The original Rollerball
I hope this bad movie doesn't discourage you to see the original Rollerball with James Caan and John Houseman. It was great.
sharelol. I just saw Rollerball 2002, and immediately I had to watch the original to restore my faith.
Well, I think Rollerball 2002 was sorta like a cartoon version of the Mona Lisa. Y'know? Or maybe like a heavy metal version of Beethoven's 5th Symphony. So with that in mind--knowing not to expect the same art & poetry as the original--I actually had a good time watching R2002. Except the damn camerawork in the arena was like Blair Witch on skates. Oh my head.
But yeah, kiddies, go find a copy of the original and watch it. Now. It's truly magnificent, philosophical & rousing. The babes are hotter, too.
yha, whenever I think of the original Rollerball I instantly think of other great pieces of art such as the Mona Lisa or Beethoven's 5th Symphony.
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OK, maybe it's not the Mona Lisa or Beethoven's 5th, of by association A Clockwork Orange (yes I know it's the 9th, but still there's an association). However I did see a parallel between the original Rollerball and 2001: A Space Odyssey. The world as portrait in Rollerball to me seemed like the kind of world from which Captains Dave Bowman and Frank Poole set off. And though not in the same league it is a great movie, albeit a bit slow by today's standards. Which would account the reason for the desire to do remake. It seems as though most people in Hollywood these days prefer to make some quick money on the sentiments and nostalgia attached to the cult -TV series, -comic books and -films of their youth (which for many filmmakers of today is based in the 70's) rather than to come up with their own original idea, or even an original approach to a subject (such as Tim Burton's visions for Batman and The Planet of the Apes). I have nothing against remakes, but I do feel they have to add something to the original, if not... don't, spent your money on a good DVD release of the original!
Satori For Sale
Good to see there are some fans of the original who truly saw the philosophy & poetry behind it! Most people (who haven't seen it) roll their eyes when I talk about Rollerball. I guess the title conjures up images of lousy B-movies. Oh well, their loss.
I also agree with your stance on remakes. I thought Nosferatu (1979) and Manchurian Candidate (2004) were great (I even liked the Solaris remake). But that's because they expanded on the themes of the originals, even to the point of making the movies slower & longer.
On the other hand, like you said, Rollerball 2002 was like a condensation of the classic. Like the MTV version, sped up and all simplified. You're right, that rings of a Hollywood-cash-in scheme. It all blew past me so fast I can't even remember if they included the great references to "the corporate wars" or that great satirical visit to the global library (where they lost the entire 11th century!).
Also, the whole point of the original Rollerbal was that society had reached a state of utopia by hiding the dirty underbelly of human nature. The remake? Naaaah, they just dumped that theme. Instead they went with the stereotypical vision of the future as a dirty back alley in New York City. I guess they went for the cheap gimmick.
But like I said in my 1st post, if you accept this remake as a "joke version" (a cartoon or a comic strip) then you won't expect all the poetry of the original, and you can just sit back and be dazzled by all the big explosions & stuff.
It WAS a good movie. Really had a lot to say back then about what we are becoming now.
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