This remake of the classic 1975 science fiction film follows the same basic story line but focuses far more on the sports action of the fictional game at its center. Chris Klein stars as all-American athlete Jonathan Cross, the most popular player of "Rollerball," a violent 21st century sport mixing elements of basketball, hockey, roller derby, and extreme sports, along with the development of live wagering that tracks each game's action. Along with his friends and teammates Marcus (L.L. Cool J)
and Aurora (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), Jonathan is living the life of a media celebrity and millionaire, enjoying the adoration of fans and all of the perks that his fame brings. When the creator of Rollerball, Alexi Petrovich (Jean Reno), realizes that the sport's ratings spike during the on-court accidents that are de rigueur for the game, he schemes to create the bloody incidents that are popular with viewers but put the athletes in mortal jeopardy. Soon, Jonathan and his friends find themselves pawns in a vast corporate conspiracy in which their lives are far less important than profits. Rollerball (2002) also stars pop singer Pink in her acting debut. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
The French accents go from Canadian to European within a sentence, and that's only from the ones I could pick up. Who knows what other languages were massacred in the process?
Rollerball looks like a checklist shaped by a 15-year-old mallrat: thrashing metal track, skateboards, motorbikes, cracked heads and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos with her top off.
Rollerball is rigged to play as a critique of the corporate media's ruthlessly sensational tactics (overseas, that is), but even a junior-high hockey goalie could recognize it as a cheesy product of such sensationalism itself.
Despite delivering a sexy Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, this 5-mph trainwreck is a badly executed attempt at action that can't even be relied upon to deliver mindless and gratuitous violence.
What is there to say about this remake of the classic film? words aren't enough to describe the abomination that is Rollerball. The film is dreadful with a bad script, bad acting which goes well with the bad actors, and what surprises me is that it was made by John McTiernan the same director who directed some
monumental action films such as Die Hard, Predator and The Hunt For Red October. This is simply a bad film made by a once good director. The story is terrible and the cast are all of bunch talentless morons that make this less enjoyable by the minute. The thing that was interesting about the film was Slipknot's cameo, and as a big metalhead, I thought it was pretty cool. But to say that a band salvaged a dreadful film is plainly stupid. Rollerball belongs on the same list as other lackluster "re imaginings" as most recent horror films. This is a dreaful train wreck and it insults you from start to finsh. Don't be fooled by the "cool" action scenes" they're not that great. The original 1975 classic Rollerball is the definitive version, and those who've seen this train wreck should check out the original, you'll at least redeem your senses by watching a terrific classic. This film should be avoided like an Uwe Boll film. At least Uwe Boll films are humorously entertaining, this trash is simply sad.
May 13, 2011
Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski
Super Reviewer
While it's not an incredible movie or defining of the genre, this is a fun movie that never tried to be above itself. It took a pre-existing concept and went with it, I think the main reason it was slammed so hard is that it really should have been done a decade before or after. People just didn't want to see a sci-fi
action movie outside of something like the Matrix, except maybe for me. I really had a lot of fun with this and I think the overall product is interesting to say the least.
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