Plot
Rollerball takes place in the not too distant future, and the future is fierce. A notorious renegade sport, Rollerball packs arenas all over the world. A global viewership bets and roots for star players Jonathan Cross, Marcus Ridley and their beautiful teammate Aurora who skate and motorcycle past opponents to score. Despite the danger of the fame, the real threat lies in team owner Petrovich who sacrifices anything and anyone to maximize ratings, which are worth more to him than the final score. In an heroic move, Jonathan and his teammates attempt to expose the corruption and treachery. It’s a risky play and the penalty is lethal.
Analysis
A vague remake of the violent 1975 futuristic sports movie, Rollerball is about a brutal sport that has achieved voyeuristic popularity with it's fast pace and hazardous execution. The players are rich and the owners are richer but the focal point for the league is Alexis Petrovich played by Jean Reno. He is the games daddy, with one eye on his money and the other on the TV ratings, he has to ensure that the sponsors are getting what they pay for. With most of the leagues players open to corruption, Petrovich takes the game to a new level of violence to keep those rating high.
This film is much less entertaining than the original Norman Jewison directed version and does in fact play out as a messy, mixed up affair with little in the way of new material and questionable production savvy. From the overused green tinted 'night shot' footage in the desert scenes that looks as if it's been shot on a Sony handy cam, through to the lackluster plot and meandering pace, these very little polish on this ball.
As a film that's central focus is supposed to be it's sporting action you would have thought that each Rollerball clash would have been the highlight of the film in the same way that the boxing was in Rocky or the car racing was in Days of Thunder. But McTiernan's vision does nothing to make these scenes compelling and instead presents the viewer with undercooked segments that just leave you feeling not only confused and disorientated but also lacking any real interest for the players.
Keanu Reeves doppelganger Chris Klein performs his roll as the sports hero at a very weary pace and shows almost no identifying emotion that would otherwise draw the viewer in to his situation thus leaving one without a care in the world for his plight. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos character Aurora, is perhaps a more interesting prospect with a mysterious facial scare and a forbidden love for Jonathan Cross, but in any case she still looks as stunning in this as she did whilst being a sexy smurf in the X-Men movies. But for me LL Cool J , with his large screen presence was the most entertaining of the cast members. This guy sure isn't small in the physical department and his smooth yet intense performance helps to enhances this otherwise dull movie.
| Key Area |
Rating (out of 5)
|
Comment |
|
Action
|
|
Mostly confined to the court but a little over spills into the players real lives. It's pretty standard stuff any way with a few leaping motorbikes and a couple of ballistic moments.
|
|
Tension
|
|
A couple of tiny tense moments just prior to some of the roller balling but you'd need a heart monitor to really notice.
|
|
Violence/
Gore
|
|
Not as much blood shed as I thought they should have been but it does have it's onscreen punch ups even if they are on the 'safe' side.
|
|
Bare Flesh
|
|
A locker room scene offers the chance to show a little flesh from both sexes and a steamy session in the sauna shows Rebecca Romijn-Stamos other not no hidden talents.
|
|
Plot
|
|
You either copy the original and blame them if it's crap or you stick your neck out and add a little of your own flair, McTiernan chose to do neither which means either he has no imagination or that the writing was to blame. Considering William Harrison wrote this and the original I know who my moneys on.
|
|
Verdict
A poor movie that leaves very little for the viewer to remember it by. When Chris Klein asked his director for motivation on the Rollerball set the director replied "be boring", and that's exactly how this production came out. Spend your time on the original if you like the premise.
|
|
 |
Facts, figures and boobs
|
1.
|
Due to negative previews, the release date was shifted many times from 18 May 2001, to 13 July 2001, then to 1 August 2001 and to 17 August 2001, and then finally moved off the schedule for the year to February 2002.
|
|
2.
|
Keanu Reeves was originally intended to play Jonathan Cross.
|
|
3.
|
The band playing during one of the games is Slipknot. They did not actually star in the movie however, but they were recorded during one of their performances and digitally added into the movie.
|
|
4.
|
At the end of the film, when Jonathon shoots Sanjay, Sanjay falls backwards through a window - and the 'concrete' wall visible through the window wobbles and nearly falls over.
|
|
Movie Pictures
(Click picture to enlarge)
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
| What other people thought of this film: - |
| |
|
|
