Battle Royale DVD > Reviews > Could you kill your best friend

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Good
Soundtrack	Good

Advantages:	This is bound to be a cult classic
Disadvantages:	Unsatisfying extras

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I saw this film in the cinema last year, and eagerly awaited the DVD release. Now I have it, and I highly recommend it to any film fan, especially those who love gore-laiden cultish films such as this!

Thanks to the increasing rebellious behaviour of the future's youth, the government are forced to impose an act which will put the kids back in their place. Once a year one class is chosen to take part in Battle Royale. The lucky class are drugged, taken to an island and shown a cute introductory video which tells them that the only person who will be allowed to leave the island alive is the last person standing. Naturally, the kids are not too happy about this. But they don't get a choice thanks to the exploding strip strapped to their necks. Each is given a weapon and sent out on to the island.

Cue gore, tension and alot of fun. If that is your sort of thing, you won't be dissappointed by this film. Extremely well paced, the kids gradually pick each other off through a variety of gory and shocking methods. Leave it to the Japaneise to depict school kids gunning each other down in cold blood. Not that I am complaining, it all looks like good wholesome fun from here! As the film progresses it becomes a kind of gory big-brother, as you get to know the characters, and start speculating over which will be the survivor. It is equally interesting to see the different ways that the characters deal with the situation (there are 40 characters to start with, so there is alot of variety).

If you are a fan of special features, you won't be pleased. Here is a list of the sparce features on the disc:

Star and director filmographies
Scene selection (I cannot believe they still get away listing this as a special feature)
Original theatrical trailer
Stills gallery
Film Notes
Asia extreme trailer reel

None of them too interesting. The film notes make a vaguely interesting read, but do not do the job that a short, well constructed documentary would. Not commentary, which is fair enough, as I am sure than not all involved can speak English.

I have few criticisms of this film. One would be the acting, which is very hit and miss (which I guess is to be expected if you have 40 child actors). The subtitles I am guessing are a little bit poorly translated at points. Certain pieces of dialogue did make me laugh. Other than that, if it sounds like your sort of film, you can't really go wrong.