Battle Royale (Special Edition) (DVD)

...I couldn’t get into it. Battle Royale was one I’d heard lots about online, and it had loads of volumes already published (always good – I love a long series I can get stuck into) so I was quite eager to try this out. I got a few pages in…and put it down. It was graphic violence, vulgar, and I didn’t really like the art style. So I sold it and never looked back.

Until I found out about the live action film. I didn’t bat an eyelid, until ...
...vow of never getting into Battle Royale, all because of one man. So, was it worth my time and money?


'''BACKGROUND'''
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The film tagline reads: "At the dawn of the millennium, the nation collapsed. At fifteen percent unemployment, ten million were out of work. 800,000 students boycotted school. The adults lost confidence, and fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform ... more

Once upon a time I used to buy the first volume of loads of manga (Japanese comic books) to see if I’d like a series, then sell them on if I couldn’t get into it. Battle Royale was one I’d heard lots about online, and it had loads of volumes already published (always good – I love a long series I can get stuck into) so I was quite eager to try this out. I got a few pages in…and put it down. It was graphic violence, vulgar, and I didn’t really like the art style. So I sold it and never looked back.

Until I found out about the live action film. I didn’t bat an eyelid, until I read the cast list; lead male was Tatsuya Fujiwara, one of my favourite Asian actors EVER! So off I went to go and break my vow of never getting into Battle Royale, all because of one man. So, was it worth my time and money?

BACKGROUND
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The film tagline reads: "At the dawn of the millennium, the nation collapsed. At fifteen percent unemployment, ten million were out of work. 800,000 students boycotted school. The adults lost confidence, and fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act - AKA: The BR Act"

It’s a fairly novel and intriguing set up; it takes place in an alternate universe where Japan’s society has crumbled and teenagers run amock causing general trouble, not listening to their elders and all that jazz. So the Japanese government has come up with a way of dealing with their rogue teenagers; every so often a class will be picked based on nominations by a teacher or someone, and then taken to an island and each given a weapon…then told to kill their classmates.

Bizarre? Yes. But hey, this is Japan! Have you never seen Takeshi’s Castle or Ninja Warrior re-runs on Challenge TV? They live and breathe this kind of insanity!

So yes, once you realise that your class are now the ‘lucky’ stars of the hit show it’s too late for you to escape (yes, they actually film the students murdering each other; it’s a deterrent for other teenagers across Japan…shape up or the shows will continue and it could be you!) You’re drugged, taken to the island and wake up in a classroom where you will be informed of the rules by the person who nominated your class who is now running the show, and handed, ironically, a survival kit. This will give you a map of the island, some basic provisions and of course your weapon.

Now the weapons are the interesting part. You’re given a pack at random, and each contains a different weapon. Some are awesome; up for grabs are machine guns, swords and knives, but the unlucky among the students will receive…spatula’s. I kid you not.

So, once you’re armed with your spatula, told to murder your friends, and released into the wild of the island you’re already thinking this has got to be a rather bad day. Just don’t utter those fateful words ‘at least it couldn’t get any worse’…

…Because it can. And does. Around the necks of the students are metal collars, which serve for a dual purpose. One; they’re tracking devices, so should you wish to try and escape from the island and make a swim for it, you will be detected leaving on the monitors. Okay this might not be so bad, but it leads me nicely to purpose number two; should the organisers of the show not like your behaviour, they simply press a button and the collar around the neck explodes. Taking the head off with it. Add to the misery is the main (and pretty much only) rule of the game: there is only one survivor of a Battle Royale. You have to kill your friends; it’s no good all huddling together for the 24 hours…because after 3 days, if everyone isn’t dead then all of the collars are set to go off at once. So nobody wins. It’s kill or be killed, and I promise you it makes for some awesome psychological play. The desire to survive is far stronger than the bonds of friendship in some cases.

Oh, and if this isn’t quite dangerous enough for you, the island is split into different ‘area’s’. Once an hour, on the hour, one of the area’s will be picked at random…anyone unlucky enough to be in that area at the time automatically has their collar explode.

Happy hunting!

CHARACTERS
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Shuya Nanahara (played by Tatsuya Fujiwara) is the main male character. Having lost his parents he is taken into care and lives at an orphanage. While he is very quick to trust people (not a good trait in Battle Royale!) and caring, he has a tough streak and is one of the off-the-rails youths the BR programme was designed for.

Yoshitoki Kuninobu played by Yukihiro Kotani is Shuya’s best friend, and it’s technically his fault that their class is in the BR programme. He is from the same orphanage as Shuya, and about a year before the film is set attacks their teacher, Kitano, who then exacts revenge by nominating them for BR.

Noriko Nakagawa played by Aki Maeda is a quiet, reserved girl. She helped Yoshitoki when he attacked the teacher by hiding the weapon he used so that nobody could be found guilty. This probably did more harm that good, because the teacher, dissatisfied that nobody was blamed, called for them to be part of BR. Throughout the movie she sticks close to Shuya, though they are both well aware that due the collar system after 3 days they can’t both still be alive.

Kitano played by Takeshi Kitano was the class’s old teacher. He was attacked by Yoshitoki, and when no one could be found guilty of the crime he left, angered. A year later he has returned to host their Battle Royale programme. He takes great delight in seeing them kill each other, seeing it as retribution for the act committed to him, and a step forward to restoring Japan’s society.

There is a whole host of great characters in this; some down right nasty and seem to have lived for the opportunity to kill their so called friends, and some genuinely terrified trying desperately to think of a way to get out of this even though no one has done so before.

PLOT
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I don’t want to go into too much detail, as it’s the character reactions that truly make this film. Seeing how each one copes with impending death and what they do with their final days is amazing, and each character (bar the two stars) only gets a short time on screen. Suffice to say some seize the opportunity to go and cause a bloodbath, whereas others take the opportunity to make the most of their final hours…bittersweet romance always gets to me!

The main plot, however, focuses on Shuya and Noriko. Shuya doesn’t want to be a part of the killing, and instead sticks to Noriko and protects her from others who don’t share his mindset. The film basically concentrates on showing how they survive various attacks from classmates, and the general perils of the game and island as they search for a way to stop the madness and survive.

MY OPINION
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This film is brutal. Raw, suspenseful, and you generally don’t know who is going to turn against their friends, and who will form alliances as everyone desperately tries to be the last one standing. It’s scary in places, not least because the actors look genuinely terrified at the bloodshed and violence around them. It really is very well done, weaving in small plots of each of the characters and what they do now they find themselves within Battle Royale. It had me jumping in places, and upset in places (but I am rather weepy when it comes to films!), and is just a generally awesome film. Definitely one that everyone should give a go, even if just to see what happens to the human being when confronted with a kill or be killed choice…

SPECIAL EDITION
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Me being me, I can’t say no to limited editions. So when I went into HMV looking to buy this film and was confronted with not only the DVD but also a special edition version DVD my eyes lit up like you wouldn’t believe! England hardly ever gets cool limited edition stuff like Asia and America does, so I had to buy this to support the industry in the hopes they’ll do it for more releases.

I’m not one for special features, since deleted scenes are often rubbish, and out takes usually fairly bland and just the actors making a minor mistake and laughing too much. So when I saw that this special edition had an actual free gift in the form of an artwork card, I was very happy! …Until I saw it. I almost blinked and missed it, to be honest. It has writing all over it and is very flimsy; exactly like a movie flyer only smaller. On the back is a map of the island, like the class wear around their necks. But still…I wasn’t impressed.

The next freebie boasted on the back cover was a 4 page information booklet. Cool! Or not. Two pages are pure text giving information about the actor who plays the teacher. Okay he’s famous, but I’d have preferred a bit about the up and coming actors in this movie; Fujiwara is just starting out here, and he shines! He deserves a page in this booklet! But the third page is about the director, and the 4th page is a black and white distorted image of one of the classmates. Nothing groundbreaking, and I’d have probably thrown this booklet in the recycling bin had I not read the back and realised this was actually a special feature!

This special edition is a 2 disc edition, the first disc contains the movie only and gives us a bit of extra footage and an alternate ending to the theatrical release (and what is seen on the standard edition DVD). This is basically a few extended shots of the carnage, and a basketball scene flashback. The ending isn’t really alternate, just expands a bit on the teachers character, and while nice it’s only 8 minutes extra footage in total, so nothing ground breaking happens.

The second disc is home to the special features:
-The Making of Battle Royale - Just some footage of filiming.
-Battle Royale press conference - The main cast and director answer questions…while dressed in (blood soaked) costume!
-Instructional video: birthday version - A special version of the instructional video shown to the students upon awakening on the island.
-Audition and rehearsal footage - Self explanatory.
-Special effects comparison featurette -Show scenes with and without special effects…a bit pointless, really.
-Tokyo international film festival 2000 -The cast and director give speeches on stage in front of a live audience, though the picture quality and camera work isn’t great.
-Battle Royale documentary - Shows some scenes from the film, and some actors/actresses giving their views.
-Basketball scene rehearsals - The basketball scene used in the special edition DVD was filmed quite a while after the film was over and done with, so the cast get back together to film this extra scene. Just shows them practicing and talking between takes.
-Behind the scenes featurette - Just shows some more rehearsals and talking from the director.
-Filming on-set - Just some more footage of them filing (this is getting really old) though this one doesn’t have English subtitles.
-Original theatrical trailer- An advert for the film that would have been shown at cinema’s.
-Special edition TV spot - Shorter commercial that would have been shown on television.
-TV spot: Tarantino version -The commercial with a few words from Tarantino over the top.
-Director’s statement - Block of text giving the directors’ views on the film.
-On-screen filmographies - Lists of films the main actor has been in.

All of them are spoken in Japanese, but have English subtitles for you to understand what goes on.

MUSIC
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The background music fits well; fast paced during the heart stopping action scenes, that really get your pulse racing when the characters are running through forest area trying to go undetected. There’s a lot of classical music, too, which just adds an eerie element in my opinion; something so savage being set to something as civilised as classical music contrasts brilliantly.

The soundtrack was composed by Masamichi Amano. The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra performed the music. The CD is also available for purchase.

PRICE
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Play.com:
£14.99 for special edition
£9.99 for normal edition

SPECS
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Released: 23rd February 2004
Running time: 117 minutes
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English (can be switched off)
Region: 0 (all)
Certificate: 18

CONCLUSION
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While this is most definitely a five star film, which paved the way for a sequel and for Tatsuya Fujiwara’s acting career (he is also the start of Death Note, which is now commercially available and awesome!), the special features are not worth the extra price. Actually, I wish I’d bought the regular edition, as it has a better DVD cover! The special edition is a dull grey with the BR logo on. Hence why I've given this product a 3 star rating; it's just not worth the extra money.

So while I recommend the movie for those who love psychological horror and Asian cinema (and who don’t mind reading subtitles as the film is spoken in Japanese) if you’re going to buy it rather than rent, go for the normal edition!

Mayoki, 2009
 

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