Recently, the action packed science fiction thriller "Rollerball" opened in theaters across the nation. Some of you may know that it is a remake of the 1975 film of the same name, and this is my pick of the week. This new "Rollerball" doesn't appear to be a remake, verbatim, but may be centered more on the action element of the "game."

     The original, set in the year 2018, told us the story of Jonathan E. (James Caan) the star athlete of the Huston based team that plays a worldwide dangerous action "sport" that encompasses hockey, football, motocross and basketball all-in-one! This "game" has become a substitute for war in a world run by major corporations, who's boards of directors make all the decisions based on their needs.

     Jonathan E. is a rather maudlin character who pines for the wife (Maud Adams) whom was somehow "taken" from him and "given" to some foreign corporate head who wanted her, (All of this isn't very clearly explained to us, or Jonathan, for that matter). Jonathan just can't accept the corporate dogma, as espoused by the Energy Corp. head (John Houseman) and persists in questioning authority against the advice of his trainer (Moses Gunn) and others, like his team mate (John Beck) known as 'Moon Pie", who both seem happy under corporate rule. He has become a great sports hero to the public masses. He is the one they all tune in to see, and in fact has become bigger than the game itself! The corporation can't do away with him as such, so they seem to be changing the rules of Rollerball without any explanation, making an already deadly game into sheer bedlam! The more Jonathan seeks answers, the more deadly the game becomes, as if to destroy this corporate nemesis.

Jonathan has grown into a giant who meets every rule change with renewed strength until he IS the team! In the final game, he has survived the mayhem in spite of every effort to subdue him. The film closes rather abruptly with a bloodied but unbroken Jonathan E. skating into the camera's lens and freeze framed, his head and bloodied face filling the screen, surreal, a living legend who's grown beyond corporation control!

     This is an exciting and very violent film! However, the violence must be viewed as a plot element; a metaphor for corporate manipulation of the masses they fear yet need. Give them something to focus on so they won't notice what you are doing elsewhere. Jonathan E. is a metaphor for "questioning authority." Or was I watching another movie?

     The music soundtrack is mostly culled from the classics: The main theme is J.S. Bach's Toccata in D minor, with portions of Shostakovich's 5th and 8th symphonies, and Albinoni's Adagio for strings to underscore Jonathan E's moodiness over his "lost" wife. Andre Previn conducts, supplying some original pieces of futuristic jazz for the party scenes.

     The DVD has been out for a couple of years, and features an audio commentary by director Norman Jewison, an interview with him and the making of the featurette, with a re-engineered 5.1 Dolby digital soundtrack and an interactive "Rollergame" (which I never got around to trying so I can't comment there).

     There are some thought provoking moments herein but nothing that'll go over your head if you blink. It's mostly about what happens when companies like ENRON get control of everything! Was this film trying to warn us?