| ROLLERBALL (2002) |
| CAST: Chris Klein, LL Cool J, Jean Reno, Rebecca Romijn Stamos, Naveen Andrews, Kata Dobo, Oleg Taktarov, Paul Heyman DIRECTOR: John McTiernan SCREENPLAY: Larry Ferguson and John Pogue, based on the "Roller Ball Murders" story by William Harrison Running Time: 99 Mins. Rated PG-13 |
| After viewing MGM's megabomb remake "Rollerball," it reminded me heavily of another release from the studio that went through a lot of hell in the making. It was a big budgeted sci-fi film called "Supernova" that went through so many delays, reshoots and editing trips that MGM finally snuck it in on the big screens in early 2000 with no critic screenings and hardly any publicity. They tried a similar thing with "Rollerball," which was supposed to come out last summer with an "R" rating, but the test screenings were so poor that MGM pulled it back to February. They also decided to reedit the film with a "PG-13" rating, hoping to appeal to the same audiences that flocked for "The Fast and Furious." When looking at the final results, it's a shame to see how much of a letdown this film was. Of course, a lot of people knew this wasn't going to be very good since a remake of this film seems unnecessary, but I've been a longtime fan of director John McTiernan (Predator) and he can usually deliver on solid entertainment. I don't know what happened here since this film shows none of the slick direction that McTiernan is known for and this manages to come out even worse than "Supernova" did. This film looks like an amateurish effort that is so confusingly shot and edited that I often found myself wondering what the hell was going on in the movie. Set in the near future, we are first introduced to our hero Jonathan Cross (Chris Klein) performing some illegal street luging through the streets of San Francisco for some quick cash. Just when the cops are catching up onto him, he gets a convenient lift from his old friend Marcus (LL Cool J). When the two start chatting, Marcus tells Jonathan about his involvement in a new cult phenomenon set out in Kazakhstan known as Rollerball, a steel-ball wielding, extreme sport that starts to gain interest in him. Marcus knows how talented Jonathan is for the sport of hockey, so he invites him on a flight to get in the game. Jonathan agrees and participates in Rollerball, flying out to Kazakhstan, and soon becoming a favorite with the rowdy crowds. With the fame, cash, and secret romance of Aurora (Rebecca Romijn Stamos), a fellow player on his team, things seem to be looking up for Jonathan's career. On the other hand, the sport starts to become more of a mystery when players are becoming viciously attacked and Jonathan starts becoming more curious on the attitude of the Rollerball creator (Jean Reno), who obsesses about the shows ratings. With the help of Aurora and Marcus by his side, Jonathan is in hopes of finding out about the backstory on Rollerball and what the creator has planned for its leading players. McTiernan's confused direction doesn't help the lackluster screenplay for this adaption. He relies on jump cuts and frentically shaking the camera around in order to get your blood flowing. Unfortunately, it's more headache inducing and repetitious the effect he was going for. The opening luge sequence and Rollerball segment are exciting, but from then on, the film doesn't have a whole lot else interesting to show us. Despite some keying in with the enthusiastic announcer (Paul Heyman), I had little clue on how Rollerball worked and the incoherence of these scenes drained out most of the tension. The worst decision of McTiernan, however, was to shoot a boring action sequence using grainy green filters. I was wondering if it was the projector at first, but soon realized it was a failed attempt at creating style. The updated story of the 1975 film doesn't make a whole lot of sense, mostly meshing in elements of "The Running Man" and "Solarbabies" together. Of course, the target audience aren't watching it for the storyline or any character development, yet even the action itself is nonsensical and it makes this 98 minute movie crawl during the running time. One thing that worked was the music and sound. This is an incredibly loud movie and for the proceedings, it works well. Slipknot makes an interesting cameo during one of the games and we get a couple great Rob Zombie songs in here. The relentless noise also helps drown out some of the cheesy dialogue used throughout the film by the characters. The sound fx guys went all out in this film and it shows when watching it (was it me or did some scenes have cartoonish sounds used). Similar to what Matt brings up in his "Domestic Disturbance" review, there are a few "f" words used in the movie that are obviously replaced with another word (hence the PG-13 rating), making for an unintentially comical effect. Klein appears well built for the part, yet acts bored and looks out of place as the rowdy Jonathan. He shows none of the conviction or charm he had used for his characters in "Election or "American Pie," instead going for the stiff, obnoxious personality that he used in the schmaltzfest "Here on Earth." Its a bad performance from a rising actor with potential. LL Cool J and Romijn Stamos at least try the best they can do with the poorly written characters of Marcus and Aurora. They both attempt to inject a little personality, but it seems like most of their material is stuck in the editing room. Reno is the best actor in the film and seems aware of the badness, hamming it up with no shame. I'm glad to see him appearing in more US projects these days and his appearance is welcome, but like the cast, he deserves much better than this. Hopefully, like "Supernova," MGM will release this film in its "R" rated version on video and DVD. Even if it couldn't improve too much over this version, at least we'd have more brutal violence and a longer, more revealing nude scene of Romijn Stamos. There were a couple amusing bits of the future that appear to be a clever nod to Paul Verhoeven (the use of commercials and product placement; the men/women locker rooms), but aside from Reno, the film takes itself much too seriously to achieve in campy entertainment value. Pre-teens might be entangled in by some of the material, but I'm sure most everyone else will be more attentive on the exit doors in the lobby than the film itself. Rating: * 1/2 out of ***** Review by Adam Eshack - (c) 3/7/02 |
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