You might be appalled by Rollerball (in fact, you probably should be), but you won't be bored.
Rollerball (2002)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:115
Fresh:4
Rotten:111
Average Rating:2.5/10
Consensus: Removing the social critique of the original, this updated version of Rollerball is violent, confusing, and choppy. Klein makes for a bland hero.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for violence, extreme sports action, sensuality, language and some drug references
Runtime: 3 hrs 14 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:Feb 8, 2002 Wide
Box Office: $18,894,427
Synopsis: It's the year 2005; the new sport of Rollerball is hugely popular in the unstable, ex-Soviet republics of South Asia. Marcus Ridley (LL Cool J) invites NHL-hopeful Jonathan Cross (Chris Klein) to... It's the year 2005; the new sport of Rollerball is hugely popular in the unstable, ex-Soviet republics of South Asia. Marcus Ridley (LL Cool J) invites NHL-hopeful Jonathan Cross (Chris Klein) to join him playing for the Zhambel Horsemen, in Kazahkstan. The highly paid Marcus and Jonathon are teamed with low-paid locals, who are routinely severely injured in the game, which is an extraordinarily violent extension of roller derby involving motorcycles, a metal ball, and many trappings of the World Wrestling Federation. Soon the team's star and the darling of promoter Alexi Petrovich (Jean Reno), Jonathan, is thrilled by the high-octane sport, the hype, the sports cars, and female team mate Aurora (a glowering, scar-faced Rebecca Romijm-Stamos). But gradually Jonathan discovers that the cynical Alexi and his opportunistic assistant Sanjay (Naveen Andrews) will go to any lengths to manipulate the game in order to provide an evermore gory spectacle and improve the game's television ratings. Director John McTiernan's movie is grungy and even more violent than the original 1975 ROLLERBALL. He conveys the visceral nature of the game with sharply edited action sequences and a goosed-up soundtrack, and then he shows the volatile game convulsively spinning out of control and causing social upheaval. [More]
Starring: Chris Klein, LL Cool J, Jean Reno, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos
Starring: Chris Klein, LL Cool J, Jean Reno, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Naveen, Andrew Bryniarski
Director: John McTiernan
Director: John McTiernan
Screenwriter: John Pogue, Larry Ferguson
Producer: Charles Roven, Beau St. Clair, John McTiernan
Composer: Eric Serra
Studio: MGM/UA
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Reviews for Rollerball
...without a doubt the single most atrocious and disgraceful major studio release of the new millennium.
Most probably the only people who would get a kick out of a movie of Rollerball's ilk are wrestling fans or those who are able to see it for free.
The new version just makes you feel like you've been watching a lame late-night rerun while stuck in a thunderdome.
It's happy to indulge in exactly the groveling-for-ratings violent antics that it pretends to rebuke.
[T]his slop doesn't even have potential as a cult film, as it's too loud to shout insults at the screen.
The characters are basically uninteresting, the exotic locale isn't used properly, and we know that the hero's going to make it through and so is his girl, so why bother?
John McTiernan's botched remake may be subtler than Norman Jewison's 1975 ultraviolent futuristic corporate-sports saga. It's also stupider.
It's almost enough to make Burton's Apes retread seem like a work of artistic ingenuity.
Yup. Yet another remake of one of my childhood faves has been bastardized.
For more fun I would recommend an evening at the bowling alley instead.
Klein is out of his league, on and off the Rollerball court, and his determined efforts to behave like a studly action hero seldom rise above the level of a good try.
Rollerball has all the subtlety of a video game and it's aimed squarely at those who play them.
McTiernan and company do take one more thing from Jewison's original: the game still doesn't make any sense, but now the plot doesn't either.
The new Rollerball is not so much a remake of Norman Jewison's 1975 socio-political sports thriller but a complete massacre of the idea, which wasn't that good to begin with.
Like a gerbil exercising in a wheel, this movie spins and spins, generating a lot of action and noise, but getting absolutely nowhere.
Latest News for Rollerball
October 31, 2006:
RTIndie: Can Indie Studios Survive Without Big Studio Backing?
With the sale of independent-minded ThinkFilm last week, can indie film distributors survive without big studio backing? More...
July 15, 2005:
LL Cool J Finds a Multi-Pic Home at Lions Gate
The Hollywood Reporter brings news of a deal between actor/rapper LL Cool J and Lions Gate Films. Although the exact numbers have not been released, Mr. J (born as: James Todd... More...
July 11, 2005:
Pogue Pens Remake of a French Fright Flick
Screenwriter John Pogue has sold his pitch for a remake of the 2002 French horror film "Malefique" to Paramount, says Variety. Producer Neal Moritz... More...
June 05, 2001:
Romijn-Stamos, cast as the scarred Aurora the day before production started, had to learn to ride a hog. Fast. ![]()
More...
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