Welcome Rollerball onto Blu-ray. A remake of the 1975 futuristic Action sports movie, directed by John McTiernan of Die Hard fame, set in Kazakhstan where anything goes as long as the television ratings keep climbing. Big name stars include Chris Klein, LL Cool J, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos & Jean Reno in this blood fuelled, Sci-fi, Extreme sports showcase.
An NHL hopeful, Jonathan Cross (Klein), while waiting for his shot at the big leagues, is approached by an old school friend, Marcus Ridley (LL Cool J), who lures Cross to follow him to Kazakhstan with promises of Stardom and Fortune. Cross is introduced to Rollerball, a high paced futuristic style blood sport where participants combine other sports like motocross, roller blading & La cross to race around a figure eight track, passing a metal ball until close enough to throw at a round target to score. It is not long before Cross is the star attraction of the Rollerball sport and has reached fame, owning all sorts of exotic cars. Things go wrong however, when a team-mate is injured in an apparent staging and the sports creator, Petrovich (Reno), realizes that his ratings skyrocket with each act of violence. Cross picks up on Petrovich’s intentions and tries to warn his longtime friend Marcus, but the money and fame is too attractive and Marcus is oblivious to the warnings. Soon Cross and his love interest, Aurora (Romijn-Stamos), are on the run from the tyrannous Rollerball boss and what ensues is a battle to overthrow the malicious sport.
Klein delivers a mediocre performance, while LL Cool J is by far the film’s strongest presence. Jean Reno plays a very decent villain too. This film is by no means a masterpiece, but offers a good 90 minutes of popcorn time on the couch. I would not recommend this film to younger audiences due to the use of strong language, violence and nudity.
From a technical aspect:
Rollerball is presented in remastered Full HD 1080p resolution. This presentation is probably one of the better remastered films with very little grain present. Lighting is well maintained throughout and color representation is very good especially in the arenas.
Audio is brought to life in Dolby True HD with crisp clear sound. If you have a good Sub Woofer on your home theatre system, you will feel every thump, bump and bruise in the action-packed sports arena.
Rollerball is more enjoyable on Blu-ray than when I originally watched the theatrical release back in 2003. For men, this is a decent action fest and for the ladies, LL Cool J with his deep voice and trained physique, should keep you glued to your HD TV.
By Darren Strydom, Sony Electronics SA.
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