Ronda Rousey's Roadhouse

Let's start with an observation right off the bat: Ronda Rousey is the world's greatest fighter, and is building a career that is beginning to rival Serena Williams' for sheer dominance over the landscape of her sport. I am 100% confident that she is correct when she says that she would destroy Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a no holds barred fight. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like her. Plus she is hilarious, charming, beautiful, and generally astounding. All of this goes to say that I was more than a little intrigued today by the announcement in Variety that she will be starring in a remake of Roadhouse. The cult classic built around the idea that Patrick Swayze had an advanced degree in philosophy, but chose to instill order in rowdy saloons with his feet, knees, elbows, and fists.

There is an illustrious history of martial artists turned performer. Bruce Lee is, in many ways, the prototype of this transformation for American audiences, who for nearly thirty years displayed an insatiable desire to consume the work of those who came after Lee including Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan, Jean Claude Van Damme, Wesley Snipes, and personal favorite of this blog aikido master Stephen Segal (whose claims to have driven the Triads out of Hong Kong, and friendship with aikido enthusiast Vladimir Putin, are among my absolute favorite stories of weird celebrities in career decline). What all of these figures, with one exception, had in common was that they were profoundly lacking in anything approaching screen charisma. Chan is that exception, his roles in films like The Karate Kid demonstrated that his career had not left him bereft of acting chops. Chan aside, however, these martial artists turned actor were uniformly awful.

Which is why I am so optimistic for Rousey. She has real personality, and it has shone through even in dreck like the Entourage movie, and has been good in films like Furious 7. Her autobiography and interviews are often hilarious and always insightful, and she never fails to give off the impression of a real human being. Stephen Segal hasn't, as far as I can tell, ever seemed like a human being. Maybe she isn't the greatest technical actor, but neither was Swayze. What made him so dynamic was that his body moved with a grace and beauty that was impossible to counterfit. When you have that you don't need much else. Rousey has it in bucketfuls, and if she brings anything else of herself to the performance it should be a great remake. I can't wait to see it.