I guess we’re just trying to replay the 1980s all over again. So far we’ve had a remake of RoboCop, the remake of Red Dawn, plans for another Terminator, and now a remake of the quintessential 1980s kick-ass film Road House. Though we’ve been hearing about this one for a while, the project now has a director in Rob Cohen, the man behind such contemporary action classics as The Fast and the Furious and xXx.
Road House is one of those films that looked dated by 1991. Made in 1989, it starred Patrick Swayze (alongside his mullet) as bouncer James Dalton, who rides into a Missouri town to clean up a violent bar. He strikes up a romance with sexy doctor Kelly Lynch, hangs out with bouncer buddy Sam Elliott, and does badass battle with villain Ben Gazzara. It’s a Western for the 1980s, featuring some good music and lots of kicking.
Trying to reboot Road House might not be such a bad idea actually. Few people will claim the original as a classic, but it’s a very fun slice of action (as we discussed in our list of the Top 100 Action Movies). The plot itself is not so ingrained in the 1980s that it cannot be re-adapted and given that Cohen has been able to bring some pretty enjoyable – if lightweight – action movies to the big screen, I see no reason why he will not be successful with Road House.
My one objection is that this remake is just another in a long line of reboots or sequels from the 1980s and 90s. There seems to be a dearth of big budget imagination in Hollywood right now. We can make reboots and sequels for awhile, but eventually we’re going to get to the point where there’s nothing left to be remade. What will we do when that happens?
Tell us, what do you think of the Road House remake? Is Rob Cohen the right man for it? And who will ever be able to put on Patrick Swayze’s mullet? Let us know in the comments.
