Rollerball (2002)

[Lenny Nero]

3.50 star(s) Rating: 3.50/5 2 Votes

Title: Rollerball (2002)

Tagline: Go Ballistic

Genre: Action, Science Fiction, Thriller

Director: John McTiernan

Cast: Chris Klein, LL Cool J, Rebecca Romijn, Naveen Andrews, Jean Reno, Oleg Taktarov, David Hemblen, Eugene Lipinski, Frank Ferrara, Janet Wright, Lucia Rijker, Paul Heyman, Jeffery Feaster, Andrew Bryniarski, Kata Dobó, Alice Poon, Melissa R. Stubbs, Paul Wu, Yolanda Hughes-Heying, Jay Mahin, Simon Girard, Tom Farr, Kevin Rushton, Eitan Kramer, Anatoly Zinoviev, Victor Callender, Ruth Chiang, Mike Dopud, Shawn Stewart, Pink, Michael Tadross, Amy Whitmore, Shaun Austin-Olsen, Flint Eagle, Steven P. Park, Susan Cannon, Kim D. Cannon, George Christy, Mischa Hausserman, Peter Kosaka, Gabor Zsigovics, Vitali Makarov, Anthony Palermo, Oleg Ferdman, Philippe Soucy, Paulino Nunes, Peter Von Berg, Eugene Geylik, Barry Shurchin, Ivan Smith, Shane McMahon, Ola Sturik, Norman Yap, Kes Kwansa, George Ghali, Wang Luoyong, Jean Brassard, Peter Blake, Ismail Bashey, Angelo Pedari, Slava Schoot, Guy Ale, Damir Andrei, Pedro Salvín, Alice Benjamin, Ghiziane Alini, Dalila Alini, Richard Zeman, Michelle Leblanc, Scott Garland, Eddy Salim, Richard Labelle, John Kesler, François Paquette, Nick Sita, Thomas Karle, Richard Orlando, Xu Zhi, Léopold Boisvert, Jitka Švecová, Debbie-Anne Champagne, Lilly He, Florence Situ, Zoran Krzisnik, Vsevolod Malamud, Xinkang Tong, Bruno Mourani, Jamshied Sharifi, Miyuki Sakamoto, Sid Wilson, Joey Jordison, Paul Gray, Chris Fehn, James Root, Craig Jones, Shawn Crahan, Mick Thomson, Corey Taylor, Toshihiro Itô, Larisa Eryomina

Release: 2002-02-08

Runtime: 98

Plot: In this fast action-packed thriller, Jonathan, Marcus, and Aurora compete in a dangerous, fierce sport called Rollerball. Although, Johnathan and Marcus try to quit, cruel and vindictive promoter Alexi Petrovich encourages them to still participate.

 

[Lenny Nero]

Fast! Relentless! Loud! Fun! You know those promotional quotes on posters and covers, well that's what I'd write. I think I liked it now even more, than before. And I'm not just now realizing it, through nostalgia glasses or something - I've loved this movie right away, from its theatrical run, when I went to see it at least three times, to DVD and BD later (still no new special edition and UHD).
Awesome opening sequence, cringy 'ethnic' TV broadcasting in various middle-asian countries, full of mistakes Cyrillic names and writing, game show player plaques popping up on screen, screaming commentators, then a nightime desert action sequence with a whole 'off-road' plane, characters trying to escape TO Russia for safety, songs by P.O.D., Slipknot and Rob Zombie, as well as original music by Eric Serra, especially the 15-minute underlying score throughout the finale, with all the chaos, drama, and revolution, with rioting mine workers, corrupt local militia outright shooting players, opposing team and viewers realizing things went too far, broadcast operator pulling out his own gun to keep the television feed on, etc - it's all so freaking cool!

P.S. What did change, was the 'righteousness' and scorn with which American players looked at poor, bum-like locals in various corrupt countries, while pretty much same, if not worse, homeless' tents line up US streets, like in LA and San Francisco now for real, and the high-paid players of whichever popular sport - football, basketball - are doing exactly the same: driving by in their expensive cars and taking payouts. So that's fun...