For the first 30 minutes you could be forgiven the impression that you were watching that thespian colossus Keanu Reeves strutting his stuff up there on the screen.

His American hotshot character Jonathan Cross is mean, lean, a fan of dangerous sports... with an acting technique that could be matched by even the least dramatically able MFI wardrobe.

It's only half-an-hour into this tepid remake of Norman Jewison's 1975 classic that you realise it's not Keanu emoting his heart out up there but Reeves-clone Chris Klein.

Quite why you would want to model your acting style on Keanu Reeves is anybody's guess, but Klein has got it nailed, from the bench-pressing vacuousness to the smouldering glances disguising the fact that it's lights on, no-one home.

He's the key player in the victorious Horsemen team in Rollerball, an ultra-violent contact sport massive in the former USSR, combining speedway, ice hockey and basketball.

Joining him on the steel runways are girlfriend Aurora (Romijn-Stamos) and his American buddy from back home, Ridley (Cool J), a cash-driven but ultimately moral opportunist.

Behind the scenes Rollerball creator Petrovich (Reno) is pulling the strings and soon he realises that the more blood-letting there is on the track, the more the ratings soar.

Jewison never fully explored the possibilities of a game used to channel the aggression of the people, leaving a meek population unwilling to challenge the dictatorial status quo. However, director McTiernan has completely ditched any semblance of an intriguing concept and opted instead for thrills, spills, gore and guts.

You'd have expected more from the man behind the Die Hard series as well as the more sophisticated remake of The Thomas Crown Affair. But you don't get it. What you do get is a non-stop heavy rock video. Without the wit. Reno's career continues in a firmly downwards trajectory, his villainous Rollerball supremo a limp, one-dimensional caricature.

Cool J notches up yet another disappointing showing while it's difficult to see where Klein can go from here. Can a career picking up roles that even Keanu Reeves won't play be that rewarding?

Tim Evans