BEFORE: Time to see if the remake lives up (?) to the original film. Does it ever?
Linking's a little tough tonight, I can get there a few different ways, but let's go this way - James Caan was also in a film called "Kiss Me Goodbye" with Sally Field, who was also in "Say It Isn't So" with Chris Klein.
THE PLOT: The big thing in 2005 is Rollerball, a violent sport which can have some pretty serious consequences... like dying.
AFTER: Wow, I didn't think too much of the original "Rollerball", but this version makes that one look like "Citizen Kane" by comparison. They made a big mistake with this, and assumed that the best part of the Rollerball concept was the game itself, so they made a film that is 99% game. But the most interesting part of the original film was James Caan trying to figure out who was controlling the game. So they ditched the thing that made the game interesting.
They also changed the game itself - the future-sport depicted in the original film had a scoreboard, points were awarded for goals scored. But in the remake they took the scoring away, so we're left with just people skating around, occasionally propelled by motorcycles. Oh, there are stunts, but what's the point of the game without a score? It's now just a bloodsport - so why do the main characters act surprised when people start getting killed? What else IS there to the game?
The only semi-smart thing they did was remove the dystopian future setting - the film was made in 2002 but set in 2005, which was not a large leap. This way they didn't have to make a lot of predictions about what technology would look like 20 years down the road - instead by setting the film in central Asia in the near-future, there was more of a feeling that this sport could take place, and soon. They probably watch some freaky TV in Mongolia and Kazakhstan anyway, right?
I had trouble staying awake for this one, but I don't think it was my fault.
Also starring Jean Reno (last seen in "Armored"), LL Cool J (last seen in "S.W.A.T.", Rebecca Romijn, Naveen Andrews (last seen in "The English Patient"), with a cameo from Pink.
RATING: 2 out of 10 translators
No comments:
Post a Comment