Rollerball (2002 film)

Rollerball
promotional poster
Directed by	John McTiernan
Produced by	John McTiernan Charles Roven Beau St. Clair
Written by	Larry Ferguson John Pogue
Starring	LL Cool J Jean Reno Mike Dopud Rebecca Romijn Chris Klein Naveen Andrews
Music by	Éric Serra Julianne Jordan Laura Z. Wasserman Alecia Moore/P!nk
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer International: Touchstone Pictures Buena Vista International
Release date(s)	February 8, 2002 (2002-02-08)
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 LL Cool J, Jean Reno, Mike Dopud, Rebecca Romijn, and Chris Klein. It 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.

Plot

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.

Cast

• LL Cool J as Marcus Ridley
• Jean Reno as Alexi Petrovich
• Mike Dopud as "Michael The Assassin"
• Rebecca Romijn as Aurora "the Black Widow"
• Chris Klein as Jonathan Cross
• Naveen Andrews as Sanjay
• Kata Dobó as Katya Dobolakova
• Lucia Rijker as Lucia Ryjker
• Oleg Taktarov as Oleg Denekin
• Paul Heyman as Sports Announcer

The film features cameo appearances by Pink, Slipknot, Carroll Shelby, and Shane McMahon. The former's appearance was digitally added after filming their performance in front of green screen.

Soundtrack

The score was released, but the soundtrack was not.

1. "Boom" – P.O.D.
2. "Told You So" – Drowning Pool
3. "Ride" – Beautiful Creatures
4. "Millionaire" – Rappagariya
5. "I Am Hated" – Slipknot
6. "Body Go" – Hardknox
7. "Feel So Numb" – Rob Zombie
8. "Keep Away" – Godsmack
9. "Insane in the Brain" - Sen Dog
10. "Flashpoint" - Fear Factory
11. "When I Come Around" - Green Day
12. "Crawling in the Dark" - Hoobastank
13. "Time To Play" - Pillar
14. "Never Gonna Stop (The Red Red Kroovy)" - Rob Zombie

Reception

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. 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."

External links

• Rollerball at the Internet Movie Database
• Rollerball at AllRovi
• Rollerball at Rotten Tomatoes
• Rollerball at Box Office Mojo
• Science Fiction Radio Theater - Rollerball Murder Rollerball Murder Audio Drama
• Review of Rollerball (2002) on the Video DeathRay podcast