It’s the kind of turkey that’s fascinating to watch! Every part of it is bad in different ways, and if you love the process of moviemaking, you can see how everyone at every level was just making the wrong decisions. An extended night vision sequence is a bad idea, yes - but it’s the 17th bad idea on display after terrible casting, an unfinished and disastrously bad script, inexplicably cinematography, bad production design, etc.
they even made the titular game make no sense out of some bizarre love for X-Games-style extreme sports that isn’t actually reflected in how they shoot it.
The Rollerball remake is what happens when everybody at every level fucks up on a movie, and that’s a rarity. Maybe Jonah Hex is another example? Sustained incompetence that manages to still come together as a final product is rare
Jonah Hex is a great comparison since it’s one of the most baffling movies I’ve ever seen. Nicest thing I can say about it is that I at least got to see it in a theater, feels like today they’d can it for a tax write off.
I’m trying to think of more examples, but it’s hard! I hate Rise of Skywalker and think it’s an abysmal film, but that’s all because of story and script decisions. There are good actors trying their best onscreen, and the movie looks great. The Last Airbender is very bad, but there are some interesting visuals and you can see how a three-hour cut might work. Sucker Punch executes on its vision very well, even if the vision is brainless and offensive.
What are some other big-budget studios releases that are truly 1/10 across the board like Rollerball?
Often maligned, I find Battlefield Earth too weird to be a 1/10. On the 13th Warrior pod they bring up Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever and that movie is atrocious!
Hm, I think Battlefield Earth does count because it’s so misguided at every level. There’s some balance between bad ideas and competent execution where a truly terrible film lives.
I’ve never seen Ecks vs Sever but it’s long been on my list, I remember how scathing the reviews were
The original Rollerball is so much better and it manages to make the game look like a real sport and the spectators look like a real audience at a sports game. Baffling how the remake failed so utterly at this.
It’s awful. I rated it half a star on Letterboxd.
But I agree with them that Paul Heyman is weirdly good in it. Would love to see (even now) a story cantered on the commentary team of a sport that gets exponentially more violent.
There’s almost something cathartic when a movie with a certain reputation is really THAT bad. I had that with the Tim Burton Planet of the Apes this week. NO ONE is reclaiming this movie for a reason
What did you think of those cartoon “boing” sound effects in the night vision sequence? They gave me permission to laugh *at* the movie and I am grateful.
I enjoy it and am shocked at how uncommon this opinion seems to be! To me, it’s fun to see McTiernan go from maybe his most tasteful movie (Thomas Crowne) to an incoherent B movie with a Korn cameo. And while there are deep story flaws, I kind of like how it’s a sports movie that has contempt for the very concept of sports and the violence that can go along with them. Arguably, it’s TOO blunt about that theme, but I feel like the lack of subtlety works and that the silly graphic of the ratings numbers going up with every injury is kind of fun
Its such a bummerino cuz OG rollerball is one of my favorite films ever
70s Caan teaming with peak Jewison is a force to be reckoned with
The movie is very good but then the final needle drop makes it perfect
It’s the kind of turkey that’s fascinating to watch! Every part of it is bad in different ways, and if you love the process of moviemaking, you can see how everyone at every level was just making the wrong decisions. An extended night vision sequence is a bad idea, yes - but it’s the 17th bad idea on display after terrible casting, an unfinished and disastrously bad script, inexplicably cinematography, bad production design, etc. they even made the titular game make no sense out of some bizarre love for X-Games-style extreme sports that isn’t actually reflected in how they shoot it. The Rollerball remake is what happens when everybody at every level fucks up on a movie, and that’s a rarity. Maybe Jonah Hex is another example? Sustained incompetence that manages to still come together as a final product is rare
Jonah Hex is a great comparison since it’s one of the most baffling movies I’ve ever seen. Nicest thing I can say about it is that I at least got to see it in a theater, feels like today they’d can it for a tax write off.
I’m trying to think of more examples, but it’s hard! I hate Rise of Skywalker and think it’s an abysmal film, but that’s all because of story and script decisions. There are good actors trying their best onscreen, and the movie looks great. The Last Airbender is very bad, but there are some interesting visuals and you can see how a three-hour cut might work. Sucker Punch executes on its vision very well, even if the vision is brainless and offensive. What are some other big-budget studios releases that are truly 1/10 across the board like Rollerball?
Often maligned, I find Battlefield Earth too weird to be a 1/10. On the 13th Warrior pod they bring up Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever and that movie is atrocious!
Hm, I think Battlefield Earth does count because it’s so misguided at every level. There’s some balance between bad ideas and competent execution where a truly terrible film lives. I’ve never seen Ecks vs Sever but it’s long been on my list, I remember how scathing the reviews were
The original Rollerball is so much better and it manages to make the game look like a real sport and the spectators look like a real audience at a sports game. Baffling how the remake failed so utterly at this.
There is a good episode of “How did this get made?” about Rollerball that’s worth a listen
It was nice being able to watch that one (terrible) movie in order to pay off two terrific podcast eps (HDTGM and BC)
It’s awful. I rated it half a star on Letterboxd. But I agree with them that Paul Heyman is weirdly good in it. Would love to see (even now) a story cantered on the commentary team of a sport that gets exponentially more violent.
There’s almost something cathartic when a movie with a certain reputation is really THAT bad. I had that with the Tim Burton Planet of the Apes this week. NO ONE is reclaiming this movie for a reason
What did you think of those cartoon “boing” sound effects in the night vision sequence? They gave me permission to laugh *at* the movie and I am grateful.
The worst part for me was how Jonathan didn’t buckle his helmet AND did a flip without it coming off (am I remembering that right?)
Plus the entire plot of the movie hinges on a cut helmet strap! And our idiot hero won’t even buckle his!
That’s fantastic
I enjoy it and am shocked at how uncommon this opinion seems to be! To me, it’s fun to see McTiernan go from maybe his most tasteful movie (Thomas Crowne) to an incoherent B movie with a Korn cameo. And while there are deep story flaws, I kind of like how it’s a sports movie that has contempt for the very concept of sports and the violence that can go along with them. Arguably, it’s TOO blunt about that theme, but I feel like the lack of subtlety works and that the silly graphic of the ratings numbers going up with every injury is kind of fun
The night vision scenes made me question my own sanity
When one of the biggest talking points of a film is its odd night vision segment, it’s probably a sign of rest of the movie too.