Starring
Chris Klein
Jean Reno
LL Cool J
Rebecca Romijn-Stamos
Oleg Taktarov
Rated M
Rollerball 2001, a remake of the 1975 B-grade classic
is probably set to become a latter-day B-grade classic in its own right.
Interestingly the latter version is set 10 years earlier
(2005) in the future than the original and with a somewhat more plausible revamp
of the underlying plot.
Jonathan Cross (Klein) is an extreme sportsman hovering,
but not quite making it, on the fringes of professional sport in the States
until an old football buddy, Marcus (LL Cool J) turns up with an offer of wealth
and stardom in a made-for-TV sporting arena - Rollerball.
With nothing much to loose, Jonathan signs up for the
promise of fast cars, fast women and fast money on offer for anyone with the
skill - and the stomach - to survive the rough and tumble of a sport with few
rules.
Set in post Iron Curtin, Eastern-Block countries - countries
where the rules of business, and indeed life, are as thin and flexible as those
of the game - Rollerball 2001 pits team on team in a game where the quantity
of blood on the track directly equates to TV ratings.
With megabucks to be made through selling lucrative
world TV rights, the step to deliberate, clandestinely organised mayhem in the
sporting arena is a short one - especially in the aforementioned, ethically
liberal eastern nations.
And if the players don't like it, well a death or two
is the next logical step for even higher ratings.
As I said earlier, Rollerball 2001 is a B-grade movie
- but a very good one. It has B-grade acting (Jean Reno was OK but not as good
as he can be), a B-grade story line and B-grade (though it tried hard) cinematography.
On the flip side, however, it's almost worth watching
for the cars alone.
Each Rollerball player needed transport befitting his
or her status as a sporting icon, and thus a stable of unique and thoroughly
jaw-dropping cars was paraded and street-raced just for eye candy.
The odd white pointer in full double-decker-bus-sized
technicolour was worth the look as well.
The soundtrack also rates a mention because I usually
don't notice the soundtrack.
In this case it was particularly loud and pumping, and
although I didn't recognise a single artist on the list of credits, I liked
it.
All in all, not bad, but there are certainly better
movies around at the moment to spend the readies on.
