Not to be confused with Norman Jewison's 1975 hell-on-wheels futuristic actioner. John McTiernan's remake is chaos from starting line to pile-up: an ugly, brutal, unintelligible, high-decibel bit of brainless violence set mostly on a helter-skelter figure-of-eight arena mixing bikers and Rollerbladers usually in bone-crunching collision.
This movable deathfest tours Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia and Mongolia - hot wheels replacing Cold War. Jean Reno, a former KGB man turned to xtreme games instead of torture - not much of a career move - recruits Chris Klein, luge champ on San Francisco's big hills, to win a US cable deal by upping the mortality count and winning global ratings. A 10-minute midsection is filmed on foggy, green, grainy blown-up film stock - almost impenetrable. Xtreme sport, xtreme schlock.
Rollerball
Cert: 15
