|
 ROLLERBALL
With
Chris
Klein,
Jean
Reno,
LL
Cool
J,
Rebecca
Romijn-Stamos
Directed
by
John
McTiernan
If
you've
seen,
know
&
love
the
original
film
version
of
the
short
story,
then
catching
this
remake
will
be
a
superb
disappointment.
Rollerball
is
a
high
speed,
high
action
arena
game
on
roller
skates
and
motorcycles
-
the
object
to
bang
a
steel
ball
that
gets
shot
around
the
circuit
into
the
goal.
A
super-extreme
Gladiator-Basketball
hybrid,
if
you
will.
The
original
was
a
look
at
the
future
and
how
huge
corporations
run
the
world.
They
pacify
the
sheepish
population
with
this
violent
game,
pushing
one
up
as
a
superstar.
With
this
remake,
the
corruption
in
game
management
(causing
violence
for
ratings)
overpowers
the
first
outing's
balance
of
impact
and
message.
But,
not
having
read
the
short
story,
I
cannot
say
to
what
degree
these
elements
and
many
others
were
present
in
its
first
incarnation
on
paper.
The
new
version
also
emphasizes
the
modern
sport
angle
far
more
and
unlike
the
great
70s
original,
is
not
exactly
set
too
far
in
the
future
and
teams
are
multi-national
as
opposed
to
the
strict
country
oriented
battles
in
the
ring.
Our
leading
man
has
the
presence
of
an
eggplant,
not
even
close
to
the
shadow
of
original
leading
man,
James
Caan.
It
seems
as
if
his
stiff
Keanu
Reeves
qualities
were
sought
-
was
our
guy
on
tour
with
his
band
Dogstar
or
too
busy
with
the
new
Matrix
movies?
LL
Cool
J
does
his
best
to
live
up
to
his
middle
name
while
the
female
inserted
team-mate-love-interest
is
sure
hot,
but
hardly
effective
in
the
overall
scheme
of
things.
Luc
Besson
favourite,
Jean
Reno
is
enjoyable
as
the
ruthless
team
owner,
but
becomes
a
stereotypical
caricature.
It
feels
as
though
somebody
paged
through
the
new
version
of
the
script
and
removed
chunks
to
shorten
the
whole
affair,
which
still
feels
a
bit
long.
Then
there
are
sporadic
moments
like
an
extensive
night
chase
shot
with
a
grainy
green
night
vision
look
-
fine
for
a
few
minutes,
but
the
entire
scene?
McTiernan
has
made
some
great
action
movies
like
the
Die
Hard
series,
but
needn't
have
bothered
with
this.
At
least
now
the
first
movie
got
a
renewed
interest
widescreen,
digital
DVD
release
as
a
result,
so
do
yourself
a
favour
and
get
that
in
stead.
The
highlight
of
this
muddled
flashy
joke
is
the
brief
moment
that
masked
mayhem
band
Slipknot
performs
live!
2
/
C
-
PB
1
2
3
4
5
6
A
-
B
-
C
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