Production Year: 2000 - Action/Adventure - Director: Kinji Fukasaku - Original Language: Japanese - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Takeshi Kitano, Fujiwara Tatsuya, Maeda Aki, Yamamoto Taro more
In Kinji Fukasaku's shocking, apocalyptic film, Japan is on the brink of collapse. The nation's youth have become out of control, leading the government to take drastic measures.... more
Battle Royale [DVD] [2001]
With the Japanese currently leading the way in thought-provoking cinematic violence its ... more
only fitting that Kenta FukasakusBattle Royaleis being touted asA Clockwork Orangefor the 21st century. Based on the novel by Koshun Takami, the film opens with a s...
Battle Royale [DVD] [2001]
With the Japanese currently leading the way in thought-provoking cinematic violence its ... more
only fitting that Kenta FukasakusBattle Royaleis being touted asA Clockwork Orangefor the 21st century. Based on the novel by Koshun Takami, the film opens with a s...
Battle Royale DVD
At the dawn of the new millennium Japan is in a state of near-collapse. Unemployment is ... more
at an all-time high and violence amongst the nation's youth is spiralling out of control. With school children boycotting their lessons and physically abusing the...
Battle Royale
At the dawn of the new millennium, Japan is in a state of near-collapse. Unemployment is ... more
at an all-time high, and violence amongst the nation's youth is spiraling out of control. With school children boycotting their lessons and physically abusing their teachers, a beleaguered and near-defeated government decides to introduce a radical new measure: the Battle Royale Act.Overseen by a former teacher, Kitano ('Beat' Takeshi), and requiring that a randomly chosen school class be taken to a deserted island and forced to fight each other to the death, the Act dictates that only one pupil be allowed to survive the punishment. He or she will return, not as the victor, but as the ultimate proof of the lengths to which the government are prepared to go to curb the tide of juvenile disobedience.Likened to Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange by many critics, this explosive film shocked a nation with its violent portrayal of a society in ruins...
Battle Royale
Koushun Takami's notorious high-octane thriller is based on an irresistible premise: a ... more
class of 42 junior high school students are taken to a deserted island where as part of a ruthless authoritarian program they are electronically collared provided with weapons of varying potency and sent out onto the island. If they are in the wrong part of the island at the wrong time their collars will explode. If they band together to save themselves a collar will explode at random. If they try to escape from the island they will be blown up. Their only chance for survival lies in killing their classmates. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan - where it then proceeded to become a runaway bestseller - Battle Royale is a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century and a potent story of politics and survival in a dog-eat-dog world. Made into a controversial hit movie of the same name Battle Royale is already a contemporary Japanese pulp classic and is now available for the first time to the UK mainstream.
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Action/Adventure - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Jack Ging, Marla Heasley, Lance Legault, Melinda Culea, Mr T, Dwight Schultz, Dirk Benedict, George Peppard, Carl Franklin
Battle Royale: an exciting, darkly comic, important film
A review by asdasta632 on Battle Royale (DVD) September 26th, 2009
Author's product rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Loved it
Story
Outstanding
Characters / Performances
Outstanding
Special Effects
Outstanding
Soundtrack
Outstanding
Advantages:
Stunning commentary on a dystopic future
Disadvantages:
Too dark and controversial for some audiences
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
note: also appears on my film review website, ShaunMunro.co.uk, and Dooyoo!
Battle Royale, the adaptation of Koshun Takami's fabulous novel of the same name, is near enough controversy at 24 frames per second, unleashing a downbeat, counter-culture, subversive tone from its matter-of-fact opening, to its twist-filled end. Much furore has surrounded the fact that this film is still unreleased in America (contrary to the belief that the film was banned), most postulating that a film involving school kids killing each other is simply too close to the bone in the wake of the Columbine, and more recently, Virginia Tech shootings (which means that things don't bode well for the already ill-fated American remake of this film).
Much comparison has been drawn to Kubrick's cerebral masterpiece A Clockwork Orange, in how both films accompany violent scenes with classical music, a sort of macabre juxtaposition that really is quite beautiful to behold. I would deem such a comparison to be only a compliment to the dedicated auteurship present in both Kubrick's and Fukasaku's efforts here.
Battle Royale opens by informing us that employment is at an all-time low in Japan, and truancy at an all-time high, so to combat this problem, every three years a class of school kids are randomly selected and taken to an island where they must fight to the death, with the victor granted safe passage home. We are soon enough greeted with an iconic image of the previous winner - a blood-soaked, smiling young girl holding a toy doll. It's pretty harrowing stuff, and with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, it familiarises you with what is to follow in the next 115 minutes.
Prologue aside, we are introduced to the various personalities of the next class who are unknowingly to be placed in the BR program. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn about the pasts of the central characters, and soon enough the bus full of kids are on their way to the island (and still unaware of this fact). A dark undertone very quickly pervades and permeates through this film, hiding under the tender, piano-scored, cookie-sharing moments (which astoundingly manage not to reek of cheese), ready to leap out at a moment's notice.
The students are all gassed on the bus, and awaken in a classroom on the island, quickly informed by their old teacher, Kitano (near enough playing himself, with gusto, I add), that they are the next victims of the BR Act, and that they must kill each other if they want a chance of surviving. All of the students are fitted with neck collars, which explode if a student attempts escape, breaks the rules, or if there is no single victor after 3 days.
Kitano is somewhat of an embittered old man, apathetic towards the children's plight as he finds them to be "no good", no wonder, given how one of the students stabbed him years previously. Kitano has a vendetta, and violently carries out his revenge on one student, whilst making an example of another. Understandably confused and frightened, the students are sent off with a weapon and basic provisions, and worse still, there are two additional "transfer students", one who signed up for fun, Kiriyama (Ando) and the other, Kawada (Yamamoto), a mysterious, shotgun-totting fellow with his own agenda.
Mere moments later, the bodies begin to hit the floor, and the students realise that this is no joke - one student uttering "it's for real", after killing another student in self-defence. Some decide to play the game, others simply cannot bring themselves to play and kill themselves, whilst others caught up in the frenzy, such as our protagonists, Shuya (Fujiwara) and Noriko (Maeda), run and hide as hard and fast as they possibly can. From this point, the film is essentially a fight to the death, interspersed with flashback-driven character development. Disturbingly, the film also has a disquieting undercurrent of dark humour. Kitano constantly cracks facetious little lines such as "Your parents have been informed, so go for it!", and at one point even accuses the students of slacking off on the killing. Furthermore, the instructional video that the kids are shown before being sent out to kill is hosted by a ridiculously chirpy individual, and I'd even go as far as to deem it a little creepy. Even as the carnage ensues, this undertone never lets up - a student has an axe embedded into his skull, and proclaims "I'm fine" before dying. You might laugh, but you might also feel guilty for it afterwards.
Things soon begin to look very bleak for our protagonists - their main adversary, Kiriyama, is quickly offing the other students, and amassing an ever-increasing arsenal of weaponry as he does so. Kiriyama seems to take a sick pleasure in murder, even going as far as to decapitate another student, shove a grenade in his mouth and hurl it through a window at our hapless protagonists.
As the useful title card counts the remaining students alive (and reminds us of the dead), we also meet Kiriyama's female counterpart - Mitsuko, a sly, murderous individual who is near-psychopathic in her modus operandi, even decapitating a girl with a scythe at one juncture, presenting yet another obstacle for our heroes to overcome.
What is truly fascinating about Battle Royale is each of the little relationships and subplots that transpire - some find this island a blessing in disguise in a sense, a chance to settle scores and grudges, be it for a boyfriend stolen away by another girl, or a girl who would never date them. Mitsuko herself says "What's wrong with killing? Everyone has their reasons". Others use it as a means of declaring their undying love to someone, more often than not in their final moments after having been mortally wounded. It's a risky approach, in that it could well have seemed overly-sentimental, but it is kind of touching when you consider that some characters, foolishly or not (it's teenage logic, remember), take this chance to seek out those they love, even risking death to do so.
Friendships are also put to the ultimate test, and in one notable instance, paranoia infects a large group of friends, causing them to viciously slaughter each other, with one girl declaring in her final words "We're all idiots, we might have survived".
Ultimately, Kitano is the key to the equation - he is quite the forlorn, and in a sense tragic character. His daughter wants nothing to do with him, and so seeing all of these young teenage girls in need of a saviour only naturally invites certain paternal feelings that begin to overrule his obligation to see the game through to its inevitably bloody and violent end.
Things eventually slow down a little, and Kawada takes Shuya and Noriko under his wing, professing that he has a way out, a strategy that involves our dynamic duo more than they could ever have anticipated. Meanwhile, a classmate by the name of Mimura and his friends discover a wealth of electronic equipment, and work on bringing the BR system down, determined to fight back against their oppressors.
Fukasaku manages to wedge some impressive symbolism into the definitive Special Edition of the film, an example being that one student confesses his love for another girl in his dying moments, and we then flash back to him at a basketball game, shooting the ball and narrowly missing. Similarly, as the hackers implement their plan to bring down the system, Mimura, the leader of this group, scores, and as each basketball flashback appears, they become more and more harrowing, and more saddening as we realise just how many students in these flashbacks are now dead, and how the friendships shown in these clips are now severed. Sure, it's not the most subtle symbolism in the world, but it works.
The film is as such more cerebral than you might expect - characters seem to occasionally either be talking to some form of a God, or breaking the fourth wall, and talking beyond the grave, one girl proclaiming "I just didn't want to be a loser anymore" after dying. I don't quite know if Fukasaku intended for the film to be interpreted as such, but nevertheless, I thought it as a nice touch.
As the number of surviving students begins to dwindle, Mimura and his gang of activists strike back, throwing their plan into action, in a highly exhilarating scene (thanks in large part to Masamichi Amano's wonderful score). The fate of the hackers following their last stand is perhaps some sort of political statement, but semantics aside, it's still a wonderfully-envisioned scene.
The surviving students proceed to band up for the final battle, surrounded by fire (with high-art cinematography that anyone can appreciate), and whilst this fight is swift and decisively-fought, it is no less effective, exciting and iconic. Following this, twists are thrown in, which will likely either disappoint you (appearing to be a copout), or (and considerably more likely) will fascinate you and cause you to wonder quite what just happened. Even once the credits roll, some points are still up for debate, and are still argued as I write this.
The ending of the Special Edition does take some of the kick out of the effectiveness of the film, but it does append some interesting but ultimately unimportant scenes. The manner in which the scenes are almost procedurally appended to the end of the original cut with interspersed title cards is a little crude, and flows nowhere near as well as the comparatively restrained end to the original cut. If you do ultimately decide to see the original cut, this new cut does not drastically change things.
In an age where many people's children, not many years older than the children here, are sent to what many consider an "unjust war", Battle Royale is extremely relevant, and thrives on its controversy rather than impresses in lieu of it. Furthermore, given how a few of the more risqué deaths are shown in only fleeting detail (such as Mitsuko curiously walking away from two dead, naked boys), it certainly inspires one to read Takami's novel if one hasn't already. In short, Fukasaku is a master, capturing superb bunny-stunned performances from all of the youngsters involved, and at the time of writing, I would deem this the greatest foreign film I have ever seen. It's a word I'm very cautious of using, but "flawless" comes to mind, and even if not, something damn close.
Advantages: Brutal, violent, satirical, shockingly funny film Disadvantages: Plot holes, may be too disturbing for some
...The 2000 Japanese film, Battle Royale, is a horror/thriller/action/social satire/Lord Of The Flies rip-off like none other you've seen before. It stars Count Takeshi from Takeshi's Castle (now that was a show and a half) and a bunch of Japanese teenagers, naturally (one of these is the girl who played the ball-and-chain spinning crazy schoolgirl in Kill Bill).
The film is narrated by Shuya, a boy who grew up in care after his mother left and his ... ...a little disturbing. But Battle Royale isn't just an excuse for scenes of extreme violence; it also takes satirical swipes at the notions of school discipline and how to punish today's delinquent youth, and provides a blackly humorous version of reality TV. The film is quite ruthless in the way it counts down towards the game's finale - all the kids are assigned numbers and whenever somebody is killed, writing on the screen appears to say the number ...
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Advantages: Meaningful, violent and very funny Disadvantages: Could be too extreme for some tastes
...chosen for the government’s new Battle Royale scheme, a bloodthirsty method of keeping unruly and disrespectful kids in check. The class are taken to a deserted island, given a backpack full of goodies each with a different weapon and told to wipe each other out; last man or woman standing gets to go home. As if things weren’t already bad enough for the poor little tykes, they also have to wear irremovable collars that will explode if they don’t ... ...them how to fight in Battle Royale with “gusto” and it is hilarious. This instructional tape makes light of the entire situation, a happy go lucky female explains with the enthusiasm of a blue peter presenter how they are basically all going to die on this island; it’s a master stroke. This use of comedy throughout the film makes all the killing and blood shed much easier to bear for the viewer, who wouldn’t laugh when one of the students finds out ...
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Did you enjoy it?
Story
Characters / Performances
Special Effects
Soundtrack
very helpful
03.02.2004
(05.02.2004)
The BR Act Review ofBattle Royale (DVD)by
Anarchy182
Advantages: Emotional, Violent and Meaningful Disadvantages: Japanese film with english sub titles
Battle Royale (2000)
Directed by Kinji Fukasaku, Battle Royale tells of the story of a controversial future in Japan, whereby 9th Grade Classes are randomly selected to appear in a “Survival of the Fittest Game”. The film is based upon a novel by Koushun Takami. The purpose behind the BR Act was to stop the children rebelling against the adults, as schools were reporting crimes of extreme disobedience, and violence. The adults introduced the act ... ...way they do.
During Battle Royale the scenes of graphic violence, and the inhumane portrayal of the adults in Japan may often shock you, but the film isn’t just about violence, it is also about a struggle for freedom, about friendships and about loyalty between companions. I found the acting in the film very good, and felt each person filled their role well, showing enough passion or hatred to make it more realistic. Throughout the film you often ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: refreshing violence and death Disadvantages: bit expensive
...To give us some battle tips steve told me to buy Battle Royale on dvd, being from the far east he was aware of the work of 'BEAT' Takeshi (some japanese actor) and had heard good stuff about it, i had been aware of a little bit of uproar when it came out at the cinema over here and had wanted to see it but my local only played it about twice before playing some pap about aa animated fish or something.
We whacked it in and enjoyed.
Battle royale ... ...Kawada, an ex contestant on battle royale who won it a few years back. He has taken part to find out the meaning behind the game after his girlfriend was killed, by him, in the final moments of the game.
The three days of carnage is played out brilliantly with some excellent moments of violence throughout (a sequence in a lighthouse with a group of girls and a misunderstanding over poison is brilliant) some of them set to classical music which gives ...
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Advantages: a serious message, raises interesting questions Disadvantages: Subtitles? (if you don't like that sort of thing)
This film is in parts very gorry, thats not to say the violence is over the top considering the plot, just the it is seen rather than infered. I am not adverse to gore but at the same time that was not my intention for watching it. I had heard alot about this film, much of it to do with the violence but i was intrigued to view it for myself. The plot revolves around a class of school children, in not to distant future Tokyo. It is a time where not ... ...is out of control, respect for there elders is non existent. Teachers are dictated and atacked in schools. To resolve this the government passes the BR act, which consists of a class of children choosen at random each year to be taken to an island, fitted with collars which can explode and told to kill each other, all under the watchful eye of a former teacher with problems of his own. The last one remaining gets to leave the island, if there is ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
...The first glimpse I got of 'BattleRoyale' was a late-night showing on the Uk TV channel Sci-Fi. The premise sounded cheesy and enjoyable, (a class of school children is abducted and forced to kill each other to survive) and I had nothing better to do than sit back and watch a gory forgeign movie.
Within about 5 minutes I realised that BattleRoyale would surpass my expectations, and by the end of the film I had prepared myself to search out the DVD, and read up anything interesting on the topic. I found a wealth of tie-in material: the book on which the film is based, the manga comic based on the premise, and a whole online community of fans, cosplayers and cult film obsessives willing to share their experiences watching the film.
The plot quickly becomes more than an excuse to display violent deaths for young teenagers...
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Advantages: Excellent sequel Disadvantages: A lot of Political Overtones
...I saw the original "BattleRoyale" movie just over a year ago, after reading several reviews in magazines such as Empire. BattleRoyale was a hard hitting, horror come action film in which a group of Japanese schoolchildren are kidnapped and taken to a remote island where they are forced to kill each other for entertainment. This was at the request of the government, in response to the growing unrulyness of children throughout the country. It was gripping, horrific and entertaining all in one. In short, it was fantastic.
Whilst I was researching for another Asian Horror movie, "The Phone", I stumbled across another movie, "BattleRoyale 2 - Requiem". I was not even aware that a sequel was planned, let alone been made and distributed, so I quickly placed my order. About 10 days later, the DVD arrived through the post, and I eagerly...
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Advantages: Two WWF Events for 10.99. Disadvantages: No extras.
...WWE Tagged Classics ? BattleRoyal and UK Rampage.
This is a double DVD set. It costs 10.99 if you buy it direct from www.silvervision.co.uk and the price includes free delivery to your door.
UK Rampage 1991 was the first WWF UK Only big event that took place in April of 1991. The Main Event was New WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defending against former champion Sgt Slaughter in a good match. Other matches included Superfly Jimmy Snuka against The Barbarian, Earthquake facing Jake The Snake Roberts, The Rockers against The Orient Express, The Texas Tornado battling The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase, The British Bulldog against The Berzerker, Haku facing Greg Valentine and Jim Neidhart against The Warlord. An okay event that I did purchase, but I only bought it because I am a collector, not because it?s anything special.
Battle...
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Plot: The Japanese nation is in turmoil and on the verge of a collapse, the government must act to stop the violence from the nation's youth. They introduce a new measure 'Battle Royale' in which the pupils in a class from a randomly chosen school are taken to a deserted island and forced to fight each other to the death...
Release details
DVD Region: DVD
Studio(s): PALISADES TARTAN; FUSION MEDIA SALES; SONY DADC
Release date: 21/01/2002
No of Discs: 1
Catalogue No: TVD 3353
Barcode: 5023965335326
DVD Description
In Kinji Fukasaku's shocking, apocalyptic film, Japan is on the brink of collapse. The nation's youth have become out of control, leading the government to take drastic measures. The result is the Battle Royale act, which requires that a group of randomly chosen teenage students be transported to a deserted island and forced to fight to the death. In addition to a cast of young talent, BATTLE ROYALE features renowned actor and director "Beat" Takeshi Kitano.
Languages
Main Language: Japanese
Subtitle Language: English
Technical information
Special Features: Star And Director Filmographies, Scene Selection, Original Theatrical Trailer, Stills Gallery, Mark Wyatt Film Notes, Asia Extreme Trailer Reel
Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound: Dolby Digital
Dubbing Sound: Dolby Digital Japanese
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Listed on Ciao since : 15/02/2002
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