Movie Info

Sure to appeal to enthusiasts of extreme sports, this revamped Rollerball (a remake of Norman Jewison's 1975 original) transplants the violent ...(read more...) hybrid of hockey, polo, and barroom brawling to the fragmented states of the former Soviet Union. Jonathan Cross (Chris Klein) is Rollerball's reigning superstar, and he's out to stop the game's Russian inventor (Jean Reno) from promoting excess violence and death to boost the game's global TV ratings; Rebecca Romijn-Stamos (as Klein's intimate Rollerball ally) provides a few moments of teasing titillation along the way. The anticorporate substance of the original has been subverted by shallow style, chaotic action, a sorely miscast lead, and a superfluous plot, while choppy editing prevents any grasp of the game's rules or kinetic momentum (surprising, since John McTiernan directed the impeccably crafted Die Hard). Providing a strong argument against remakes, this lifeless movie qualifies as a disaster of Battlefield Earth proportions. --Jeff Shannon

Director: John McTiernan

MPAA: PG-13

Running Time: 1 hr. 39 min.

Release Date: Feb 08, 2002

Cast: Chris Klein, Jean Reno, LL Cool J, Rebecca Romijn, Naveen Andrews