BATTLE ROYALE: Japanese director KINJI FUKASAKU's masterpiece of
a movie comes flying in from no where and hits you right in the
kisser with a clinched fist! It slaps you across the face and begs
you to FUCK with it! His violent vision of a futuristic Japan in
which high school children are randomly kidnapped, whisked away to
an isolated island, given a variety of weapons, and forced to kill
each other in various, wonderfully-creative, blood-splattered,
gore-filled ways is just simply, without a doubt, a pleasure to
watch. Think of it as the LORD OF THE FLIES survival-of-the-fittest
classic meets ICE T's "hunt 'em down" action flick SURVIVING THE
GAME. So with that said, I believe very little additional info is
actually needed but I'll give ya some more in case that wasn't
enough to wet your whistle. First, it's "Go Right For The Jugular"
attitude is certainly welcomed in a movie which could ONLY be made
in an overseas market for the simple fact of it's content. It's
about a classroom of high school kids who have been impartially
selected for the BR (Battle Royale) Act. What? Why? Well, adults in
Japan feel that they have lost control of their children and
through this forced contest, their hopes for a respectable future
will be restored by the surviving participant. Yup, that's right,
participant! Out of 42 classmates, only ONE can walk away at the
end or EVERYONE dies. That begs this hallowing question to be
answered, "Could you kill your best friend?" by all those playing
this "life or death" scenario. The food for thought (and great
storytelling) is there all day long! So, I will go on the record
and say that this film is quite possibly the COOLEST product to
ever hit my DVD player! (down, GENE, down!) And that's saying alot
because quite a few really great Oriental films have passed through
it. And I can only imagine the joys of seeing this movie on the big
screen. But I will admit that I was also saddened and it nearly
brought tears to my eyes to see all those beautiful young Japanese
girls get murdered when I could most certainly think of a better,
more pleasurable way to occupy their time on that island. Aside
from that though, it's somewhat "Reality Show" atmosphere is also a
nice presence since I'm a big fan of the popular SURVIVOR
television series. And what about actor ANDO MASANOBU's super-role
as the crazed killer, Kiriyama?! Not to mention, actress KOU
SHIBASAKI as the pure sadistic, evil psychotic goddess, Mitsuko.
Yow! But mark my words, this movie, once it gets some world
exposure, will probably spawn a plethora of wanna-be's and cheap
imitations and cause a quite a ruckus when some stupid kid decides
to go into his school and kill one of his classmates and say that
he did it because he saw it in this movie. The media will most
certainly have a field day with it then, and, of course, this will
drive up the demand to see it and the whole mess will probably
start all over again. But I confess... I loved it! I really did! If
a DVD could wear out from multiple viewings, then my import DVD
must be on the brink of destruction. This was a REAL TREASURE that
came at the most perfect time and reconfirmed my heart-aching
affection for those movies that try to go "too far". And I do
believe that this was the film that finally pushed me to seek out
all those other obscure Asian movies that I'd been hearing so much
about and it also inspired me to start writing my own reviews in
the hopes of promoting the often under-appreciated Oriental Cinema
as well. And DAMN, what a truely wild ride it's been so far! So I
must say... "ARRIGATO, KINJI-SAN!"
-Steve