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The first trailer for the Road House reboot was released yesterday and I have to say, Conor McGregor is the best part of it. When we press play, we are immediately introduced to Elwood Dalton (played by Jake Gyllenhaal), who is squared off with a group of what I assume are thugs. He asks them “Do you have insurance. Do you have dental?” before commencing to slap the bejesus out of each one. Yes, I said slap, and that’s exactly what he did.
It was a cheesy line delivered by a guy who doesn’t scream badass. When the late, great Patrick Swayze passed away, he took the role of Dalton with him. Nobody will ever be able to fill those shoes. This was just Amazon capitalizing on the cult status of a classic that won the hearts of millions. I’m having a hard time convincing myself that this never-asked-for remake could possibly become the fan favorite the original turned out to be.
Conor McGregor is essentially playing himself
Conor has a decent amount of screen time in this trailer, which leads me to believe he has a pretty substantial role in the film. When we first see the Irish superstar, he has shown up at the Road House, clearly sent by some crime lord to cause mayhem at the bar where everyone in town hangs out. He’s carrying what looks like a mic stand and says “What’s up fellas. I hope you’re having a smashing time” as he smashes the mic stand into the table and then onto another table. Again, the dialogue is cheesy, but McGregor makes it work.
The next scene shows Conor and Gyllenhaal facing each other as the former champ-champ leans in to say, “You should never let anyone get this close” and BAM! Conor has headbutted the daylights out of poor Jake. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud because it was goofy and campy, but I dug it so much more than the scenes where they’re trying to push Jake Gyllenhaal as a fast-talking, quick-witted hardass. I don’t know if it’s Gyllenhaal that bothers me more or the way they re-wrote Dalton into some slick-talking joke machine.
McGregor, on the other hand, comes off as wild and unhinged, much like he does in his self-made videos. But, here in this movie, where he’s the big bad, it works. It’s hard to say whether Conor McGregor has a future in cinema, but if the powers that be in Hollywood were to feed him a steady diet of roles like these, he’d probably do well.
All that said, there is something to consider. The movie will be airing on Amazon Prime Video, so it will be easy to access. It’s almost guaranteed to be a hit simply because it’s streaming. The real test of star power is if you can bring money to the box office. That remains to be seen.
When is Conor McGregor fighting again?
Funny you should ask, because there seems to be something cooking. But first, let me give you some history. We were told for over a year that Conor would be back in late 2022 or early 2023, but that never came to pass. Then we were told he’d compete at UFC 300. Those plans were shot down by McGregor’s coach, John Kavanagh, who said the UFC wanted to have him fight at International Fight Week. That might have been shot down last weekend when Dana White said Conor wouldn’t be competing in June (Did he mean late June into early July aka IFL week?) and that when Conor was ready to fight again, he’d let us know.
So, now, you’re all caught up. Almost. McGregor took to X (formerly Twitter) in the wee hours this morning to post the following:
Now, I don’t know if there is anything to this, but on the off-chance there is, I hope he’s shaking the UFC down for a mega payday. Love him or hate him, he’s doing the UFC a favor, not the other way around. But he’s been out of the fight game for three years, and the minutes on his athletic career clock are flying by. If he plans on keeping his name relevant in the sport, he should probably compete sooner rather than later. Time waits for no man, not even Conor McGregor.
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