Directed by:
Kinji FukasakuScreenplay:
Kenta FukasakuCinematography:
Katsumi YanagijimaComposer:
Masamichi AmanoVOD (1)
Plots(1)
42 students, three days, one survivor, no rules. In the near future, Japan is in a state of collapse. With high unemployment and a generation of youth out of control, the government enacts the Battle Royale programme. Each year, a randomly chosen school class is pitted against itself on an abandoned island in a cruel game of survival. With a former teacher (Takeshi Kitano) overseeing the game, this is a fight to the death with only one winner. The rules are simple: - It lasts 3 days - Each player starts with food, water and a random weapon - If more than one player survives, everyone dies - There is no escape. As the roll call begins, each kid grabs a backpack and stumbles away towards death or murder. As the game progresses, terror and panic challenge the students' fragile trust in each other. Some suspect everyone, blindly striking down those who cross their paths. Others form alliances dreaming of a peaceful solution with multiple survivors. Despite the game's brutality, the adolescent players maintain their school obsessions with crushes, petty grudges and their dreams. But as the game approaches its shocking final stages, even this semblance of normality disintegrates. (Madman Entertainment)
(more)Videos (2)
Reviews (9)
A killer game with a lot of blood and maybe even a hidden message. You can think of it as a big fling that doesn't make any sense, or you can think of it as a reflection on the causes of violence, on how, in a liminal situation, even the greatest of friends can become mortal enemies. Personally, I would lean towards the former, but it’s certainly worth watching, and I appreciate the originality.
()
A very bold and stylish thriller that owes its undying fame to its controversy. I still have the nagging feeling that even more could have been extracted from such an excellent premise and that cramming ideas about life or deeper meaning into a story like this was a low blow to the viewer, but there’s not much more to complain about. Fukasaku knew exactly what he wanted to achieve, and he succeeded. From the very beginning, it’s a very brisk and, thanks to the shocking content, rather unpleasant spectacle full of blood and violence that fleshes out the human character into the blackest form imaginable. From a filmmaking point of view, it’s an almost flawless piece of work, with an effective atmosphere, excellent soundtrack and developed psychology of the main characters, whom we get to know through small episodes from their past. Of the actors, the most striking is of course Takeshi Kitano, whose character surprisingly has the most depth and most important motive. I won't, and I don't want to ramble on about the message of Battle Royale as a vision of modern society, because it's as debatable as the film itself, I would simply say that Fukasaku is a madman who took great pleasure in letting his imagination run wild. No wonder Tarantino praised this film so much. 80%
()
The subject matter may be superficially about endless mindless violence, however, with such a strong creative team producing it, it is a well-shot action movie in which everything works - from the psychological issues of the characters and their presentation to the audience, natural acting, and believably emotional performances, through imaginative and intensely violent scenes, to almost poetic overtones. Within the world of Battle Royale itself, everything might not make sense, or things are not clearly stated - the meaning of the danger zones is not sufficiently explained, and the objective/effectiveness of the whole game is probably also quite debatable, yet as an idea, the movie works perfectly and creates some moments for flawlessly shocking action scenes, which Jinji Fukasaku unashamedly and extensively exploits, and at the same time, thanks to the aesthetics of the savagery and the choice of soundtrack, he can have the movie stamped with the hallmark of a "nobler" kind of art. What else is there to add? I enjoy this picture with big gulps with each new viewing.
()
While I have nothing against Asia, extreme violence, or false psychology, presenting false emotions is inexcusable to me. The idea and the script may be original, but after 20 minutes the film turns into a pointless and unbearably drawn-out bore that cannot even rely on the amazing audiovisual design. The captivating camerawork and the musical accompaniment from the greatest classics, combined with the brutal violence, create a hypnotic synthesis. However, none of the characters grew close to my heart, and I didn't care about any of them. Instead, I found myself watching the clock, aware of the remaining duration of the film. My highly subjective feeling at the end that I had just lost two hours of time in an absolutely incomprehensible way, admittedly made me a little angry.
()
I read an excellent sci-fi story on the topic depicted in this movie about a twisted reality show where a group of inmates sentenced to death fought for survival, and the winner received not only mercy but also a decent reward. This dystopian spectacle aimed to divert the attention of the viewers from the economic crisis and societal stagnation. The main problem with Fukasaku's film is the inadequate portrayal of the background, of why society and the government had agreed on such a twisted game because, without its filming and broadcasting in the media, it somehow loses its meaning. If we accept the screenwriter's game, the director made the most out of the idea. The fight for survival within a closed community of high school students naturally offers tremendous opportunities to display a wide range of emotions, tension, and measured brutality so that the viewer remains appropriately excited throughout, and the relatively surprising ending is their reward. Everything is accentuated by a provocatively chosen musical background; you wouldn't believe the shots the director can combine with "The Blue Danube" waltz. Takeshi Kitano in the role of the tough teacher is naturally flawless in terms of acting, although his motivation, or rather the transformation from an intellectual to a cynical killer, is somewhat forced from a screenplay perspective. Overall impression: 80%. The film can rightfully be criticized for gratuitous naturalistic violence, but for the majority of its duration, the director successfully balances on the edge of bearability.
()
Gallery (40)
Photo © Toei Co. Ltd.
![Battle Royale - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/160/330/160330945_a7f243.jpg)
Ads