Product: Rollerball (2002)
Rating: 1.0
On a double bill with Roller Boogie
Rollerball still stands as a solid sci-fi flick about the fear of corporate society and the crushing of the little guy (you). Sadly, if you look around, we're slowly approaching it.Fast forward to now and we have yet another remake. With Rollerball (2002) I am now convinced that these remakes serve a functional purpose: to make the originals look like masterpieces. If there is another reason, I've yet to see it. At this point, I would be less insulted if Hollywood studios publicly declared: We have no ideas, we are bankrupt of original thoughts, so we'll just resell you the same thing, over and over.The sickest thing about John McTiernan's Rollerball remake is that it had potential. The original film took place in a sterilized future world where corporations had taken the place of nations, society had everything it needed, and the main distraction for the pesty public was the ultraviolent sport of rollerball. Jonathan E began to meddle by somehow surviving the sport year after year and began to shine, which is exactly what the corporations did NOT want. The sport was to prove the futility of individual effort.In the remake, the setting is the near future, but the concerns are not global like the original. Rollerball is more a fringe sport (like Slamball, or Arena Football, or backyard wrestling) operating out of central Asia (any of the '-stan' countries of the old Soviet empire.) For the miserable masses who slave in mines, the sport, which is less coherent here than the original film, provides a distraction from their meaningless lives (sort of like all sports do, anyway.)I did like this idea for the setting, making rollerball a regional interest rather than global phenomenon. It actually makes it more realistic, and indeed there are references to WWE wrestling, which it resembles in the glitzy pageantry and shameless profiteering. This, along with other elements, are wasted in the ensuing chaos.An NHL draftee (Chris Klein, doing a career Keanu impersonation that is frightening) flees the USA because he's been busy illegally body-boarding down San Fran streets and runs off with LL Cool J to play for big money in the rollerball leauge. The (naturally) evil team owner is Jean Reno, who covets more and more ratings by getting rid of rules, penalties, and other pesty elements of the sport that prevent people from dying. This is all to satisfy some kind of global ratings meter that is instant and will gauge who is tuning in when.I could go on and on about this film. It was famously plagued during post-production (not to mention pre-production, production, and the 'idea', casting, and all other phases.) The film is incoherent, plain and simple. What you would call a mess.It is highly recommended to bad movie buffs the world over. I picked this baby up at a 2-for-$15 sale--that's less than the cost of seeing this clinker in the theater! The DVD wisely throws in many extras to entice you and to give you something approaching value after you realize how appalling the film is.The other recommendation is to buy the original Rollerball on DVD, also a good value.I now heartily endorse remakes like this one, as I'm sure Norman Jewison (director of the original) does. His film and his career shine that much brighter after atrocities like this.