Rollerball (2002)

Director:

John McTiernan

Writers (WGA):

William Harrison (short story "Roller Ball Murder")
William Harrison (1975 screenplay)

Release Date:

8 February 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi | Sport

Tagline:

Get In The Game.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Blood | Critically Bashed | Beautiful Woman | Disfigurement | Exploding Motorcycle

Awards:

2 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Mon. Jan. 4	3:00 PM	SHOW
Sat. Jan. 9	1:00 PM	SHOW
Sun. Jan. 10	4:30 AM	SHOW

Cast

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

Also Known As:

Rollerball (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, extreme sports action, sensuality, language and some drug references.; Rated R for violence, nudity and some language. (video version)

Runtime:

98 min | Germany:95 min

Country:

USA | Germany | Japan

Language:

English | Russian | French | Arabic | Korean | German | Japanese

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Malaysia:18SG | Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-15 | France:-12 | Germany:18 | Hungary:16 | Peru:18 | Philippines:R-18 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:M18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 (original rating) | USA:R (home video version)

Filming Locations:

Blainville, Québec, Canada

Company:

Atlas Entertainment

Trivia:

Jean Reno's character introduces a man named Enzo Molinari, which is the name of the character he played in Le grand bleu (1988).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Jonathan is beating several guards to death with the rollerball it can be clearly seen that he is hitting them with the palm of his hand, not the ball.

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...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Oh, No! Zombies!!! (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

Boom

A Wimp Of A Movie

The original ROLLERBALL was by no means a classic SF movie but at least the audience knew they were watching a dark futuristic thriller . This completely lame remake misfires on every level . Since it's set a couple of years in the future there's no chance it can be called futuristic . It might be described as " Dark " but that's because no one seems to have paid the electricity bill during production . But the main failing in this version is the game of Rollerball itself . In the original the game would see matches where several team members would either die or be maimed for life but in this present day version it doesn't seem anymore dangerous than American football or Rugby or any other type of contact sport . hell even bimbos are allowed to take part . in other words this is a game for wimps in comparison and this ruins the movie far more than the oft quoted aspects like the poor acting , camp sound effects and the night vision sequence