Rollerball (2002 film)

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Rollerball
Rollerball promotional poster
Directed by	John McTiernan
Produced by	John McTiernan Charles Roven Beau St. Clair
Written by	Larry Ferguson John Pogue
Starring	Chris Klein Jean Reno LL Cool J Rebecca Romijn Naveen Andrews
Music by	Julianne Jordan Laura Z. Wasserman
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (USA) Sony Pictures Entertainment (non-USA)
Release date(s)	February 8, 2002 (USA)
Running time	98 min.
Language	English
Budget	$70,000,000
IMDb profile

Rollerball is a 2001 remake of the 1975 science fiction film of the same name. This updated 'remake' of the film was directed by John McTiernan and has a much greater concentration on action and more muted social and political overtones. Unlike the first film, it takes place in the present rather than a seemingly dystopian future.

The film sees former pro wrestling personality Paul Heyman starring as an announcer while Shane McMahon, son of World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon, can be seen in one scene. Popular singer Pink can be seen throughout the film on large video screens, as a singer playbacking to several songs. There is also a concert scene in which the Nu Metal band SlipKnoT plays the song "I Am Hated" from their album Iowa.

Upon its release, the film met with harsh critical disdain and poor box-office returns (less than $26M revenue world-wide on a film that cost $70M). As a guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, LL Cool J admitted that the film "sucked."

1 Cast
2 Plot
3 Soundtrack
4 External links

[edit] Cast

Chris Klein - Jonathan Cross
LL Cool J - Marcus Ridley
Rebecca Romijn - Aurora
Oleg Taktarov - Oleg Denekin
Jean Reno - Alexi Petrovich
Naveen Andrews - Sanjay
Paul Heyman - Sports Announcer
Mike Dopud - Michael 'The Assassin'

[edit] Plot

It's the year 2005; the new sport of Rollerball is hugely popular in the unstable, ex-Soviet republics of Central Asia. Marcus Ridley (LL Cool J) invites NHL-hopeful Jonathan Cross ( Chris Klein) to join him playing for the Zhambel Horsemen, in Kazahkstan. The highly paid Marcus and Jonathon are teamed with low-paid locals, who are routinely severely injured in the game, which is an extraordinarily violent extension of roller derby involving motorcycles, a metal ball, and many trappings of the World Wrestling Federation. Soon the team's star and the darling of promoter Alexi Petrovich (Jean Reno), Jonathan, is thrilled by the high-octane sport, the hype, the sports cars, and female team mate Aurora (a glowering, scar-faced (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos). But gradually Jonathan discovers that the cynical Alexi and his opportunistic assistant Sanjay (Naveen Andrews) will go to any lengths to manipulate the game in order to provide an evermore gory spectacle and improve the game's television ratings.