Product: Rollerball (2002)
Rating: 1.0
One Of The Poorest Remakes Ever To Come Out Of Hollywood
The original Rolerball and this 2002 remake have recently been making the rounds on cable-TV. Simply, putting sequel up against the original is like comparing the XFL to the NFL.The remake is simply dreadful, with a poor script, equally poor casting and a gimmicky figure-eight track with tunnels & sidetracks which is played on rollerblades - with other team members on motorcycles - and goals scored with the metal ball. Based in central Asia, the game becomes increasingly violent to boost TV ratings - especially in America - and to make for growing fan interest.It takes the anticorporate stance of Jonathon E and morphs him into outlaw exteme sports lover Jonathon Cross (Chris Klein), who ultimately leads the players and fans in a revolt against the senseless violence pushed by sport founder Alexi Petrovich (Jean Reno) and the networks. Sounds like a bad WWE storyline, and that may be why motormouth Paul Heyman is the "announcer" for the games. I was waiting for Heyman to belt out, "It's Extreme," several hundred times.Put LL Cool J, who plays an old friend of Cross and the person who gets him involved in the game, in the lead role and he may have saved the character from being absolutely unbelievebale. Perhaps putting Heyman as the evil entrepreneur may have made for a more sinister Petrovich.And slowing the cinema-photography down from its rapid cuts may have forced editors to let the story speak volumes like the original. But in the end, Rollerball is a poor attempt in updating a movie that didn't need it.