| Rollerball | |
|---|---|
promotional poster |
|
| Directed by | John McTiernan |
| Produced by | John McTiernan Charles Roven Beau St. Clair |
| Written by | Larry Ferguson John Pogue |
| Starring | Chris Klein Jean Reno LL Cool J Rebecca Romijn Naveen Andrews Mike Dopud |
| Music by | Éric Serra Julianne Jordan Laura Z. Wasserman Alecia Moore/P!nk |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | February 8, 2002 |
| Running time | 98 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $70 million |
| Box office | $25,852,764 |
Rollerball is a 2002 remake of the 1975 science-fiction film of the same name. This updated version stars Chris Klein, LL Cool J, Rebecca Romijn and Jean Reno, was directed by John McTiernan and has a much greater concentration on action with more muted social and political overtones. Unlike the first film, it takes place in the present rather than a seemingly dystopian future.
Contents |
It is the year 2005. The new sport of Rollerball is hugely popular in Central Asia, Russia, China, Mongolia, and Turkey.
Marcus Ridley (LL Cool J) invites NHL hopeful Jonathan Cross (Chris Klein) to join him playing for the Zhambel Horsemen in Kazakhstan. The highly paid Marcus and Jonathan are teamed with low-paid locals, who are often 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 Entertainment (WWE).
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 (Rebecca Romijn). But gradually Jonathan discovers that the cynical Alexi and his opportunistic rat Sanjay (Naveen Andrews) will go to any lengths to manipulate the game in order to provide an ever more gory spectacle and improve the game's popularity.
The film features cameo appearances by Slipknot, Carroll Shelby, Shane McMahon, and Pink. The former's appearance was digitally added after filming their performance in front of green screen.
The score was released, but the soundtrack was not.
Time Out's Trevor Johnson described it as "a checklist shaped by a 15-year-old mallrat: thrashing metal track, skateboards, motorbikes, cracked heads and Rebecca Romijn with her top off", while Chicago Sun-Times reviewer Roger Ebert called it "an incoherent mess, a jumble of footage in search of plot, meaning, rhythm and sense".
The film's lead, Chris Klein, was also a subject of criticism, being referred to as a bland hero.
Rotten Tomatoes ranked the film 28th in the 100 worst reviewed films of the 2000s, with a rating of 3%.
The film was a box-office flop, earning a worldwide total of $26 million compared to a production budget of $70 million.[1] Romijn was nominated for a Razzie Award as Worst Supporting Actress.
The creator of Rollerball, science fiction author William Harrison had the following to say about the film: "I've never watched the 2002 incarnation of Rollerball, and have no interest in it."[2]
|
|||||||||||