Battle Royale
2000
Japan at the start of the new millennium. The country is in a state of chaos, violence by rebellious teenagers in schools is completely out of control. The government hits back with a new law: every year a school class picked at random will be cast away on a desert island to fight it out among themselves. The rules are simple: .. Read more
| Starring | Fujiwara Tatsuya, Maeda Aki, Yamamoto Taro, Takeshi Kitano |
|---|---|
| Director | Kinji Fukasaku |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Thriller, World Cinema |
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Battle Royale
Japan at the start of the new millennium. The country is in a state of chaos, violence by rebellious teenagers in schools is completely out of control. The government hits back with a new law: every year a school class picked at random will be cast away on a desert island to fight it out among themselves. The rules are simple: it lasts three days, everyone gets water, food and a weapon and only one may survive. Then a class on a school trip is kidnapped. When they wake up, angry teacher Kitano tells them that the collar around their necks monitors their position and can be caused to explode remotely at any moment.
| Starring | Fujiwara Tatsuya, Maeda Aki, Yamamoto Taro, Takeshi Kitano |
|---|---|
| Director | Kinji Fukasaku |
| Studio | PALISADES TARTAN |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 57 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Thriller, World Cinema |
| Language | Japanese |
| Subtitles | English |
| Released | DVD: 23 Sep 2002 Production year: 2000 |
| Format | DVD |
Battle Royale (2000)
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Critics' reviews
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Bracing, violent, blackly humorous satire on the bleaker aspects of modern society that manages to be more than merely an excuse for a killing spree.
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Most helpful member's review
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71 out of 78 people found this review helpful
Ah, It Takes Me Back...
Battle Royale = The Running Man + Lord of the Flies. In Japan.
Every year a class of schoolkids is chosen at random, landed on an island and told to get on with killing one another until there's only one of them left. Want to team up? Fine, but if at the end of three days there's more than one of you alive you all die by way of a personal exploding collar.
I liked this film. I liked the basic premise, the story, the occasional red fountain, and the interesting non-glitzy way that human relationships are portrayed under one of the most immense (albeit far-fetched) pressures imaginable. On more than one occasion I found my mind stretching back to my schooldays and how I would have dealt with some of my classmates if I'd have found myself in this situation; lucky for a few of them that this is just a movie!
BR has two main flaws. Firstly, much of the action is in the dark, so scenes that were probably perfectly visible in a cinema are just stretches of black with glints of light and a soundtrack when viewed on a TV screen.
Secondly, the film starts off with too many characters. (42 classmates in all.) It's never quite obvious which of them you're supposed to be following, and as a result gets a little bit jumbled. Credit is due to the writer/s for bestowing personalities upon their cannon fodder, but once you've seen one profession and painful rejection of unrequited adolescent love, that's enough to get the gist: After three or four times, what was once sweet quickly becomes cloying.
I haven't read it, but I'd guess that this wealth of characters is a symptom of the film being faithful to the book it is based on. But there simply isn't enough room in a movie like this for so many players.
That said, just go with the flow and it soon straightens out. You'll enjoy BR much more if you don't try to concentrate too hard on where everyone is at any given moment.
Well acted and well shot, ('scuse the pun,) BR is a movie that any fan of Asian cinema should see. However, I don't think there's enough here to coax your average moviegoing subtitle-o-phobe to sit down and concentrate for 109 minutes.
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- RJTaylor from Manchester
- Posted 22 Aug 2005 22:19
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Most recent members' review
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8 out of 8 people found this review helpful
This upset people... you'll see why
This movie was a little near the knuckle in the wake of Columbine and was briefly refused a release in the West. Bearing in mind its subject matter: school children are drugged and then taken to a remote island, handed weapons (of varying effectiveness) and told that only the last one standing gets to leave.
In addition they are wired with the classic 'explosive dog collars' and the tension grows from there. The friend I watched it with made the comment that it would have been less disturbing if the kids had been less well characterised but the core cast have very layered characters who force you, despite the absurdity of the situation, to care for them.
In a way that seals the deal. Battle Royale isn't merely a one-joke black comedy for the kind of person who thinks Peter Jackson's Bad Taste is equitable with Citizen Kane. It forces you, despite yourself, to think about violence in a new light.
It is good to know in a world where it is common practice for movie lovers to be fairly jaded towards violent content to be made to sit up and take notice. These kids DON'T WANT to kill each other (well, most of them) they just want to get by, they want to be alive. Violence here is about survival but the situation is engineered.
This kicks back and makes the villain into a god-like figure. 'Beat' Takeshi brings gravitas and whimsy in delicate balance to his psychopathic, fatherly 'referee'. You can see how at the same time he is repulsive to the children (obviously) he also fills them with awe and makes them seek his favour.
It is true that the film will disturb you, there is no way to get around that. But it is pretty much essential viewing for anyone who has an opinion of any sort about violence in the media and in society.
This one will start and has started a lot of rows. -
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Japan at the start of the new millennium. The country is in a state of chaos, violence by rebellious teenagers in schools is completely out of control. The government hits back with a new law: every ... -