In Road House (2024), Elwood Dalton, a former MMA fighter, finds trouble when he accepts the job to restore order at a roadhouse. The movie is now streaming on Prime Video.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Frankie runs a roadhouse called The Road House in Glass Key, Florida. Lately, she has been dealing with the wrong clients.
A group of thugs come every night, thrash the place, and leave. Many of her bouncers have run off, and the cops are of no help.
Frankie visits an underground fighting event, hoping to hire a fighter named Carter Ford, but sees Elwood Dalton, someone even Carter Ford is afraid to fight with.
Frankie offers Dalton the job. At first, Dalton says no. Dalton is suffering from his past as an MMA fighter. A particular fight haunts him.
Eventually, Dalton accepts the offer and visits Glass Key. There, before arriving at The Road House, Dalton befriends Charlie and her father, Stephen, who run a book shop nearby.
Dalton makes his presence felt on his first day at The Road House by not only beating up the group that is terrorizing the place but also taking all of them to the hospital.
At the hospital, he meets Ellie, with whom he bonds later. Dalton makes a boat called The Boat, owned by Frankie, his home while he is in Glass Key.
The group that The Road House and Dalton are dealing with answers Ben Brandt. He comes from a family that has built half of Glass Key.
Ben Brandt intends to buy The Road House too, but Frankie isn’t giving it up. Without the Glass House, Ben’s dream of building a resort for the rich won’t come true.
At first, Frankie keeps all of this from Dalton. However, she knows that Ben is out of money. He is borrowing from the wrong guys, and when he doesn’t pay them back, she knows they are going to shut him down.
Dalton keeps being an obstacle in Ben’s way. They keenly notice the friendship Dalton shares with Charlie and Ellie.
During his time at Glass Key, Dalton builds rapport with all the staff at The Road House, develops a romantic relationship with Ellie, and gets acquainted with her father, who is a cop working for Ben.
Ben’s father, who is in prison, loses trust in his son. Hence, he calls a ruthless and psychotic assassin named Knox and instructs him to go check on his son.
Before Knox can go and knock Dalton out, Ben attempts to talk sweetly with Dalton, who is reminded of his last MMA fight by Ben.
Following that, Ben’s people not only raid The Road House and instigate a bar fight but also burn down Charlie and Stephen’s bookstore to send Dalton a message.
Ending explained:
Dalton backs off from a fight
Dalton faces Knox at The Road House. The two engage in a back-and-forth fight, but in the end, for some reason, Dalton steps away and decides not to fight further.
Many think Dalton has been scared off as he packs to leave town. The truth is, Dalton is afraid of what happens when he is pushed too far.
In his last MMA match, Dalton lost his senses. He grew angry and possibly killed his opponent, who was his friend it seems.
Dalton doesn’t want to cross that line again. Hence, he chooses to leave the town instead. That is, until he learns that Ben’s people burned down Charlie’s bookstore.
Charlie and her father had nothing to do with this. A furious Dalton then resolves to get back at Ben.
Saving Ellie
Dalton receives information from one of Brandt’s thugs about Brandt getting some of the money he needs.
Ellie’s father’s cops have been assigned to take care of the money. Dalton takes them down and steals Brandt’s money.
Brandt kidnaps Ellie to use her against Dalton so that he can get his money back. Ellie’s father is a partner with Brandt, and even he is angry when he learns Brandt has really kidnapped Ellie.
Dalton doesn’t bring any of Brandt’s money. He instead blows the boat he has come on and causes chaos. The boat they are on starts sinking, and even Knox has come to hunt them down.
Almost everyone survives the action in the ocean before landing at The Road House again.
The final fight
While Dalton is dealing with Brandt at The Road House, Knox shows up in a truck after having survived his boat crash.
Dalton and Knox engage in one last bout. At first, Knox comes out on top. When Brandt comes to celebrate their victory, Knox breaks his neck as well.
Following that, Dalton picks himself up. This time around, he is able to take Knox out.
With both Brandt and Knox down and Dalton standing on top, Ellie sees the true face of Dalton, the one he warned her about.
Ellie’s father arrives on the scene. He advises Dalton to leave town. He will take care of this. After all, Dalton saved his daughter.
Brandt’s money and Knox’s return
The Road House has been destroyed, but Frankie believes that the place is still fixable. Before leaving town, Dalton also meets Charlie.
As Dalton boards his bus, Stephen discovers a bag in his burned store. It has the book they gifted Dalton and Brandt’s money.
Stephen heads out to look for Dalton, but he has already left. Meanwhile, the mid-credits scene reveals that Knox had been taken to the hospital.
Knox survived. He escapes the hospital after attacking every person he crossed paths with there.
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