Road House 2: Last Call (2006)

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The original "Roadhouse" ranked as an invigorating, hard-knuckled, bruiser of a B-picture that benefited tremendously from good performances by Patrick Swayze, Ben Gazzara, and Sam Elliot, along with several tough-as-nails fights, and red-hot babe chicks with bosomy charms. Of course, the in-name sequel only "Roadhouse 2: Last Call" emerges as just another cash-in quickly follow-up film that has little to do with the original, but it isn't as tame or lame as the usual straight-to-video sequel. In other words, "Roadhouse 2" ain't half-bad, even if it is strictly formula without anything substantial to set it apart from the hundreds of other knuckle-busting, testosterone thrillers.Nate Tanner (Will Patton of "The Rapture")owns a popular nightclub in the sticks called the Black Pelican, and he has a hard time with the local narcotics smuggler, Will Bill (Jake Busey of "Starship Troopers"), who wants the Pelican owing to its'"location, location, location" promixity to his drug smuggling operation. When Nate refuses to sell out, Will Bill sends his muscle men out to change his mind. They don't succeed it changing Nate's mind. However, they beat him up sufficiently to put him in the hospital. Naturally, the local constabulary complains that they are too undermanned to handle the investigation. Actually, they're on the villain's payroll. Meanwhile, troubleshooting DEA agent Shane Tanner (Johnathon Schaech of "Hush" and "The Doom Generation") is having his own problems. He cannot make the big bust that his superiors expect him to make. When he learns that his uncle is in the hospital, Shane takes time off to visit him down in Louisiana. On the way to his uncle's bar, he happens upon a hopelessly pretty blonde, Beau (newcomer Ellen Hollman) changing a flat tire on her jeep and gives her a hand. Later, we discover that not only is Beau an elementary school teacher, but she also can kick, punch, stab, and shoot with the best of them. According to Beau, she acquired these implausible skills during her stay in the Army that helped her afford her college education. When he arrives at the Black Pelican, Shane discovers that the local drug dealers are selling product on his premises, and he gives them the boot. Reprisals are swift and sure, but Shane handles them without difficulty. He calls in help from his DEA buddies and sets up a meeting with Wild Bill and nearly busts Bill after a bullet-blasting gun battle at his bar. Jurisdictional boundaries are infringed upon by the government guys, and so the DEA have to back and let the local authorities handle the situation. Meantime, Nate recovers from his wounds while Beau and Shane take a shine to each other. In the background, Wild Bill's boss Victor Cross (Australian kickboxing sensation Richard Norton) steps in to see if he can't resolve of Wild Bill's predicament with Shane. It seems that Shane and Victor had a little run-in when Shane was a rookie Louisiana State Trooper. Evidently, our hero busted Victor for pot and coke. Since then Victor has migrated to Miami and has the world by the tail as a big-time drug smuggler. As it turns out, we learn late in the fourth quarter that Victor smoked Shane's father by accident because dad was driving Shane's car. Precisely speaking, Victor ordered nasty old Will Bill to pull the trigger. This comes out during a confessional moment between the two adversaries. "Roadhouse 2: Last Call" isn't a classic, but it does pack a solid punch or two. In other words, it stacks up better than the usual direct-to-video nonsense. Of course, it shouldn't have been made in the first place, but it's not a complete waste of time. Director Scott Ziehl keeps things popping throughout this 86 minute potboiler and he never wears out his welcome. Indestructible Will Patton appears to be playing the sort-of-Sam Elliot role. The fights are better-than-average, too, and the women are easy on the eye.

If I had never seen the first Road House, then I guess this movie might get one more star, but even then that makes it a 3 star movie. For that matter I was really surprised as to the relatively high rating it currently has.In reality, I was not able to finish this movie, as it was painful. Where it went wrong (at least the most obvious way) is that it pretty much parallels the original exactly even though the original plot is still referenced. This doesn't really make sense and doesn't work. Also, the acting is weak...I never felt like I was into the movie yet I felt like I was watching people act. Even good actors like Busey don't work out, probably due to the screenplay or maybe the awkward editing. The strangest thing is that the movie feels like a mid 90's B movie, yet is made in 06. I am not sure as to why, but then again, this often seems to happen with sequels for some reason. The music, the look, and the whole overall feel reminds me of movies you saw 10 years ago on Cinemax late at night. The strangest thing of all is that I am also expecting Ja Rule to come in at some point...often it reminds me of more current movies with rappers as actors.The most irritating thing is love interest girl who's character seems like a total rip off of the Lois Lane character on Smallville which is also quite annoying. And lets not forget the fakest sounding "southern accents" I have heard since Walk the Line. I realize this is common place in movies, but no accent at all would work better than attempting to sound like you are from that universal hick place on TV where anyone from any southern state (or KY and WV) sound exactly the same. Sure, people in desert towns in AZ sound just like people in Southeastern states 2000+ miles away. That was wearing thin 10 years ago in the B movies where technique came from. Why do writers / directors make such decisions? Bottom line: I would truly not recommend this if you are a fan of Road House or if you like good movies. Also, if you have not seen it yet, don't spoil it by seeing this version first. The original Road House was one of those accidental classics that people love and watch over and over. It was an unexpected success like American Graffiti, Dazed and Confused, and more recently Office Space, Fast and Furious (only the first one!), and Napolean Dynamite. Why did they spoil it!!!???They should have never made a sequel to Road House other than a high budget version with the right actors / director. Sure, you can never top the original (ex: Bad News Bears, The Longest Yard, etc.), but at least if you can do it right it will be presentable as is the case with the examples I mentioned. But to make a low budget, off-network, self production of Road House is criminal.

this movie is a pile of rubbish , and to try and base it the first is just a farce , the main thing that let it down for me was the usage of the one liners out of the first one , which once said by classic actors such as Sam Elliot can not be reproduced in any way , i mean when Dalton phones wade in the 1st , and he ends the call with stay cool that was great , but when the chump rings the DEA agent back home and he ends the call with stay cool it doesn't have the same ring now really does it , there are other ones but I cant be bothered to post em up , but I hope u get my drift ,they should of named this roadhouse wannabe ..........

"Direct-to-video" is a phrase that never sounds promising to the consumer unless its a direct-to-video sequel to something that went direct-to-video in the first place. Despite this, studios have insisted on releasing numerous direct-to-video sequels over the years to cult hits. I don't think it even needs to be mentioned that these sequels rank among some of the worst titles of all time, including THE HITCHER II, STARSHIP TROOPERS 2, and CRUEL INTENTIONS 3. It's fitting that ROAD HOUSE 2 was helmed by Scott Ziehl as he was also the man in charge of ruining the Cruel Intentions series. Like his entry in the Cruel Intentions trilogy, Ziehl takes elements that made the first ROAD HOUSE a great guy flick, and rehashes them with no success whatsoever. This is no sequel, this is a remake all the way. Various lines from the original are repeated, plot points cut and pasted, and scenes are replicated almost shot-for-shot from the first one. The one thing that could not be duplicated were the amazing fight scenes, which made ROAD HOUSE what it was. Here, we get clumsily directed fight sequences that are either too short or too long and seemingly planned out and shot within an hour. Compare that with its predecessor's fight scenes that look like they took months and months to prepare. Ziehl is capable of directing action as he did well with the 2001 remake of EARTH VS. THE SPIDER, but none of the talent shown there comes through in this mess. It's not completely his fault, as the screenplay is very, very poorly written and clunky. I don't care if something goes direct-to-video, a good script is still required. Someone should keep that mind while continuously churning these low-budget, direct-to-DVD movies out. Skip it entirely. 1/10