Rollerball (2002)

The big thing in 2005 is a violent sport which can have some pretty serious consequences... like dying.

Director:

John McTiernan

Writers:

William Harrison (short story "Roller Ball Murder"), William Harrison

Stars:

Chris Klein, Jean Reno, LL Cool J

Bottom Rated Movies #38 | 5 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chris Klein	...	Jonathan Cross
Jean Reno	...	Alexis Petrovich
LL Cool J	...	Marcus Ridley
Rebecca Romijn	...	Aurora (as Rebecca Romijn-Stamos)
Naveen Andrews	...	Sanjay
Oleg Taktarov	...	Denekin
David Hemblen	...	Serokin
Janet Wright	...	Coach Olga
Andrew Bryniarski	...	Halloran
Kata Dobó	...	Katya
Alice Poon	...	Red Team #7
Lucia Rijker	...	Red Team #9
Melissa R. Stubbs	...	Red Team #12 (as Melissa Stubbs)
Paul Wu	...	Red Team #16 - U Chow
Yolanda Hughes-Heying	...	Red Team #28

Storyline

In this fast action-packed thriller, Jonathan (Chris Klein), Marcus (LL Cool J), and Aurora (Rebecca Romijn) compete in a dangerous, fierce sport called Rollerball. Although, Jonathan and Marcus try to quit, cruel and vindictive promoter Alexi Petrovich (Jean Reno) encourages them to still participate. Petrovich sends his men to attack them while they are on a trip, but Jonathan survives. In the end during a game of Rollberball, Petrovich attempts a public execution of Jonathan, but the question is will Jonathan get revenge.

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Plot Keywords:

21st century | psychotronic film | movie flop | extreme sports | promoter | 

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Taglines:

Mezameyo tôsô honnô [Japan]

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence, extreme sports action, sensuality, language and some drug references

Did You Know?

Trivia

The building posing as the sports arena in Azerbaijan is the France pavilion at Expo '67, in Montreal. It is now the Montreal Casino.

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Goofs

Just before the game when Aurora is transferred to the Horde, the announcer says, "There are four teams in the quarter finals." When it's the quarter finals, there are always 8 teams left.

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Quotes

Alexis Petrovich: You see Yevgeny over there, so full of himself now. He used to work in the post office. I introduced him to the proper financing, and now he owns the mines. Yeah, making a fortune. Keeps the miners in line. Good business. You might wonder why I'm not in it myself. I don't need to own the mines, Jonathan. Do you know why? Because I own the man who owns the mines. All he has, I have. Same with the supermarkets, the TV station, locomotive plant. I don't need a political position, because I own the...

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Alternate Versions

German uncut version was rated "Not under 18" by the ratings board FSK (in addition, this version was restricted from playing on certain public holidays). For commercial reasons, distributor Helkon, who wanted to release the film over the Easter holidays, cut the film and submitted it again, expecting a "Not under 16" rating. But the FSK denied that and the cut version was rated also "Not under 18" (this time without the holiday restrictions). This cut version was released to cinemas. DVD features the uncut version.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Worst Hollywood Remakes (2011)

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Soundtracks

Never Gonna Stop
Performed by Rob Zombie

User Reviews

Rollerball is a pointless remake and a terrible film

Rollerball is a bad movie that pretty much fails on every level. It's the year 2005 and the new sport of Rollerball is very popular. Marcus Ridley {LL Cool J} recruits his friend Jonathan Cross {Chris Klein} into the very dangerous sport which may not be that luxury as it seems. One of the games promoters will do anything to get higher ratings even if that means death. I have seen the original and after watching this I wonder why they took a very good film and just ruined it. Rollerball is a poorly written movie that lacks suspense and good action. The film is just really ridiculous at times that its hard to take serious. The dialog is really lame and the characters aren't very developed . The acting is terrible with the worst probably being Chris Klein who doesn't have enough charisma to be a lead. LL Cool J was alright but he just doesn't seem to be trying. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos and Jean Reno both do a decent job but like LL Cool J, they just don't seem to really be trying. I can't blame them though as the writing is horrible and they are not given a lot of material to work with. The film is a lot more violent then the original, however, the action is still not very impressive. It also doesn't help matters that the studio got scared and went for the PG-13 rating and so the editing looks very bad. The film is about 95 minutes long but it drags on forever since its just a really boring film. The film is also confusing as some of the events that occur in the film don't really make a lot of sense. At some point during the film you will most likely stop caring. If you have seen the original then you will hate this movie. If you haven't seen it then you might like this but that's not very likely. Its just better to see the original. Rollerball is a loud and terrible film that's worth skipping and its also one of the worst films of 2002. Rating 2/10 avoid this film at all costs.

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA Germany Japan

Language:

English Russian French Arabic Korean German Japanese

Release Date:

8 February 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rollerball

Filming Locations:

Blainville, Québec, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$70,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,013,548, 10 February 2002

Gross USA:

$18,990,798

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$25,852,764

Company Credits

Production Co:

Atlas Entertainment, Helkon Media, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1