MovieChat Forums > Rollerball (2002) Discussion > WORST remake I've seen, if not among the...

WORST remake I've seen, if not among the worst

posted 15 years ago by jeffyoung1
2 replies | jump to latest

Years ago, when I first heard of a remake for the 1975 ROLLERBALL, I was ecstatic. ROLLERBALL (1975) may have had its flaws, but as a science fiction movie it stands on its own merits. Sci-fi movies typically choose between a dystopian or utopian future. Like "Logan's Run" (1977), ROLLERBALL skirted both ingeniously more so than Logan's Run by portraying a seemingly utopian future that was insidiously dystopian at its core. Both movies portrayed a future where citizens were well-fed, fulfilled with material goods, and seemingly contented but at the cost of happily relinquishing their freedoms and future to Big Brother who called the final shots. Unlike George Orr's book, 1984, the premise of ROLLERBALL was that Big Brother could buy off the average citizen as long as all material needs were amply met. If you truly think about it in 2010, how many people would be happy to live in the world depicted by the 1975 Rollerball? I guess that many would love to accept the deal.

Well, as more information slowly came out it became clear that the remake was going to follow a different direction. I was clearly disappointed but when the movie came out in 2002 I still went out of curiosity. Like the other imdb posters, this movie stunk, big time. I don't know what the director had in mind. But he had no business titling the movie, 'Rollerball'. He should have honestly come up with a different title. We could be more understanding if the movie had a different title so we did not have any expectations. Still on its own, Rollerball (2002) is a lousy action movie. I had no desire to watch this movie again whatsoever.

[–] jeffyoung1 10 years ago

It seems everyone agreed with me. As I previously wrote, had the director and producers chosen a different name for this completely different movie, then we might understand it for what it really was, an unregulated, dangerous violent motorcross game set in an unregulated, politically chaotic part of the world. I read long before that the man responsible for the remake had long cultivated his OWN vision of a remake. But it seemed that vision was to be a completely different movie.

Utopian/dystopin sci-fi movies like the 1975 ROLLERBALL, SLEEPER, and LOGAN'S RUN, are common in the plot that a comfortable, generous, happy future lies in wait for gullible humanity if only we give up all personal, political, and spiritual rights to a totalitarian leadership. As things turn out in 2014, we are giving up more of our rights in return for more unemployment, higher costs, and uncertainty. Right! We get the worst of both worlds...the royal shaft!

[–] andrewwjohnson 10 years ago

The movie should have been called "Roller Derby Death Match" or "Wheels of Thunder" or some other crazy action title: not "Rollerball". It's like doing a movie about a inept blogger and saying it is a remake "Citizen Kane" because both movies are about publishing. How about a movie about storm chasers being billed as a remake of "Gone With the Wind".

The first version of "Rollerball" was frightening because it brought up the possible lose of personal freedom if the corporate interests over displace democratic government. As with Roman Empire a violent "sport" was used to support the power of the corporate state and distract the public.

The "Rollerball" remake is at it's core another extreme sports movie. It is about as politically conscious as eighties WWF Wrestling or motor cross.

TAG LINE: True genius is a beautiful thing, but ignorance is ugly to the bone.