In the distant future of 2018, giant corporations have taken over and divvied up the world, bringing an end to governments, war, poverty, disease, and all the other social ills. The only negative remaining in such a life is boredom, and the corporations have solved this problem by giving the masses a violent sport to watch. Rollerball involves skaters and motorcyclists racing around a circular track while trying to get a metal ball into a goal. Amplifying the most violent elements of sports like football, hockey, and roller derby, Rollerball routinely results in massive injuries and death for the players. The ones who prevail, however, live lives of luxury similar to those of the corporate executives.
No rollerball player is more successful than Jonathan E. (James Caan). His ability to score goals and lay bloody waste to his opponents makes him a legend in his own time, so he is surprised when his team owner tells him that the Corporation wants him to retire at the height of his game. Unable to simply take orders, Jonathan sets out to learn why he is being removed from the rink, and learns some dark truths about the society in which he lives.
I'm going to reveal some spoilers here, so if you are dedicated to watching this overlong, outdated piece of sci-fi weirdness, you should stop reading here.
Jonathan is much like most of the denizons of his world, happy to enjoy the creature comforts provided by the corporations, dulling any pangs of unease or boredom with the drugs that are widely available and with the game of rollerball. Jonathan is a bit more ill-at-ease than most people, because his wife was taken from him by a corporate executive. People aren't really supposed to fall in love in this future world. Pointedly, all the women in the film look more or less alike. A girl is assigned to you, and a man isn't supposed to prefer one over another. Jonathan's wife wasn't taken from him despite his love for her but because of it. Any individual desire threatens the delicate balance of corporate power.
It's the same with rollerball. The sport is intended to be a bloody spectacle in which the players are interchangeable and expendable. Jonathan's dominance threatens to add an element of individual achievement that runs counter to the program. This, he learns, is why the corporation wants him out of the game.
There's nothing wrong with this story setup, just with the execution. Director Norman Jewison is responsible for classics like “In the Heat of the Night,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” and “Moonstruck,” but he fell short with “Rollerball.” The film features some decent acting by James Caan and by John Houseman as an executive, and there is some impressively-framed cinematography. Otherwise, the film is self-indulgent, boring, and overly long at 2h 5 min. A better-written film with a tighter narrative arc and a shorter run-time could have served as a sharp commentary on violent sports and all-powerful corporations, but that film is not “Rollerball.” Sadly, the most memorable scenes in the film are the rollerball sequences. We are supposed to be critical of the violent game, but, like those “future” 2018 sports fans, I couldn't help but be drawn to the spectacle.
2 stars out of 5
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