Review of Rollerball (2002) by John T — 15 Mar 2014

Rollerball is another of those great 70's cult sci-fi films, featuring a great cast of actors and a smart script. This was a brilliant adaptation of William Harrison's short story (he also wrote the screenplay) of a future that is way better than the 2003 version. In the future, governments have been replaced by corporations that provide for everyone's needs in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. Wars no longer exist; hey are replaced by Rollerball, a violent sport used to entertain the population and reinforce the message that individuality is to be suppressed. The film was notorious at the time for its violence, although that was greatly exaggerated in comparison to some professional sports and entertainment.

James Caan is great as Johnathan E, the greatest Rollerball player ever. He continues to succeed in a sport designed to show the futility of individual effort. The sport is constantly changed to stop him, yet he continues to overcome every obstacle. John Houseman was typically inscrutable as the head of the Energy Corporation who conspires with his fellow corporate executives to use the sport to both entertain and distract the population and show them that the individual can't succeed. He grows more restive as Johnathan E defeats his schemes and he begins to grow desperate at the thought of Jonathan becoming bigger than the game.

The supporting cast is uniformly very good; filled with great actors, like Moses Gunn, John Beck,Maud Adams, Pamela Hensley and Sir Ralph Richardson in a cameo as the Librarian. The film is noteworthy for its use of Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor for establishing an ominous atmosphere.The corporate headquarters and exterior locations were filmed at the BMW office compound in Munich, Germany and lend to the futuristic feel of the film. The Rollerball arena was filmed at the basketball arena used during the 1972 Olympic Games.

The film demonstrates that the individual can triumph over insurmountable odds and cautions against corporate or governmental control of society. It uses both allegory and speculation wonderfully, and packages it with thrilling action sequences, which on their own leave the viewer wanting to see more of this sport. The remake failed because it couldn't see beyond the action and therefore missed the point of the story.