... With other films, the old adage “Once a turkey – always a turkey!” most definitely applies – and Rollerball is a case in point.
Set in the year 2005 (don’t ask me why) the film is all about an ultra-modern new game that has swept the world off its feet. Originating ... Read review
ThisRollerball, a 2002 remake of the excellent 1975 original, is one of the most notorious ... more
failed would-be blockbusters of recent years. Chris Klein struggles as Jonathon Cross, star of the violent game of the title, a mixture of speedway, hockey and r...
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ThisRollerball, a 2002 remake of the excellent 1975 original, is one of the most notorious ... more
failed would-be blockbusters of recent years. Chris Klein struggles as Jonathon Cross, star of the violent game of the title, a mixture of speedway, hockey and r...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Rollerball takes place in the not too distant future and the future is fierce. A ... more
notorious renegade sport Rollerball packs arenas all over the world. A global viewership bets and roots for star players Jonathan Cross (Chris Klein) Marcus Ridley (LL ...
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In the year 2018, violence and crime have been totally eliminated from society and given ... more
outlet in the brutal blood sport of rollerball, a high-velocity blend of football, hockey, and motor-cross racing sponsored by the multinational corporations that ...
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In the year 2018, violence and crime have been totally eliminated from society and given ... more
outlet in the brutal blood sport of rollerball, a high-velocity blend of football, hockey, and motor-cross racing sponsored by the multinational corporations that ...
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The year is 2018. There are no wars. There is no crime. There is only..the Game. In a ... more
world where ruthless corporations reign supreme this vicious and barbaric "sport" is the only outlet for the pent-up anger and frustrations of the masses. Tuned to...
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Set in 2018 Rollerball is a sensation glimpse of a future where the world is ruled by six ... more
giant corporations; a place where there is no war no poverty and no unrest but also no free will and no God. There is still a place for violence in this antiseptic world of plenty and mankind'‚´s vicious and sadistic impulses are vented in the Rollerball arena a violent and deadly game broadcast world-wide to satisfy the bloodlust of millions. James Caan is outstanding as Jonathan E the game'‚´s greatest player a man whose devastating talent threatens to make him a hero - and a threat to the Corporations'‚´ grip on power. When Jonathan is asked to retire he refuses electing instead to captain his team to the world finals in an escalating spiral of carnage.
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Production Year: 1977 - Action/Adventure - Director: Clint Eastwood - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Advantages: Chris Klein looking all beaten up and bloody..... Disadvantages: ...is not enough to stop this movie being crap
...most definitely applies – and Rollerball is a case in point.
Set in the year 2005 (don’t ask me why) the film is all about an ultra-modern new game that has swept the world off its feet. Originating from a former Soviet state, games of Rollerball are played out in front of millions of television viewers, with the sole aim of obtaining the highest ratings possible. Alexis Petrovich is the mastermind behind the whole thing, ... ...the chance to join the Rollerball team by his best friend Marcus, he realises that his life is going nowhere and snaps up the chance to earn the millions that are on offer. Very soon, he has climbed to the top of his profession, commands a huge salary and receives almost heroic worship from the fans of the game. His lifestyle is funded entirely by Petrovich’s cash, but he enjoys the thrill of the game and thinks nothing of spending the cash ... more
Sometimes you watch a movie and you find yourself asking exactly what it was that the makers had in mind. For some reason, this seems to apply more often to the ever-increasing number of remakes that seem to be gracing our cinemas these days. There are some films that really benefit from a modern makeover, because the core principle of the film is interesting enough to re-do with modern special effects and film making techniques. With other films, the old adage “Once a turkey – always a turkey!” most definitely applies – and Rollerball is a case in point.
Set in the year 2005 (don’t ask me why) the film is all about an ultra-modern new game that has swept the world off its feet. Originating from a former Soviet state, games of Rollerball are played out in front of millions of television viewers, with the sole aim of obtaining the highest ratings possible. Alexis Petrovich is the mastermind behind the whole thing, and he is teetering on the brink of his most lucrative deal yet – a multi-channel contract with an American cable television company.
Jonathan Cross is a young skater, who has been spending most of his time evading the police as he races around the streets of San Francisco on his skateboard. When he is offered the chance to join the Rollerball team by his best friend Marcus, he realises that his life is going nowhere and snaps up the chance to earn the millions that are on offer. Very soon, he has climbed to the top of his profession, commands a huge salary and receives almost heroic worship from the fans of the game. His lifestyle is funded entirely by Petrovich’s cash, but he enjoys the thrill of the game and thinks nothing of spending the cash and living life to the full.
Things are going swimmingly until one fateful match, in which someone has changed the rules. One of Jonathan’s team mates finds that his safety helmet has become dislodged and whilst he is recovering the head gear, to the horror of Jonathan and his crew, the young man is struck violently with the steel Rollerball. Whilst the medics rush to save the man’s life, Petrovich and his colleagues celebrate a silent victory – it would seem that the sight of blood and violence is extremely healthy for the viewing figures. When Jonathan is made aware of the fact that the restraints of the player’s safety helmet had been cut, he realises that all is not well, and quickly finds that he cannot trust his employers. With the support of just a few trusted team mates he attempts to escape the clutches of Alexis Petrovich – but Petrovich has other ideas, and he is not going to let his television contract slip away from him that easily……
In many ways, the use of three paragraphs to describe the plot of this film really is rather wasteful. I could more easily sum it up for you as, “Lots of uninteresting people run around playing an uninteresting game whilst some uninteresting villains get up to uninteresting things.” It really is as simple as that. I’m not sure what amount of budget was used in making this film, but I can assure whoever made it that the cash was a considerably wasted investment – this film is pants.
The film is bad for a whole multitude of reasons, but most importantly because it is a film that inspires absolutely no interest in the viewer whatsoever. There is nothing subtle about this film, nothing intelligent and no attention to detail. It is simply a chain of events strung together by a poor cast of non-characters. The pivot of this movie should have been the Rollerball game itself, but the game makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. In essence, there are two teams of players on roller boots, who speed around a circuit passing a steel ball, which is then ultimately thrown against a metal shield in order to score a goal. The trouble is, the teams don’t seem to have any structure and I struggled to work out which players were on which team. Some of the players have ornamental masks and some don’t. Some of the players ride motorbikes, and some don’t. Some players seem to kick the sh*t out of one another, whilst others play it like a proper sport. The game has absolutely no order whatsoever – if you can work out who’s winning at any point, then you must be a genius. Mind you, if you care less, then you must be easily pleased.
The set-up of the players and their management team has little sense or order either. The teams seem to be multi-national, with an eclectic mixture of colours and races on every team. Some of the players have little numbers tattooed on their faces, whereas a couple of players on each team don’t. It transpires that (for reasons never really explored) the players are nearly all held there against their will, and that Petrovich and his men have a stranglehold over them all – but nobody really knows why. One minute, they are all happy, contented sporting chaps – the next minute, they’re all revolting like peasants. The ideas are all very feasible, but nothing ties the whole thing together and there is an assumption that the audience will just accept whatever they are shown. It’s all fundamentally very uninteresting. If you compare this to a film like The Running Man, it’s incredibly dull. With The Running Man, the contestants are all fighting for their lives against a host of nasty foes – it’s a bit camp, but it is good fun and it all has a point. With Rollerball, the game is sort of violent, but generally just like an alternative version of American football. There are no real boundaries between the good guys and the bad guys.
Of course, in keeping with the tradition of these movies, the match scenes are all filmed as though you are actually watching a televised match, with foreign adverts, graphical scorecards and a barrage of global commentators. Much of the dialogue comes from a fast-talking American commentator who provides an endless barrage of quips, comments and observations. He’s very irritating, very brash and very pointless. Worse still is the continuation of another tradition associated with these futuristic game play movies and that is the assumption that everyone that wants to watch violent sports will also want to listen to thrash metal. The soundtrack is absolutely relentless and if you’re not a fan of the music, then you’ll have the volume off an awful lot – I certainly did. The music is actually detrimental to the flow and pace of each of the games, because the nature of the sound is such that it has no real rhythm. I’m quite sure that a funkier, possibly even clubbier kind of music would complement the speed and pace of the game much more, and wouldn’t have assaulted the ears of everyone putting up with the film.
As Rollerball is such a second-rate movie, you would be shocked to find any first-rate actors within, and this certainly isn’t the case. LL Cool J continues his embarrassing movie career by portraying another “dumb black man with a family who has no credibility whatsoever.” He seems to be single-handedly carving these roles for himself and the only scene with him that I enjoyed was his death. I suspect that he thinks he looks hip and attractive – I think he just looks stupid. Chris Klein’s portrayal of Jonathan is capable enough, and although he looks nice as a pretty boy to start with, he probably looks better when he’s all roughed up and bloody later on. Jean Reno is wasted as the megalomaniac Petrovich, and whilst he does his best to be menacing, he is let down by a poor supporting cast and in this film, his accent interferes with any good dialogue that he gets.
Rollerball really has nothing going for it – it cannot even rely on visually entertaining special effects wizardry, because it contains none. I struggled to keep going with this film and found absolutely nothing to like about it. It’s a worrying sign that the director, John McTiernan, is in charge of the next Die Hard movie. Give it a year and this will be on Channel 5 one night.
Advantages: Some of the roller-action is diverting Disadvantages: Story feels half written, cliches everywhere
Rollerball (2002)
On February 1st 2007, Rollerball was placed at number 99 on the IMDB's bottom 100 films, with an average score of 2.6 out of 10, and 8,205 votes. That's a very high number of votes for the bottom 100, strengthening its position there, and showing just how badly this film has been received.
Set in the near future, a violent new sport from Central Asia has taken the world's interest. Rollerball is like a cross between American football ... ...quickly get a taste of rollerball action. Somewhere between a wrestling event and a circus, the players wear outlandish masks and body armour. A large part of the game is mowing down the opposition; hence the motorbikes. Live nu-metal music blasts out from a cameo by Slipknot, who look like they could be a rollerball team themselves. The first 20 minutes prove to be a fairly effective action filled start, but from here on things never really get ...
ThePolarOne 15.03.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Rollerball (DVD)
...and the moral is what Rollerball is all about, but you know I'd just be lying. That might be what the men behind the fiilm might try to kid you on about, that in the pursuit of high art they're satirising modern day Americana and television, but actually they're just part of the circus which they're pointing their barbs at. These fellas know the power of conflict and violence and glory in the gore and thuggery on show, knowing that the hype will ... ...of it, though, chaps, for Rollerball is just a feature length version of Gladiators. It's an ignoble attempt at cashing in on the attraction of danger, but that said it's fairly well and skilfully done and the violence looks pretty authentic, as do the hard nosed Russian Mafiosa types.
I was pretty keen to see Rollerball, and am glad I did, being thoroughly captivated by the spectacle and the excitement, but you're still left feeling a little empty ...
dave27 13.12.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Rollerball (DVD)
Rollerball is a movie I expected to hate from looking around at all its reviews. Comments ranged from it being absolutely absymal and unwatchable at worst, to looking like an MTV music video at best which to me doesn't exactly inspire any kind of confidence in it being any good - no doubt to most people. Bizarrely then, despite most of the negative comments I read actually being very true, I still found Rollerball to be rather entertaining - I guess ... ...the bloody critics! Rollerball is of course a remake of erm...Rollerball, which wasn't really the most intelligent movie ever made but did pose some questions about 70s consumerist America when it was released during that time period. Starring James Caan, the original Rollerball is without a doubt a better, more universally accessible movie than this one which had a solid goal and brought it across to the viewer well, leaving them in no doubt as ...
wampyrii 19.03.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Rollerball (DVD)
Advantages: Rebecca Rominj-Stamos is always gorgeous Disadvantages: mmmm where on earth do I start?
The original Rollerball movie became one of the ‘cult’ films of the 70s. However, this quite woeful re-make will most definitely be regarded as one of this decade’s real Turkeys!
Well, for a start, who on earth thought that leading man, Chris Klein could carry the star role in this Sci-fi wannabe-blockbuster? Lightweight, but nice enough dumb hunk ‘Oz’ from the ‘American Pie’ movies, Klein will be hard pressed to get a lead role again after his ... ...original movie came out, the Rollerball game was obviously based on the then popular US sport of ‘Roller Derby’ , with many overtones from the oft violent sport of ‘Ice Hockey’. That was a well observed, acted and original piece of cinema. This remake tries (I think it tries anyway) to update and add to that legacy – but fails dismally. The sets are tacky, the costumes, frankly, plain awful and the whole thing is just very poorly ‘thrown together’. ...
flashpointz 08.07.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Rollerball (DVD)
Advantages: hmmmm Disadvantages: the acting, the script, the special effects, the soundtrack
I brought Rollerball on DVD a couple of years ago and had never got around to watching it until today - all I can say is that i should have waited many more years.
The original 1970's Rollerball is a classic, with James Caan in the lead role. The remake with Chris Klein is a poor imitation at best.
Klein plays Jonathan Cross, a failed NHL player, who is inticed by Marcus Ridley (LL Cool J), by the big money available to play a new sport, Rollerball. ... ...Alexis Petrovich (Jean Reno).
Rollerball takes place in an arena, where a team on rollerblades and motorbikes attempt to score against a defending team, similarly dressed. Cross is soon made aware that the sport is simply a way to get TV ratings, and take the money, via betting, from the working people. Petrovich to improve TV ratings starts inciting more and more violence into the sport. As players get injured, Ridley and Cross make a run from ...
mrtimharry 03.03.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Rollerball (DVD)
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Advantages: Very original and thought provoking Disadvantages: Dialogue is stifled at times
When I first watched this film I had a pair of rollerboots and I was rubbish, the only thing I remember about the film was people skating around a circular track knocking ten bells out of each other.
Well how shocked was I when I got the dvd as a gift from a keen film goer in my family and rewatched it, what I initially perceived to be a bit of an action film with dialogue in between is an action film with a really good plot in between, its a lot smarter than I ever gave it credit for and a lot smarter than the remake starring Chris Klein which was unnecessary and adds nothing to the original.
The film was made in 1975 and based on the short story "The Rollerball murder" by William Harrison. It is a 15+ film and rightly so as some of the scenes in the film are quite violent.
The film is set in the future when hunger, greed, poverty ...
Advantages: Prophecy and a stone cold performance Disadvantages: A little too much drifting (maybe)
When the film "Rollerball" was released in 1975, so the director says in the extensive extras, which by the way are worth the price alone, Americans wanted to know where they could play this vicious sport and Europeans wanted to understand more of the symbolism. Not a judgement but it obviously shows on how many levels this film truly works.
This is an action packed, thought provoking, violent, groundbreaking and tender movie, in an informative collectors package.
Based on the magazine released short story "The rollerball murders" this film became legendary for it's violence and the fact that several stuntmen died during it's filming. In fact, no one did die and compared to today's standards, this is not a particularly violent film. Even of it's decade, "Taxi Driver" far surpassed it in this respect.
What makes it so ...
Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, 4.0, Mono, Stereo
Dubbing Sound
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DVD Description
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 World Wrestling Entertainment. 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.
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