LL Cool J Keeps His Dignity In 'Dumb' Remake Of 'Rollerball'

NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) - LL Cool J manages to come through with his dignity largely intact in Rollerball, an action film that starts out being fun, if dumb, and ends up just being dumb.

Rollerball, which opens nationwide on Friday (Feb. 8), is a remake of the 1975 film of the same name, though the only similarity between the films is the name, and the game of rollerball itself, which is a variation of roller derby that has the players riding on motorcycles in addition to skates.

Cool J is Marcus Ridley, captain of a rollerball team, who convinces his pal Jonathan (Keanu Reeves look-alike Chris Klein) to sign on for the big money. But the guys are shocked, shocked, to realize the team owners are deliberately causing accidents to happen among the players during the games in an effort to boost ratings.

Poor Cool J doesn't have too much to do. It's Jonathan and his love interest Aurora (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) who discover the nasty plot -- mostly, Cool J just reacts to the situation, being, in turns, supportive or troubled.

Happily, he does get to see a fair amount of action, both in the rollerball rink and out of it, handling skates, sports cars, and motorcycles with ease -- where he looks a lot more at home than he does when spouting the film's trite and contrived dialogue (unlike his role in another action flick, Deep Blue Sea, he's not able to utilize his comedic skills). His character also goes MIA when the plot takes a serious downward turn, displaying an unerring sense of good timing. Perhaps that's also why Slipknot limits its appearance in the film to a single scene of banging away in a club, for oh, maybe 60 seconds.

Our advice? Let this Rollerball roll off quietly into the sunset.