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Movies / On DVD / Rollerball
Rollerball

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Rollerball (2002)

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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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Release:

Jun 18, 2002

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Reviews for Rollerball

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41 - 60 (sorted by date)
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You might be appalled by Rollerball (in fact, you probably should be), but you won't be bored.

Full Review Source: eye WEEKLY | comment Comment
02/16/02
Jason Anderson
Jason Anderson
eye WEEKLY

...without a doubt the single most atrocious and disgraceful major studio release of the new millennium.

Full Review Source: Cinemaphile.org | comment Comment
02/15/02
David Keyes
David Keyes
Cinemaphile.org

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.

Full Review Source: Matt's Movie Reviews | comment Comment
02/15/02
Matt Easterbrook
Matt Easterbrook
Matt's Movie Reviews

The new version just makes you feel like you've been watching a lame late-night rerun while stuck in a thunderdome.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
02/15/02
Entertainment Weekly

It's happy to indulge in exactly the groveling-for-ratings violent antics that it pretends to rebuke.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
02/15/02
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

[T]his slop doesn't even have potential as a cult film, as it's too loud to shout insults at the screen.

comment Comment
02/14/02
Gregory Weinkauf
Gregory Weinkauf
New Times

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?

Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
02/14/02
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

John McTiernan's botched remake may be subtler than Norman Jewison's 1975 ultraviolent futuristic corporate-sports saga. It's also stupider.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
02/13/02
Jeff Stark
Jeff Stark
Salon.com

It's almost enough to make Burton's Apes retread seem like a work of artistic ingenuity.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
02/12/02
Mark Holcomb
Mark Holcomb
Village Voice

Yup. Yet another remake of one of my childhood faves has been bastardized.

Full Review Source: BeatBoxBetty.com | comment Comment
02/12/02
BeatBoxBetty.com

For more fun I would recommend an evening at the bowling alley instead.

Full Review Source: Houston Community Newspapers | comment Comment
02/12/02
Gary Brown
Gary Brown
Houston Community Newspapers

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.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
02/11/02
Joe Leydon
Joe Leydon
San Francisco Examiner

...really horrible drek.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
02/11/02
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Rollerball has all the subtlety of a video game and it's aimed squarely at those who play them.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
02/11/02
Louis B. Hobson
Louis B. Hobson
Jam! Movies

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.

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
02/11/02
Jim Lane
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review

It's incomprehensible.

Full Review Source: www.susangranger.com | comment Comment
02/11/02
Susan Granger
Susan Granger
www.susangranger.com

Gimme a freaking break.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
02/11/02
Oz
Oz
eFilmCritic.com

Loud, silly, stupid and pointless.

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment Comment
02/10/02
Steve Rhodes
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

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.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
02/10/02
Bruce Kirkland
Bruce Kirkland
Jam! Movies

Like a gerbil exercising in a wheel, this movie spins and spins, generating a lot of action and noise, but getting absolutely nowhere.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
02/10/02
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
41 - 60 (sorted by date)
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Latest News for Rollerball

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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...

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