We can actually expect the expected right now as everyone knows that Prime Video will drop the highly-anticipated remake of the beloved 1989 Patrick Swayze classic, Road House tomorrow, March 21. With acclaimed director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Edge of Tomorrow) behind the camera and Jake Gyllenhaal stepping into Swayze’s iconic role, this new take on Road House looks primed to do justice to the original whilst dating it for a new generation.
When an ex-UFC fighter (Gyllenhaal) heads to the Florida Keys for a fresh start as a roadhouse bouncer, he quickly realises that it is not all sunshine and margaritas. No sooner as he is there, the adrenaline-pumping action kicks in as Gyllenhaal’s character comes face to face with the dark underbelly lurking beneath this seemingly idyllic setting.
Gyllenhaal is joined by a huge ensemble cast including Daniela Melchior (The Suicide Squad, Fast X), Billy Magnussen (No Time To Die, Lift), Jessica Williams (Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, “Shrinking”), Joaquim de Almeida (Fast X, Missing), Conor McGregor (making his feature film debut), Lukas Gage (“The White Lotus”, Smile 2), Beau Knapp (Little Dixie, The Guilty), Darren Barnet (Gran Turismo, Anyone But You), Travis Van Winkle (“FUBAR”, Friday the 13th), and Hannah Love Lanier.
With the film all set to come running out of its corner, we thought now was a better time than ever to recommend similarly-themed films as you’re bound to be left with a mighty itch for more of the same as soon as it’s over. So, here follows a selection of films that share similar trappings that we think you just might love like there’s no tomorrow.
The original Road House still packs a punch 35 years later. Despite the dated hairstyles, the film is just as engrossing as it always was.
After making his mark with the dark thriller Jack’s Back, director Rowdy Herrington tried his hand at action with this film and succeeded. Starring Patrick Swayze as Dalton, an elite bouncer hired to clean up a rowdy Missouri bar, Road House combines thrilling action and really likeable characters with a simple good vs. evil storyline as Dalton faces off against a corrupt businessman trying to maintain control over the town. Even a nasty stab wound doesn’t stop Dalton, although it does catch the eye of the charming local doctor, played by Kelly Lynch.
With its crowd-pleasing mix of action, romance and bare-knuckle brawls, it’s no wonder Road House continues to draw in new viewers decades after its release. While Herrington went on to make other notable films like the Bruce Willis vehicle, Striking Distance, Road House remains a career highlight and a beloved cult classic.
This post-apocalyptic action film plays like a dusty, desert-set version of Road House starring Patrick Swayze. While lacking the inherent camp and pure fun of its bar brawling successor, Steel Dawn hits enough of the same beats, with Swayze as a roaming warrior who winds up protecting a small community.
In the film, Swayze happens upon an agricultural settlement run by Karsha (Brion James). After falling for her, Swayze’s character is let in on her secret asset – an underground water reservoir that the villainous Damnil (Anthony Zerbe) plans to seize along with her land. So of course, that results in Swayze unleashing his martial arts skills against Damnil’s cronies.
Steel Dawn arrived during the explosion of Mad Max imitators in the ’80s, but at the same time, one can’t help but wonder if we’d ever have gotten 1989’s Road House without Swayze first getting sand between his toes in this desert-set actioner.
Stanley Tong’s Rumble in the Bronx was the film that launched Jackie Chan into mainstream North American stardom. The film tells the story of Ma Hon Keong (Chan), a Hong Kong cop who travels to New York City to attend his uncle’s wedding. Arriving in the gritty streets of the Bronx, Keong offers to help out at his uncle’s neighbourhood grocery store while his uncle is on his honeymoon.
It doesn’t take long for Keong to befriend a local kid and fend off some petty thugs who are causing problems at the store. Unbeknownst to Keong, one of these small-time punks gets in way over his head in a dangerous criminal conspiracy. Blinded by greed, the thug’s actions draw his entire gang, the kid, Keong and the entire community into a deadly crossfire. With the local police unable to deal with the situation effectively, the resourceful Keong takes matters into his own hands. And as is to be expected in prettty much any Jackie Chan production, spectacular kung fu fisticuffs and outrageous action set-pieces ensue.
New Line Cinema acquired the international distribution rights to the film and commissioned a new score and English dub with Chan himself on board. The updated soundtrack swapped Chan’s credits song for the appropriately titled “Kung Fu” by rock band Ash, with lyrics that namecheck Chan and other popular Asian pop culture figures.
Ridley Scott’s neo-noir thriller Black Rain may be short on the brawls compared to the other films on this list, but it is nonetheless just as thrilling. Michael Douglas stars as a New York cop seeking justice far from home when he’s forced to escort a Japanese killer to Tokyo. But the killer escapes, plunging Douglas deeper into the Japanese underworld. To prevail, Douglas must play by its rules.
Originally, Paul Verhoeven was attached to direct, but left the project due to the slow development to go on to direct Total Recall. He later teamed up with Douglas for Basic Instinct.
Jackie Chan turned down the role of the villain Sato, fearing that audiences would prefer to see him as a hero. The role eventually went to Yûsaku Matsuda, who kept his terminal cancer secret during filming. Tragically, Matsuda died a few weeks after the premiere at the age of 40. The film is dedicated to him.
And last but by no means least is one of Van Damme’s finest films that cemented his status as a leading action hero: Lionheart, or Wrong Bet, or A.W.O.L., depending when and where you saw it.
Directed by his Bloodsport scribe Sheldon Lettich, this adrenaline-fueled story follows French Foreign Legion officer Lyon Gaultier, who deserts his post in Djibouti after his brother is brutally set on fire in a botched drug deal in LA. Strapped for cash but driven by vengeance, Lyon stumbles into the seedy world of underground fighting whilst plotting to avenge his brother’s death. Cynthia Caldera, the ruthless leader, sees potential in the shabby-yet-handsome new fighter and dubs him ‘Lionheart’. But as Lyon rises through the ranks, his sister-in-law’s medical bills keep on mounting. The odds are stacked against Lyon, who longs to help his brother’s family and the only way he can do that is to defeat Cynthia’s secret weapon, the savage champion, Attila.
What you may not know is that Lionheart is actually the result of two separate projects. Van Damme had written a storyline for an underground fight film called The Wrong Bet. Meanwhile, his friend Lettich was working on a script about the French Foreign Legion intended for Sylvester Stallone. Van Damme occasionally helped Lettich with French terminology and when the Legion movie hit a snag, they decided to incorporate that backstory into Van Damme’s The Wrong Bet and that’s how Lionheart came to be.
Road House debuts on Prime Video tomorrow, March 21, 2024.
