Rollerball is a 2002 science fiction/sports film directed by John McTiernan and starring Chris Klein, LL Cool J, Rebecca Romijn, Jean Reno, and P!nk. It is a remake of the the 1975 film of the same name.
Sports fanatic Jonathan Cross (Klein) is invited by his best friend Marcus Ridley (Cool J) to become a player in Rollerball, a violent, deadly sport played only in the Eastern European country of Kazakhstan. Jonathan initially revels in the glamor and thrills of the sport. That is, until he realizes the unscrupulous creator of the sport Alexi Petrovich (Reno) has started orchestrating the players to have lethal "accidents" to drum up ratings.
This film contains examples of:
- Bloodier and Gorier: This version is far more violent than the original.
- Break His Heart to Save Him: Jonathan trades Aurora to another team to get her out of danger.
- Extreme Sports Excuse Plot: Placing the film in the modern day and giving Rollerball a more "Attitude Era WWE" presentation turns the film into this. As well, the event that forces Jonathan to leave the United States and move to Eastern Europe to make a living playing Rollerball is an illegal luge race through San Francisco.
- Fictional Sport: Once again, Rollerball. We get a brief gist of the most important rules before the announcer says that the rest don't matter and they're written in Russian, anyway.
- Hotter and Sexier: The film ramps up the fan-service in contrast to the original, introducing female players into the teams and showing a lot of skin during the locker-room scenes.
- If It Bleeds, It Leads: Rollerball is already an "extreme" sport that is practiced in Eastern Europe and in a remote location, exclusively streamed online, because other nations consider it too crazy to make it mainstream, but it turns out that all of the murder and mayhem that happens before (and in some way after) Jonathan starts to rebel is deliberately ordered by the Big Bad to increase the broadcast ratings.
- Jump Cut: Several of them. Hell, there are two jump cuts at the same time in one scene near the end of the movie!
- Lighter and Softer: Extra gore aside, the remake drops the dystopian setting of the original, making the violence and conflict happen in a remote Eastern European venue. The film also ends with a more standard action movie climax in which Jonathan kills both villains who have ruined the city and created Rollerball as their Bread and Circuses and rolls to the hospital a hero of the locals and looking forward to a further step with Aurora.
- Ms. Fanservice: Aurora is a fantastically beautiful female player (played by Rebecca Romijn) who is shown nude several times.
- Next Sunday A.D.: Unlike the original, the remake basically takes place in modern day.
- Sequel Goes Foreign: The remake takes place somewhere in Eastern Europe (the announcer says that the rulebook is written in Russian) because Rollerball is considered too violent for mainstream audiences. It is quickly revealed that this is partially the point.