“Rollerball” is like a bad Heavy Metal song -- a lot of noise and speed, but no history, no story line to follow.
This remake of the 1975 classic directed by Norman Jewison has much more action than the original movie, but the characters are terrible. There is definitely enough action to be awake the entire movie, and the action never stops, but without any sense or order.
Jonathan Cross (Chris Klein “American Pie I, II”) is the most famous player in the game. “Rollerball” is a mix of rugby, roller derby, hockey and motorcycle racing. Everything was perfect for him; he made a lot of money and he was becoming very famous. But then he realizes that the game was under the orders of an evil conglomerate.
His best friend Marcus Ridley (LL Cool J), who is also a famous player, tries to escape with Jonathan out of the game, but their evil boss is determined to kill them as they do it.
Jonathan also has a girlfriend and teammate named Aurora (Rebecca Rominjn- Stamos). Their relationship is very unbelievable. During the film they never show affection or love, but he’s determine to give his life for her.
The lead character of the movie, Jonathan, is too weak. Klein doesn’t have the charisma for the role. He doesn’t look tough and is lacking an attitude.
The role of the bad guy, Petrovich (Jay Reno) is much better than the other characters, but sometimes he looks like a cartoon. He screams for nothing the entire movie.
Director John McTiernan did his job at directing despite the lack of story line.
Every five seconds, there is a car crash, a murder, a naked woman, a fight, everything that a teenager wants to see, but if you want to follow a story, please go to see another movie.
My Grade: C-
Runner@csubak.edu