Cast (in credits order)
Battle Royale Movie Trailer
Battle Royale Film Official Blu-Ray Trailer - Cult Classic Movie (2000)
Battle Royale Movie Description
In Battle Royale Movie Kinji Fukasaku made a film called Battle Royale back in 2000. He's made plenty of films in the past. I've seen very few of them, apart from Battle Royale Film but I'm always searching for more.
Battle Royale is a film that has affected many, many people. There are rabid fans of Battle Royale Movie and there are even more people that hate it. Let me tell you why.
Battle Royale Movie is a film that exercises its right to explore an idea. Many films have great ideas but most are poorly realized.
Battle Royale Movie is simply an awesome movie about one of the most hypothetically traumatic things that could ever happen to teenagers.
For those that don't know, the film focuses on what happens when a group of high school students are sent to an abandoned island to kill each other.
What brings such a bizarre idea to fruition includes civil unrest, teenage anxiety, and a nation literally terrorized by their youth. It's set in Japan and though it is just a movie it still hit pretty close to reality due to current problems with Japanese youth.
In fact, the film was poorly received by the government who feared that the release of the film would incite riots and other such acts of mayhem by the same youth which it focused on. The problem is the same the world around.
Young people are much more volatile than they ever were say 20-30 years ago and Battle Royale Movie captures the essence of the horror that today's youth would face going into such a circumstance.
Friends kill other friends and bullies all to survive. At the same time they get to live out those videogames that they loved to play at home.
[SIDE NOTE: Counter-Strike, a Half-Life (popular videogame) mod for example, easily prepares young people for the reality of weapons.
How many bullets are in a clip of an MP5? What does an assault rifle sound like? Questions like these are easily answered by the videogames of today.
Sure, these weapons are also on the streets and in some parts of the world they are even in the hands of children as young as five years-old but the videogame set up creates a comfortable experience with such weapons.
It's not that videogames necessarily make people want to get guns rather it gives familiarity to guns.
I should mention that I love to play Counter-Strike myself and will continue to play it in the future. I don't hate the game, I'm just pointing out that it does present a fairly realistic portrayal of weapons.]
The problem is that there can be only one survivor of this island massacre, this only adds extra pressure to the already unprepared children who have to fight for their lives.
What is truly shocking is that the actors and actresses who have been selected to portray these teens are around the same ages of their characters. They aren't the aging 20-30 somethings that just happen to look young; they are literally teenagers.
This flick has some serious bite! It's such a great comment on how we are living in the 21st century in a time when frequently the fear for a country comes from within rather than outside forces.
Certainly, terrorism is at the forefront of the average North American's mind due to the World Trade Center attacks and CNN's endless coverage of the horrors of said event have easily made the problem an international event.
But before that the biggest headline grabbers focused on young people, filled with `rage', unleashing their anger on their helpless peers using an array of weapons (mainly guns). School shootings shocked the world when children started killing their peers.
Battle Royale Movie is not meant to trivialize school shootings and youth violence. Rather, it's an examination of the lengths which a government will go in order to discipline the youth. It's such a ludicrous idea.
But the characters stay true to form as they profess long held crushes with their dying breath all the way down to naively trusting others who they've always admired as the popular kids. It's sick. Strange. Beautiful. Familiar. Different. And completely engaging.
Most people are against the film because they feel that the plot is simply silly or because the dialogue is too hammy or some such nonsense. At the same time, those naysayers will praise films like Braveheart for its honest portrayal of Scotland's only historical hero.
I loved Braveheart. I thought it was great too but it's bogus, for the most part. Certain battles and events really did happen. But William Wallace was no man to look up to.
He raped and killed women and small children but none of that made it into the film because it was not that kind of "feel good" thing that would sell Wallace as a hero.
Battle Royale Movie, since it draws on fictitious characters and plot is far more interesting because it really makes you think about your own life.
Could you kill your best friend from high school if the two of you are stuck on an island of death? To this day I refuse to answer that question.
Thinking of such a thing makes me feel very bad and so I get worried about what those 42 kids have to do in Battle Royale Film.
Worse still, he was chosen by lottery to end up on the island. Battle Royale Film exists in Japan, each year a random high school class is chosen for the event. We are led to believe that all of Japan's youth in this movie are bad seeds, but that doesn't really apply to the class that the movie follows.
For all intents and purposes, they were innocent. The dialogues between the characters are poignant, genuine and completely innocent.
You can literally see how limited their vocabulary and understanding of the world around them is. Also, as I mentioned earlier, some characters even express love for their classmates without knowing what love is.
High school is a strange time for anyone. It's a strange time that's all about experiences and misunderstandings. It's after high school that so many guys really learn the truth about who they like and what people really think of them.
During high school there is always some social wall that prevents any real open communication between two people. Being on the island forces uncontrollable feelings and emotions out of the characters as death looms on the horizon. Can you really label the dialogue as poor in those circumstances?
Obviously, there are intelligent and well-organized people in the world. Some are present in high school, but for the most part teenagers are brash, stupid, and irresponsibly reckless because they have yet to learn from experience.
They hardly have any experience. Teens placed on an island to kill themselves certainly won't learn anything new and it won't matter if they do, they'll die soon enough.
Naturally, some go nuts and bubble out math equations that their teachers promised would be valuable in the real world. Others feel the need to satisfy their sexual desires, who wants to die as a virgin, right? Still others try to make the best of survival conditions by making their last few hours as civilized as possible.
But the purpose of the game impresses all these teenagers. They have to hurry. If the fight doesn't end in 3 days they all have to die which is easy for the people in charge who have low-jacked each teen with a burst collar.
Not enough to clear the head by default, but enough blast to crack open the throat. Their blood continues to flow until they die. Their hopes and dreams for the future go with them.
It's a terrible movie that doesn't particularly cater to gore hounds. There are definitely some really disturbing death scenes and moments but nothing over the top.
The idea is shocking enough, no need to overdo it. At first this fact bothered me. I wanted the movie to be a bloody parade of carnage because I argued it was just a movie.
Just some form of entertainment that existed to amuse me. But the whole idea is sick and compelling enough to satisfy on more layers than just the visuals.
Ultimately, this isn't a movie for anyone off the road. There are a lot of skeptics and people who are unable to maturely understand the concept of the film. These are the people who really hate it and you can't really blame them.
For too long, Hollywood has dominated film production in the world. What was once a very expressive and thought provoking medium has now become a dull and boring thing. Everything is recycled again and again.
It is re-packaged, re-sold, re-distributed to the point that people can hardly accept something new and radical and different. If it is not safe, normal or commercial, then the reason for the film's existence seems highly questionable.
Battle Royale Film isn't going to change the world. I wish it could happen but the damage is already done and there is no longer any room for a film that challenges socio-political norms or has subtitles. But that's okay.
Important movies are still being made, even if they don't get as much press or attention as the next Leonardo DiCaprio movie. If you enjoyed Battle Royale Full Movie then Kinji Fukasaku, who directed and adapted the film for the screen with his son Kenta, may rest in peace.
The man died on January 12, 2003. He was 72 and wanted to make films till he died. He got his wish.