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Rollerball
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corporation

Rollerball reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 14 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
2.8 out of 10
based on 28 reviews
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How did we calculate this?
based on 20 votes
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MPAA RATING: PG-13 for violence, extreme sports action, sensuality, language and some drug references

Starring Chris Klein, Jean Reno, LL Cool J, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Naveen Andrews, Pink, and Mike Dopud

Set in 2005, this update of the classic 1975 film directed by Norman Jewison, focuses on the deadly sport that combines roller derby and basketball and packs arenas around the world.


GENRE(S): Sci-fi  
WRITTEN BY: Larry Ferguson
John Pogue
William Harrison (short story Roller Ball Murders and 1975 screenplay)
 
DIRECTED BY: John McTiernan  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: June 18, 2002 
Video: June 18, 2002 
Theatrical: February 8, 2002 
RUNNING TIME: 115 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

70
Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
A turbo-charged remake that should alienate no fans of the adrenalized 1975 original.
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50
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
The game itself is meaningless, and the movie, much the same way, likes it like that.
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42
Entertainment Weekly Staff (Not Credited)
Rollerball was trash even back in 1975, but in some small way it was ahead of its time. The new version just makes you feel like you've been watching a lame late-night rerun while stuck in a thunderdome.
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40
TV Guide Ken Fox
Once LL Cool J, easily the film's most magnetic presence, is out of the game, the whole thing falls apart in a hazy, confusing mess.
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38
Boston Globe Jay Carr
Meretricious without being entertaining, it's an easy game -- and an easier film -- to sit out.
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
What's up with director John McTiernan? The man has got to get a career of his own -- sponging off the pale leavings of Norman Jewison just won't do.
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38
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Some movies should never have been made, and high on that list is the addled new remake of Rollerball.
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38
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Gets stupider as it moves along. By the end, you just don't care whether that cold-hearted snake Petrovich (that would be Reno) gets his comeuppance. Just bring on the Battle Bots, please!
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30
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
It's too bad this Rollerball veered off-track so swiftly, derailed by bad writing and possibly also by some of that extensive post-production reworking.
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25
New York Post Jonathan Foreman
This oddly scrambled new version eventually falls apart so badly you feel embarrassed for the people who made it.
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25
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
There's something junior varsity about the whole sensibility that makes the new version seem more dated than the old one.
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25
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
Coupled with the flavorless dialogue of the inane script and a leading man who registers all the glow of a black hole, there's nothing to anchor this mindless mess of a film.
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25
ReelViews James Berardinelli
The most depressing thing about this movie is not that it's such a complete waste of time, but that there are people in Hollywood who think this kind of thing is what American movie-goers are interested in seeing.
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25
USA Today Mike Clark
The word on Rollerball is "troubled," though troubled is what you call a high school junior with 50 snakes under his bed. Catastrophe is more like it.
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20
The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Only those attracted to "Waterworld" or "Last Action Hero" level big-budget disasters need bother with this one.
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20
The New York Times A.O. Scott
The current version, however, like its predecessor, fails as entertainment. Mr. McTiernan's remake may be lighter on its feet -- the sober-minded original was as graceful as a tap-dancing rhino -- but it is just as boring and as obvious.
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12
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
An incoherent mess, a jumble of footage in search of plot, meaning, rhythm and sense.
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10
Film Threat Chris Gore
Will surely end up as one of this year’s worst films.
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10
Washington Post Stephen Hunter
It has no moments of athletic grace amid the chaos, no apparent sense of strategy. It's basically just mayhem set to rock music.
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10
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Say this for the soundtrack, it drowns out the lousy dialogue.
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0
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Bad and baffling from the get-go, probably the only good thing to come out of this Rollerball is the boon it gives the porn industry in terms of another ready-made title to spoof.
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0
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Remarkably empty, remarkably noisy, remarkably pleasureless. It's unwatchable.
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0
New Times (L.A.) Gregory Weinkauf
As in the comparatively quaint original film, there are whiffs of greed, carnage, social upheaval and the triumph of the numskull, but it's all rendered noxious nonsense by zooming hot rods, vague T&A, irritating jump-cuts and a bunch of dipshit Power Ranger wannabes slamming in hell's moshpit.
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0
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
A movie of such rank stupidity and appalling taste.
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0
LA Weekly Paul Malcolm
Rollerball pushes the Hollywood action movie to stratospheric new levels of incoherence; pounding at the senses, it's mashed story, character, time and space into a chunky hash.
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0
Village Voice Mark Holcomb
McTiernan's Rollerball is a movie masochist's delight.
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0
Miami Herald Connie Ogle
Plentiful helpings of dreadful acting, confusing action cinematography, choppy editing and embarrassing dialogue, with the added bonus of a plot almost as dumb as that of the original film.
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0
Variety Robert Koehler
Sheer chaos on wheels, a hysterically edited jumble that defies belief at nearly every juncture.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 2.8 (out of 10) based on 20 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Steve E. gave it a10:
Amazing Film, lots of action. If you compare it to the original it is better.

Jon gave it a 10:
Everyone always compare things to their predecessors. First off, this isn't a direct remake, it's a rendition. If they were going to just copy it 100%, they would just put the old one on dvd. Second of all, it's an action movie, of course things are fast, it's ACTION. The thing is packed of actions scenes beginning to end. If you can't catch the plot, I don't know how you can even read this. If you're expecting some immaculate movie with some moving theme, well, then go watch the patriot or some crap. This is an action movie. Full of action. For people who like action. If you don't like action, it wasn't meant for you to see it. So stfu. =)

Mateusz P. gave it a 0:
Lying on my deathbed, watching this movie might be one of the few things i'll regret having done. it's so moronic you will actually FEEL all your joy, happiness and meaning of life evaporate out of every pore on your body.

Adam E. gave it a 3:
Disappointing and stupid.

Gilbert gave it a 0:
John McTiernan? John McTIERNAN? JOHN MCTIERNAN?

Michael R. gave it a 2:
A disjointed mess. It's only value could be to show film student's what a terrible film looks like.

Chris D. gave it a 0:
I'm sad i watched this movie. It was TERRIBLE. Aside the bad acting, you have terrible editing (the camera would cut for no reason... a character would be looking one way, then an instant later the other direction...) There was no explanation for why most people died... The rest is just too stupid for words... This kinda movie makes me wanna cry :-\

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