost comical as they are thrown in without any real grounding, as in Beau the attractive blonde who Shane starts dating actually having served in the army.
Of course with this being a sequel "Road House 2" also has to try and pay homage to what was good about the original but then it doesn't do such a great job. There is the corny "I thought you would be bigger" which crops up and then there are the rules of being a bouncer which seem to intentionally parody the originals. It doesn't really work and rather than feeling like it is paying homage almost feels like it is making fun of what was entertaining in the original.
Plus of course there is the action and in some ways this is where "Road House 2" actually comes good, well sort of. The thing is that some of the action is seriously choreographed and feels as if the actors are stepping through a routine rather than actually fighting. It's not all like that and the final crescendo of action at least feels more pacey as fists and roundhouses fly. The action really is the best thing about "Road House 2" and that's not much of a compliment when I say I have seen a lot better.
As for the acting well no one really does anything more than play a 2 dimensional cliche character. Johnathon Schaech is interesting as Dalton's son Shane but that is purely because he is very different to how Swayze played his father all those years earlier and to be honest Schaech doesn't have the charisma of Swayze. Schaech is not the only one as Will Patton looks like he is wondering why he agreed to be in the movie as Shane's Uncle Nate and Jake Busey, son of Gary, goes well over the top as Wild Bill the rap loving drug dealer, cliche or what, who wants Nate's bar which you must question why it's such a busy place when it's in the middle of nowhere and in a swamp. And sadly whilst she is attractive Ellen Hollman is the token blonde love interest Beau which is a prerequisite of this sort of movie.
What this all boils down to is that whilst not terrible "Road House 2: Last Call" is not a good movie. Ironically if they had written it as a standalone movie and lost all the connection to the original it would have been okay but by trying to connect it to "Road House" makes it feel weak by comparison.
