Welcome back to Movie Monthly’s celebration of the very thin
crossover line between sci-fi and sports this November with a look at all
things future, techno, and athletic.
Last week we looked at Robot Jox, the story of a distant future
wherein nations hashed out their disputes through the tried and true method of
giant robot fights, this week we’ve got arguably the opposite inverse film with
Rollerball, the 1975 dystopian future
sports film starring James Caan.
It’s actually kind of amazing how much Rollerball serves as a counter point to Robot Jox; corporations instead of nations, teams instead of
individuals, entertainment rather than politics, a well known star with an
actual career rather than “that guy from Alien
Nation,” a really awful remake in 2002 instead of a reappraisal by nerd
culture in recent years, and most key of all: Rollerball was the product of ‘70s pessimistic futurism while Robot Jox was the result of ‘80s
blockbuster fun giving way to ‘90s shallowness and polish.
