Prayer of the Rollerboys

Though the material is now familiar to us all, this is a very good post nuke sci.-fi. movie. Features excellent stunt and set work and features an incredible amount of style. This film got unfairly tossed when it played in theaters, but go out and rent this movie you won't be sorry. Rating: 8/10

I gave this flick a shame faced 7 (a baseline 6 + 1 because I've thoroughly enjoyed it...twice!) I saw it first in 1991, a full 5 years before I learned to roller blade myself (at the ripe old age of 44) and again last night. I think the mistake made by those rating it so lowly was in taking it seriously. It certainly didn't take itself seriously. Not with lines like (paraphrase) [after a criminal is shot by a cop] "thank God we could take care of him here. I hate court". Or with newspaper headlines that read "Germany buys Poland". Or with a radio newscast describing Mexican INS agents rounding up and deporting American fruit pickers who had illegally entered their country to find work. Any sense of reality exited my mind as I watched them do everything in those skates, I, myself, having gotten hopelessly bogged down in the neutral ground trying to cross the street in my blades at City Park in New Orleans. The movie also had a refreshingly original take on the "doomed future" theme. Instead of the grim setting being a post nuclear apocalypse, we have a wasteland created, instead, by the crash of the American stock market. And this well explains the sad state of affairs (no money for police, a greatly weakened government, extensive homelessness, etc.) that is the backdrop for the film. The rollerboys seemed to be a blurry composite of all the evils of mankind since the beginning of time...racial hatred, greed megalomania, anti-semitism...you name it. The visage of the rollerboy gang materializing from the end of a dark tunnel, gliding effortlessly in white trench coats and black rollerblades, their arms swinging mightily in unison immediately called to mind goose stepping Nazis. The two undercover cops, who seemed to literally dwell in their van, making off the cuff quips about the rollerboys were a hoot. True, the acting was, at best mediocre but had it been excellent it would have spoiled the film. Occasional lapses into the melodramatic only added savor to the stew. Much of the dialog was so bad it was not only good but great. I guess this movie will remain one of my guilty pleasures. If it comes on again...I'll watch it again. I only wish Corey Haim hadn't grown up so they could make Rollerboys 2.

You know it seems that just because it had Corey Haim in it people knock the movie. Corey my not be my favorite actor but he did good in this movie. The story line was also good with some most excellent blading in it. I give this movie a hmmmm 8/10 for good soundtrack, story, and ok acting. Give this movie a chance you may like it.

The Oklahoma City Bombing, according to American government officials, was inspired by an obscure controversial novel named "The Turner Diaries." The novel depicts a future race war initiated by White racial supremacists against non-Whites. A similar world exists in "Prayer of the Rollerboys," where an Adolf Hitler-like charismatic leader,Gary Lee (Christopher Collet), motivates his group of dominant young paramilitary skaters known as the Rollerboys. They envision an all-White world achieved through violence and the overthrow of governments. Depression-level economic turbulence have weakened local authorities. Gary Lee and his gang fills a void; a somewhat parallel to Hitler's ascension during the Weimar Republic.

There is a plausible case to be made that screenwriter W. Peter Lliff had a deep familiarity with "Turner Diaries." The novel and the film presents a "The Day of the Rope" for the unmerciful elimination of perceived enemies. They parts ways in its implementation. On that eventful day in the book, many "race traitors" end up in nooses. The "rope" of the Rollerboys is a chemical modification to the recreational drug Mist, an adjustment which sterilizes its non-White users. (Compare that to Walter Mosley's "Futureland," where an artificial plague bypasses anyone whose DNA is at least 12.5% African.)

By the time "Prayer Of The Rollerboys" was released, Corey Haim's career was in decline. Long gone were the theater-ready times of "Lost Boys." Because of personal issues, Corey became a true lost boy--with skates--eager to get by, having lost the power of selectiveness in his movie roles. True life wasn't better, as his character Griffin avoided addiction. My standards for movies are not high, maybe that's why I will watch a Corey Haim film post-super stardom.

The futuristic nature of the movie was promising, while the unconvincing unfolding of events and the frequently sub par performances went below my low requirements.Yet the movie got me hooked like a Mist addict. It retains a significant appeal in a "Lord of the Flies"-like environment with minimal parental authority. The Rollerboys feed the "what if" imaginations of those eager to escape the restrictions of society. Ideology aside, the Rollerboys are cool skaters swinging in reinforced rhythmic uniformity, well at home in a semi-dystopia.

(Credit IMDb) Set in an unspecified time in the future, USA has declined and become a country of violence and racial prejudice. Griffin earns his living delivering pizzas while he tries to take care of his little brother. An old friend of his, Gary Lee, is the leader of a gang with big ambitions, the Rollerboys. Gary joins them to help the police keep track of the gang.

I saw this movie on You Tube a few months ago, and don't remember too much about it. Corey Haim's drug troubles were starting to get bad at this juncture. His status of a teen hunk was still there, but it was diminishing. Corey Haim is a very talented actor, and it's a shame that he had to succumb to drug use, and pressures of Hollywood. This was a ballsy project for him to take on. It's set in a post-apocalyptic future, and it's quite a grim experience in all honesty. Haim had yet to really sink his teeth into dark material as of yet, and Haim pulls it off very well. He reportedly did all of his own blading stunts, and I was quite impressed with it. Haim has to deal with a below average script, which kinda negates his excellent performance a little bit, but Haim was terrific in a part that was potentially miscasting for him. Patricia Arquette doesn't have a whole lot to do, nor was she as famous as she is now. This movie is interesting, and never boring, but the script lets people down. I wish they had done more, but it's worth a look for Corey's performance

5.2/10