Rollerball (2002)

Director:

John McTiernan

Writers (WGA):

William Harrison (short story "Roller Ball Murder")
William Harrison (1975 screenplay)

Release Date:

8 February 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi | Sport

Tagline:

Get In The Game.

Plot:

The big thing in 2005 is a violent sport which can have some pretty serious consequences... like dying.

Plot Keywords:

Box Office Flop | Remake | Fictitious Sport | Sports League | Violence

Awards:

2 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Thur. May 22	8:00 PM	WGNSAT
Sun. May 25	3:00 AM	CW
Sun. May 25	4:00 AM	WGNSAT

Cast

Chris Klein	...	Jonathan Cross
Jean Reno	...	Alexis Petrovich
LL Cool J	...	Marcus Ridley
Rebecca Romijn	...	Aurora (as Rebecca Romijn-Stamos)
Naveen Andrews	...	Sanjay
Oleg Taktarov	...	Denekin
David Hemblen	...	Serokin
Janet Wright	...	Coach Olga
Andrew Bryniarski	...	Halloran
Kata Dobó	...	Katya
Alice Poon	...	Red Team #7
Lucia Rijker	...	Red Team #9
Melissa R. Stubbs	...	Red Team #12 (as Melissa Stubbs)
Paul Wu	...	Red Team #16 - U Chow
Yolanda Hughes-Heying	...	Red Team #28

Also Known As:

Rollerball (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, extreme sports action, sensuality, language and some drug references.

Runtime:

Finland:98 min | Germany:95 min | USA:97 min (R-rated version)

Country:

USA | Germany | Japan

Language:

English | Russian | French | Arabic | Korean | German | Japanese

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18SG | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-15 | France:-12 | Germany:18 | Hungary:16 | Peru:18 | Philippines:R-18 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:M18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 (original rating) | USA:R (home video version)

Filming Locations:

Blainville, Québec, Canada

Company:

Atlas Entertainment

Trivia:

Also due to the poor test audience reception, the film was edited from an R rating to a PG-13 to allow broader appeal.

Goofs:

Continuity: Near the end, Alexi fires a shotgun at Jonathon, who proceeds to block the shot with a metal seat, suffering no recoil or knock back, and keeps walking. About two minutes later, Sanjay walks in and Jonathon shoots him with the same shotgun and Sanjay flies at least two metres through the air. Not only are both these instances physically impossible, but they are inconsistent.

Quotes:

Chinese Sports Announcer: It's simple, about as simple as using a name-brand condom!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Oh, No! Zombies!!! (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

God Bless America

unimaginably bad

`Rollerball' is a god-awful remake of the 1975 Norman Jewison film about a fictional sport in which murdering the players becomes a primary object of the game. The original film acquired what little credibility it had by setting the story sometime in the distant future. This version is set in the present, but it tries to maintain its believability by locating the league in Southwest Asia, under the parochial assumption, I suppose, that that part of the world is every bit as alien, exotic and dehumanized as any hypothetical future society. It doesn't work. It is simply impossible for us to believe even for a split second that the owners and promoters of this sport would think they could get away with such murderous shenanigans broadcast live to millions of viewers the world over. Might not the United Nations, among other international organizations, have a thing or two to say about all this? Also, will someone please explain to me just WHAT purpose is served by having the promoters of this sport killing off their own players? Doesn't that sort of deplete their own resources for future games? I can't imagine too many people willingly signing on to engage in this sort of gladiatorial tomfoolery.

Even if we agreed to swallow the whole thing merely for the sake of the entertainment value of the film, we would be forced to admit that `Rollerball' is a chintzy, clunky, uninteresting movie in all respects. The sport itself – sort of a cross between motor cross racing, roller derby, hockey and basketball – is completely unexciting, consisting of little more than blurred figures racing madly around a cramped, claustrophobic track. Without even the context of good action sequences, `Rollerball' is forced to fall back on its dialogue and characters, which proves to be disastrous for all concerned. Chris Klein, in the role of hotshot Jonathon Cross - played by James Caan in the original - comes across as a minor league version of Keanu Reeves. LL Cool J is wasted in the part of Jonathon's American sidekick, and poor Jean Reno gets to play one of the most laughable villains we've run across in a movie in a long long long long time.

In fact, this redux turns out to be good for nothing BUT a few hearty laughs. If you are in need of such, check out `Rollerball.' It's a real hoot.