Genres

Visitors Review

Rick Groen 2012-05-18 00:27:10

Despite the technical advances of the past quarter century, the game sequences are as goofy as the first go-round.

Jeremiah Kipp 2012-05-17 07:31:33

Rollerball is cinematically baffling: blurred colorful images spliced together in a mad collage.

queensades 2012-05-17 00:57:00

I liked it!

I actaully liked the flick...I checked it out on pay per view the otherdayand thought it was very funny (intended or not) with great action scenes.Plus, who doesn't like Rebecca Romijn Stamos???? Definitely check thisoneout!!!

Stephen Himes 2012-05-16 13:28:44

Rather than be a Vonnegut story, as the original is, the newest Rollerball is what writers like Vonnegut warn us about.

Spanner-2 2012-05-06 01:30:26

Terrible remake

This remake of the James Caan original is just downright terrible. A mismashof a story line that makes very little sense at all. Chris Klein, who is adecent comedy actor, does not make a convincing action star, and certainlyis not convincing as a extreme sports star. In this remake, Klein travels toCentral Asia to become a star in rollerball, a sport that makes no senseconsidering the filmmakers make no effort to explain the game or to shoot oredit the sports matches so that we have any idea who is winning or what isgoing on in the game. In fact, the entire story is such a mess thatattempting to follow the plot just leads to severe migrane headaches on thepart of the viewer.. ignore this film at all costs. GRADE:F

Stephen Applebaum 2012-05-05 21:34:58

Crass and utterly incomprehensible.

Sean Means 2012-05-04 18:35:52

McTiernan tries to bury the idiocy of his high-tech Gladiator under flashy editing and unexplained rock-star cameos.

Brian Webster 2012-05-04 00:29:03

It's difficult to imagine that a more confused, less interesting and more sloppily made film could possibly come down the road in 2002.

2012-04-30 15:01:41

John McTiernan -- yet another casualty of MTV style.

Several masters of action film have fallen prey to the undisciplined chaos of post-MTV, music-video-style editing and filmmaking. Tony Scott's Spy Game was one, but that film at least had the star power of Robert Redford and Brad Pitt to rescue it. Rollerball, on the other hand, has no redeeming features -- it is easily the worst film in John McTiernan's oeuvre.Which is sad, because McTiernan's resume is an astonishing one: Predator, Die Hard, Die Hard with a Vengeance, The Hunt for Red October. Even his worst film up to now, Last Action Hero, was better than the mess that is Rollerball. From the beginning, it's clear that this film has no interest whatsoever in characterization and pacing. It simply thrusts you into sequence after sequence of undisciplined chaos. Who is main character Jonathan Cross? Who is his buddy? You still won't have a clue 30 minutes into the film, and that's about 20 minutes too late. Too much loud music, messy dialogue editing, use of pointless and ugly jump cuts, and hyperactive camera work conspire to make Rollerball an even bigger migraine than Swordfish...and that's saying a lot. Handheld camera is an overrated device indeed, and in the case of Rollerball, there are so many characters onscreen at a time that you'll find yourself desperately straining to figure out who's saying what, who is the focal point, and what exactly is going on. The overall feeling is that this film was shot in pure handheld-coverage style, the filmmakers simply mashing all the actors together in a location and then shooting endless amounts of film, without preplanning as to how it would all cut together. Call this modern filmmaking, but I'd take the razor-precision of Die Hard, Lethal Weapon and Top Gun any day.Matched with the stylistic anarchy is a cast of characters who mostly behave like animals or clowns. There's not a single recognizable human trait in these characters; their motivations and behaviour are outlandishly cartoonish, without the entertaining factor.What happened? I believe that action masters like McTiernan and Scott may have been led down this undesireable path by all the young Turks springing up from music-video backgrounds to do features. Unfortunately, as in the case of Rollerball, Swordfish, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Replacement Killers, this style is a true atrocity to action filmmaking. I hope Scott, McTiernan and others realize this and stick to their guns, or we can say goodbye to action movies.

Matt Crowe 2012-04-29 21:19:29

On a Collision Course with Confusion

Just one guy's opinion, but this is not a good movie. Two noteworthyelements of badness: first, the insistent jump cut/slow-mo cinematics, thelikes of which could make even Oliver Stone nauseous; and lets not forgetthe excruciating "getaway" sequence, shot through some fuzzy night visionfilter that leaves us expecting a pan to Geraldo Rivera reporting live viasatellite from war-torn Baghdad. On the whole a visual nightmare. A farcry from the McTiernan of the late '80s who we came to trust for a decentaction flick. But, no point in drudging up the past or the plot for thatmatter...was there one? Still, in all fairness a solid believable storyisnot what we want from a movie like this, but at least give us somethingcoherent. This plot, with all its vague allusions and exhaustively crypticreaction shots, provides an experience not unlike hearing an inside jokenotintended for you. Which leads me to ask, was this movie intended foranyone? Well, you be the judge, but something in my gut tells me thatsomewhere some filmmakers are enjoying a hardy chuckle my expense; inwhichcase, good...at least this movie has given someone somepleasure.

Bran 2012-04-28 06:15:02

Terrible and Pathetic

Who in their right mind would want to remake this crap? The story didn't make no sense whatsoever. I respect the director and the actors, but they should've left this one alone and think long and hard before remaking something like that again. It's not worth no one's time. And people thought Gigli was bad?

John J. Puccio 2012-04-27 19:47:33

For its 100 minutes running time, you'll wait in vain for a movie to happen.

2012-04-22 14:11:30

Appalling

This is a grotesque despoliation of a classic film. Essential elements of the background storyline are not properly established. There are scenes whose purpose within the overall structure simply defies understanding. The nighttime 'escape attempt' sequence is shot in a bizarre green blur and was extremely unpleasant to watch. Hideous music plays frequently but the nail in the coffin of this film is the poverty of the in-game action sequences. These are generally nothing more than a confusing melange of images. The transitions from one camera shot to another seem very poorly done and it is really impossible to follow the internal dynamics of each game.

Rob Blackwelder 2012-04-22 04:40:31

...a virtually plotless, flash-bang failure...so devoid of substance it almost defies description.

Ed Kelleher 2012-04-19 13:19:03

A lively but preposterous movie that only vaguely glances off the reality of violence.

borrachon 2012-04-18 23:00:24

great!

Great, a wonderful experimental and yet political movie about globalisationand violence,a bit like a Carpenter film, too bad it had Reno init.John mcTiernan was always worth watchin' but with "Rollerball" he's takinhis art to the next level.

Senator_Corleone 2012-04-14 18:05:45

The single worst film I have ever seen in my whole life.

WARNING: SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERSOK, I've seen a quite a few awful films in my time. I've witnessed suchtitles as Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Killjoy 1 AND 2, House on HauntedHill and Thir13en Ghosts (modern versions) just to name a few. But this, afilm that seems to have everything going for it, takes the cake. It's notthe pointless nudity, the unbelievably awful script, or even the 20 minutescene that is in night vision for some reason that makes this #1 on myall-time worst movies list. It's the last scene, a scene so brutally anddisturbingly violent that it rivals "Taxi Driver" (it hurts me to say that,because this film should not even be in the same room with "Taxi Driver"),that really puts it over the edge. Why did the filmmakers (especially theformerly reliable John McTiernan) think that this would work as the climaxto the film? In the end, this film's message seems to be: if someone isgetting you down, brutally murder them in cold blood. Don't even get mestarted on the part where Chris Klein (who is slowly starting to suck)blocks a shotgun blast with a stool and doesn't even flinch from theimpact.Final Grade: 0 out 10

theplanetsmasher1 2012-04-14 12:40:35

Proof that Jesus died in vain

I'll always remember the time I went to see this movie. I went with acouple of friends figuring to see a normal, popcorn movie. Boy was Iwrong. What sticks out in my mind is that when we went in the theaterthere were about two people in the theater beside us. I just figuredthat people had seen it already. Ha ha ha. The movie starts out with a teenager doing some extreme street lugedown the streets of LA. Because, of course, that is legal. He isapproached by LLCool J to come into this new, cool, dangerous sportcalled Rollerball. Boiled down it is a hardcore rollerderby with a balland a big dish. It is the most uninteresting "sport" you could thinkof. There he meets a woman and they fall in love. So, as his careerflourishes, he dates her. As this goes on, the president of this sportsleague starts to bribe teams to get bloodier in their combat, beingthat there are no rules. Chris Penn sees this and, after fighting fortheir lives, he and a few people escape...and then the movie ends.There is no scheming of plotting, they just escape. There is no closureand it's not satisfying like in Pulp Fiction or something to thateffect, it's just an end. Like they forgot to distribute the ending ofthe film. This movie is easily the worst I have ever seen. The plot is virtuallynon-existent, the acting is bad, and the directing...wait THERE ISNONE. Don't waste your time with this crap. Final Grade: .5/10

Seikan 2012-04-14 13:20:16

Wow... no really... wow...

Never in my life have I seen something held together by cameoappearances... I mean, this has to be the most commercialized,corporate movie I have ever seen.From the god awful Slipknot's appearance to the Ben Affleck of the nextgeneration Chris Klein, the only uplifting experience was Jean Reno,because he is the coolest actor since Samuel L. Jackson.And seriously, for a movie made just four years before its set-time, itwent way overboard.Oh and a fun fact: ECW and WWE's Paul Heyman is that annoyingcommentator you see from scene 1... and generally in each and everyscene afterwards.From wrestling (Heyman), fake metal (Slipknot) to horrible acting(Klein) and a poor storyline that can truly only be outdone by Gigli, Ifind myself wanting to rip out my left kidney if not for the fact Ialready did so watching Gigli.

elpaz79903 2012-04-13 23:18:32

What's This?

The only good part in this movie that made me say 1-Star is the onewith Slipknot. Having WWE's Paul Heyman as announcer was also reasonfor this movie to have some rating. Remaking a good classic for thiswas just awful. Man this movie made no sense, the whole scene whereeverything was shot in green, the acting very awful, Jean Reno shouldhave turned this down, and in my opinion LL Cool J probably had nothingelse better to do than to come out in a lame movie. Even in the unratedversion released on video/DVD everything with the deleted scenes waspretty lame. Slipknot you guys rule, but please, no more awful movieslike this ever again.