By RUSSELL BAILLIE
(Herald rating: * )
Further proving that the easiest way to look dated is revive a past idea of what the future might hold, this remake of the 1975 sci-fi movie about a future of designed-for-television gladiatorial sport isn't just archaic, it's also unbelievably crummy.
The real pity is that
it's not quite awful enough to fall into the so-bad-it's-good camp. That's despite the endlessly dull action from its rollerball sequences and the impact-free presence of the rosy-cheeked Chris Klein, who plays the new reluctant star of the sport. Jean Reno's Euro-villain team owner and LL Cool J and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as Klein's team-mates offer plenty of distractions in the bad-acting department.
The Norman Jewison-directed original, starring a Godfather-hot James Caan, was no classic. But this dispenses with the man-against-his-masters theme of the original and just keeps skating round and round slamming into things, until everyone's sore, dizzy and bored silly.
Rental video, DVD: Out now
* DVD features: Actor commentary, theatrical trailer, Rollerball yearbook
