It's been 20 years since Patrick Swayze cleaned up that other Road House that Kevin Tighe owned in the original Road House. He's got a son now who's a chip off the old karate block and DEA agent to boot played by Jonathan Schaech.

Business gets combined with pleasure and vengeance when Schaech is busy trying to take down a drug kingpin. That selfsame drug kingpin is also looking to move in on the bar owned by Will Patton who is Schaech's uncle. This road house is in the Louisiana bayous on a well traveled road that the cartels use for smuggling. Oh, and did we say that this same crowd murdered Swayze before the action of this film takes place.

It's all just a little too neatly conveniently wrapped up in a nice package, all of Schaech's issues getting resolved at once. And this Road House certainly does not have the great performance of Ben Gazzara who was the head villain there. Richard Norton and Jake Busey just don't enter into that class.

One to watch for in this film is Marisa Quintanilla a pretty, but deadly assassin. Her chick fight with Ellen Hollman is one for the books.

Road House 2: Last Call just does not have the style of the original Road House. No wonder Patrick Swayze declined participation.

Lots of successful Hollywood films end up getting straight-to-video sequels x amount of years along the line, and this is such a film. It has no personal connections to the first film, and it isn't even particularly similar – the hero in this flick isn't a bouncer at all, but instead a bar owner drafted in to help rid his establishment of drug dealers. As it goes, ROAD HOUSE 2 isn't bad at all; it's an ordinary film, yes, but it delivers the goods in terms of action and excitement and not every film does that these days (take a random Seagal movie, for example).

The plot is predictable but the cast isn't. There's a lot of unfamiliar talent here, the kind of actors that rarely stray outside the zones of low budget sequels and television series, but there are some notable faces. Chubby William Ragsdale, playing a bouncer, is the kid who was scared out of his wits by Chris Sarandon in the FRIGHT NIGHT movies back in the '80s. Overacting bad guy Jake Busey is the spitting image of his well known father Gary, and he seems just as determined to go way over the top, channelling his dad's spirit in his portrayal of a slightly psychotic criminal bad guy. Richard Norton, the Australian martial artist, has a little fun as a sinister gangster type, although he isn't given much chance to show off his skills here. Will Patton, a character best known for his supporting turns in blockbuster fare like Armageddon, is surprisingly convincing as an ageing action hero in a role originally intended for the original's Patrick Swayze. Best of all, unknown leading man Johnathon Schaech is good enough to add some charisma along with his muscles.

The main thing of importance for this genre is that it provides fitfully exciting action scenes, and this is a film that delivers the goods. The fist-fights are well choreographed and hard hitting, with the players using some genuine skill as the beat the living daylights out of each other. The shoot-outs and car explosions are less impressive, and more than a little cheesy, but that's par for the course. Director Scott Ziehl delivers a film with strong pacing and decent action, and you can't wish for a whole lot more than that. Fans expecting this to live up to the original should become more acquainted with the shelves at their local DVD rental store.

For all the people who gave this film a ten, you should be rounded up and shot. I can understand a varying taste, but this film was a bomb.

Allegedly, Patrick Swayze was originally supposed to play the bar owner. I wish that had been true because that character is very awesome in this film, but pales in comparison to Swayze. Also, I find it annoying that the film needed to compensate for him absence by referencing his murder so many times. (I don't know which I find more disturbing: the over-using of references, or the fact they killed off a cinematic hero.) With Swayze gone, this film has virtually no connection to the first. It does not even take place in the same bar. In my personal opinion, writing the last few references out of the script and giving this film a new title (rather than being a sequel) might have given it some box office time. It does, however, have a midget and stars the guy from "Doom Generation".

And since the director is best known for "Cruel Intentions 3", I guess a "Road House 2" shouldn't be a shock.

The only redeeming quality to this film (besides the midget) was the humor of Jake Busey. While not supposed to be funny, seeing Jake look and act just like his father and be a rap-listening gangster was just so silly to me. Oh, and there are some nice looking girls, too, who were probably lied to about what this would do for their careers. Sorry girls, you're going straight to video.

I would say rent this if you're a die-hard Road House fan, but the truth is this film does nothing but tarnish the good name of the original. Yes, there's some great fights (the same guy gets beat up like six times) but nothing like the scenes in Road House.