Paul, this movie is not a spin-off but a remake of its predecessor ROLLERBALL and it starred JAMES CAAN and not gene hackman. The original is a far superior film, to this version and to many other films in general.

The original dealt with a corporate controlled society that did not allow individual achievement. James Caan became just what they abhorred and retired him without his consent. WHen he refused to retire, they began to change the rules and allow for death matches, killing his best friend in the world. It was a great movie taking a look at the world of politics and how they relate to the world of sports and how power in general denies individualism.

As to this movie should have been an allen smitthee film, that name has now been removed from consideration from the directors guild. There was a major controversy with the film American History X, where the director, tony kaye, unsuccessfully sued New Line to get more time to reshoot and edit further the film. After that he applied for an Alan Smithee credit from the guild and was denied. The guilds long standing secret was out, and so was the name.

Now the guild, if appropriate, will allow a director to submit five acceptable suedonyms, and the guild will either accept or decline. If they accept, they pick the seudonym, and then it can never be used again.

As to why john mcteirnan didnt take his name off? Ask him! Most directors will not even bother asking the guild anymore, too complicated, and the rules to get one have changed. YOu have to prove that your original vision was compromised by forces outside of your control, and with this film, that didnt happen. It was a good idea, but the plotline was bad from the get go.

All directors have a bad film or two, even lucas, speilberg, ron howard, and yes, even the famed Robert Wise of sound of music, west side story fame. He directed Star Trek, the motion picture. There was even the guy who directed the horrible DUNE theatrical movie, I forget his name.

Highly Underated. Most people seem to hate it, but i thought it was wicked

Plenty of plot and good action sequences. And I nice ten minute long green night screen sequence during the middle. Nice to see Jean Reno being a bit of a bad dude. Chris Klien's best film.

Shame it seems to have been released with very little advertising in the UK. It opened yesturday. Turns out it was in a small screen (all the big screens at the multiplex's are still Spiderman and Star Wars.) And the 6:15 performance was pretty much deserted. Bad advertisng for a good film.

Go See it. You will be surprised.

*Puts his flame retardent jacket on*

Aesthetically, I think that this film was a major leap for McTiernan. One of the reasons why things like DIE HARD and THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER work so well is because the audience has a very clear sense of what is going on at all times. You know who's who, you know what they're doing, and you know where they are in relation to each other. His films tend to be very classical in their editing style, relying on long takes (at least for an action movie) as opposed to smash cuts. But with ROLLERBALL, he went completely in the opposite direction. His goal with this film was to create a sense pure chaos, and he does, by cutting it up like a mofo! It'll be interesting to see where he goes from here. If he sticks to this style and abandons the classical one, I'll be dissappointed. But I do hope that he will use this style as a tool when it's appropriate.

I also like his willingness to experiment with certain things, like the night vision sequence, which worked for me, and his use of dialogue in order to convey emotion rather than information. He talks about this on the commentary for DIE HARD. I have a feeling that the studio forced him to compromise a bit, but when it's there, it works.

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