OK, I just erased this paragraph somehow. So here we go again: In Battle Royale we see a blood bath of a movie in which kids are pitted against kids in a battle to the death by a near-future Japanese society that has just about had it up to "here" with the youth of their day. So every year they host a reality tv show, much like "Survivor" (which I refuse to watch - in fact I don't watch tv at all, I just rent movies, which sort of helps to explain what I am doing now - even though I have, admittedly, a terrible memory for names and details, which doesn't help, but could explain why some, or most, or all of my reviews are kind of vague in some areas) .... except that in Battle Royale voting people off the island is done with extreme predjudice. Let's just say the weapons supplied are assorted (and quite unbalanced). Voting continues until there is only one survivor, and the grand prize as far as I can tell is being allowed to live.

How this relatively small selection of the general youth population murdering each other helps the elder folk in any way is beyond me. Maybe it's to set an example for the other kids? Maybe it's just good adult fun?

One of my favorite scenes is right at the beginning when the media is covering the arrival of the previous battle's survivor: a girl with a teddy bear, smiling, covered in blood. It really sets up the movie nicely. But does it deliver?

Yes it does. However, this film has it's flaws. I often felt like I was watching a movie designed by kids, for kids, about kids killing kids. The casting for my tastes wasn't the best, and some of the main supporting characters were a little too corny and one dimensional. On the other hand, there are pleasant surprises here and there when you least expect them. And some of the girls are pretty sexy as they prepare to kill each other. And that's just good entertainment.

So, we have good things: lots of killing, blood, mayhem, Japanese schoolgirls with guns (and for the women: Japanese shoolboys, with weapons too!) uh, Beat Kitano as the main bad adult running the show, and exploding, well let's just leave it at that. Kind of a mixed bag. A little corny, but quite fun none the less. I know this is a very popular film, so I don't want to give the impression that it's not way up there on the bizarre, off the wall, good fun scale, I was just a little disappointed. I had pretty high expectations going in. But I'm quite aware of it's cult following, so I would give it a go if I were you.

DO NOT BUY THIS FILM IF: You didn't like Lord of the Flies (heck, don't buy it if you didn't like Lord of the Rings, I don't think you deserve the priviledge of buying movies - I've met people who claim that they didn't care for Lord of the Rings, but I think they are just trying to be cool by being different and I can see right through that, pal). This movie will appeal to many fans of Asian cult cinema. So I guess you better get it. It's quite awful, in a really good way.

RECOMMENDATION: I kind of already recommended it accidentally above, where I usually warn when NOT to buy. If for some weird reason, you saw Battle Royale II, but not the first one yet, and you liked it, then you will absolutely love "Battle Royale". Otherwise, go in with low expectations and you'll likely be pleased with a fun, violent, gory movie. If you have already seen Battle Royale and loved it, I suggest you see it again.

There are obvious flaws in the conception - surely rewarding the survivor for committing mass murder would increase teen violence, not reduce it - but it's the situation the teenagers find themselves in that matters, not how they got there. The film is hugely successful at exploring how quickly normal kids disintegrate in the face of brutal exploitation. Though the sheer number of characters is bewildering to begin with, they're quickly whittled down, and the story ultimately focuses around an audacious scheme to outwit their captors.

The brutality of the violence is suitably shocking, and the misunderstanding and mistrust that destroys many of the characters gives the film an ironic edge. In the end, Battle Royale really has nothing new to say about the moral disintegration of society, but it recycles an old message very effectively, as a teen slasher movie with a disturbing difference.

Japan is in a time of turmoil. The economy on the decline and the crime rate is at an all-time high. In these desperate times desperate measures seem appropriate. In order to deter youth crime and gain their attention, Parliament has enacted the "Battle Royale Act" which empowers the Japanese government to randomly choose a class in any given school once a month and abduct them to a deserted island where they are given a bag full of food and weapons. The rules are simple - the last person standing on the island after three days will return to society. If more than one person from the class is still alive, then the whole class will be killed. It's a brutal premise and what follows is inevitably a brutal film, but regardless of the criticism on violence, its opponents and proponents will largely agree that Battle Royale is one of the best movies to come out of Japan in the last decade.

Director Kinji Fukasaku (Black Rose Mansion, The Green Slime), pairs Japanese auteur Takeshi "Beat" Kitano (Fireworks, Zaitoichi, Gonin) with a number of young actors who have the unenviable challenge of maintaining the elder master's level of intensity.

There has been much made of this film, which seems callous in the extreme toward teens and youth in general. But if you're Japanese and you're fifteen years old, the world is a very different place. Just like teens all over the world you probably are experiencing your first rush of adolescent hormones, you're learning all about the world as it relates to peer pressure and grappling with this so-called difference between elders and your ilk. But societal differences in Japan are far more remote than anything we can imagine. It's not so much that life is cheap in Asian countries; it's more that the training to become a productive adult is enforced at a very early age. And living in this manner is quite

For the teens in Battle Royale, school's not so bad. We are introduced to Class 3B, which is quite large. In 3B there's a psycho named Nobu who once stabbed class teacher Mr. Kitano in the ass. Another student, Nanahara, is struggling with his father's suicide. Mitsuko, commonly known as the "class slut," is hated by just about every one in school. And Utsumi and her mates have a nasty habit of locking Noriko in the toilets just for being who she is. All in all, not an uncommon sort of existence for most teens everywhere.

Unfortunately for our class, only a few years ago the Japanese parliament passed a law which led to the annual 'Battle Royale' in which one class must engage in a bizarre survivalist exercise on a deserted island which consists of the class blowing away one another until there is one survivor. This law was enacted because the adults were 'fearful of the youth.' . Oh, yeah, the last survivor gets to go home only if the 'game' lasts less than three days. Any longer than that and even they are hunted down and killed by their watchers.

Here is where the societal differences are most notable; instead of the teenagers lashing back against the system, they buy into the idea and begin to take their petty and immature rivalries to extremes with a gusto they have probably never realized themselves capable. Their watchers have provided Class 3B with a couple of wild-eyed transfer students noone seems to know but who seem to have a fairly good idea of how to use an AK-47.

What follows is an intriguing breakdown of class structure, friendships realized and stripped bare to their base reality, and individuals forced to choose between loyalty and friendship over their own inner survival instinct. This is what makes Battle Royale far superior to its many imitations, including Suicide Club, and is at the heart of its appeal across cultures.

Battle Royale is one of the bloodiest films you may see, but I did not find the action or violence gratuitous in context of the plot. If you have a weak stomach for such things, you may think twice before renting the film. However, I recommend Battle Royale for everyone above the age of 15, and cite stylistic similarities to films such as Pulp Fiction and Boiling Point. Just finding distribution on DVD here in the States, it's worth tracking down.

After years of schooling, the class "Battle Royale" deals with has finally finished their compulsory education, and they are now heading off on their last field trip. None of the 9th graders realize that their class has been chosen for this year's ‘Battle Royale'--in fact, they do not even know what the ‘Battle Royale Act' is. After being drugged, they are sent to an abandoned island, and they are told the rules. They have three days to fight and kill each other--if there is one survivor, he or she can return home. They all have a tight-fitting collar on their neck, which not only informs the GPS systems of their locations, but can also be used as a remote detonation device if they break the rules. Added to the class are two "transfer students," Kawada and Kiriyama, setting the class roster at 42 students. On their way out of the starting building, each one is given a backpack with not only food and supplies, but a random weapon. These weapons range in usefulness, with some getting sub-machine guns and hatchets, while others get binoculars and paper fans. It doesn't take long for the movie to set its pace. While some of the students form small groups and set up locations in certain areas, others either hide by themselves, or commit suicide. Two of the students, Shuya and Noriko, join up with Kawada to form our three main characters. As the movie progresses friends become enemies, past lovers become killers, trust in fellow man is tested, and these children learn how dangerous the world is.

This movie has proven itself time and again as one of the most powerful movies out there. How much it has in common with "Lord of the Flies" is arguable, but most agree that watching these young teenagers violent kill - and be killed--hits a nerve. That is also mostly why there was such an effort for it to be banned. Showing these 15-year olds violently killing each other put some politicians at unease, but in the end it was passed as an R-15 movie (restricted under 15 years old). Although I don't fully agree that this movie has a "don't trust adults" stance, I do believe that it means to show how violence passes along through each generation. It is interesting to look at the filmographies of most of the cast, since few did considerable work outside of commercials and perhaps some tv-shows. However, they all do great jobs of acting, without having that overly-flashy style that many actors/actresses get as they progress. Also, it is important to make note of the music. The orchestrated scores used throughout are very strong (more-so if you have a good speaker-system), and add so much to the overall quality.

COMMENTS
This has to be one of the best films I've ever seen. It was enetertaining from the start. I liked how it tackled some things like trust, friendship and love when put in that situation with so many fellow peers.

The plot is very innovative - Teens have practically taken over the schools and adults are mocked by them. The adults have lost control so they form this law where certain classes are forced to go into this game of battle to the death called Battle Royale. The teens are put on a deserted island where each one has to fend off against others in order to be the last person standing, which then wins their freedom home.

Judging from the plot there is obviously a lot of death. It was interesting to see how each one of those teens would come up with a way to kill one another. Some were lucky to have guns while others weren't so lucky and had object likes a trash lid and binoculars. A movie like this wouldn't last in the US because of the stupid MPAA and shit. What a waste that is, because this is truly an entertaining film that can't be too far from the truth considering we have a lot of these reality shows where people are forced to survive.

The fact that these are mere teens killing each other makes the film controversal, but also very interesting. You don't see that kinda stuff often. You have to admire the fact that the director would actually have the guts to put out a film like this, but apparently it works well since it was #1 at the Japanese Box Office for three weeks.

The acting was very well done and so was the directing. I noticed in most parts of the film it was during the night, which made things a lot more intense. Certain of the teens played special rolls like, you have the badass and then you have the wussy guy. I really wasn't dissapointed by any of the film aside from the fact that I couldn't exactly make out everything that was said because of the subtitling on the video. I still got pretty much everything down though.

I would have given the movie a higher rating, but I'm really picky when it comes to 10-ratings and this film came very close to getting one. I think this movie is a MUST for anyone who is tired of the boring shit the MPAA hands out here in America.

OVERALL
Has to be one of the best films I've ever seen. Very innovative and controversal. You have got to see this movie.

What kind of film could cause such varying reactions? Well, to start off, "Battle Royale" is not a film for every taste. In fact, I'm surprised the film has even been shown outside of Japan, or even made for that matter. Lord knows that certain special interests and political groups would go out of their way to kill this movie if an American studio conceived it. In light of tragedies like Columbine, and even current events, it's no wonder that American distributors won't even touch this movie.

Describe the concept of the film to most people, and you'll immediately see shock that a movie like this even exists. Based upon Koshun Takami's novel, "Battle Royale" is set in a future where Japan has become a boiling pot of unrest. The unemployment rate's up, the economy is horrible, and students around the nation are boycotting school. Hoping to put some discipline and fear back into the youth, the government passes the "Battle Royale Act". At random, a 9th grade class is chosen from among the nation's schools and sent to a deserted island. There, they must fight it out amongst themselves until one remains.

The 42 students of the latest class wake up in an abandoned classroom, mysterious collars around their necks. Their old teacher, Kitano, walks in and explains the situation. Their first reaction is disbelief. That disbelief turns to horror when Kitano wheels out the bloody corpse of their teacher. It gets even worse as a video - which, in spite of the circumstances, is darkly humorous - explains the game's simple rules.

The students have 3 days to hunt each other down. If there is more than one survivor after 3 days, everyone dies. Each student is given a survival pack and a weapon. In order to even the odds, some students are given guns and knives, while others are given less deadly items such as pot lids. After the video, Kitano shows the deadly purpose of the collars. Not only do they track the students, they also contain explosives, which Kitano demonstrates when he detonates one, with predictably messy results. And then, the game begins.

Some students go along with game, figuring that it's "survival of the fittest" or just desperate to return to their previous lives. Some, in a noble act, refuse to take any part in the game; some refuse weapons, whereas one young couple jumps into the sea. Still others band together, determined to survive and take the fight to the adults who have forced them into this. Some kill because they've been called losers their whole lives and they finally found a way to stick out. Some students are transfers, survivors of previous years who come back under mysterious reasons or for a cheap thrill.

In the midst of this madness, the normal pitfalls of high school still exist. Kids develop crushes, cliques are just as prevalent, and normal rivalries suddenly have deadly consequences. It's the attention to these characters - all bloodshed aside, they're just your normal, average teenagers with normal, average teenage experiences - that give this film a surprising emotional power. There are moments when these teens, essentially discarded by their society, react with moments of love, friendship and mercy. In other words, the very qualities the government claims they lack. This is especially true of the movie's main characters, a cute-as-buttons couple of teenagers named Nanahara and Noriko. Watching them try to survive while falling for each other... well, it gives you hope that something good might come out of this madness.

On the other hand, many scenes are just as startling and brutal.

Two in particular tore me apart. In the first scene, two girls attempt to gather the students together, calling everyone from a hilltop with a megaphone. In one sense, it's almost silly and even a bit hopeful. But that's shot to hell when Kiriyama, one of the transfers, follows their voices and guns them down. Before finishing them off, he holds the megaphone to one of the dying girls, allowing everyone in the surrounding countryside to hear her dying moans.

The second finds a group of girls holed up in a lighthouse. When one of the girls accidentally poisons another, fears lying just below the surface surge to the top. The girls turn on each other, killing everyone except the poisoner. Horrified at what she's done, she throws herself from the lighthouse onto the rocks below.

And those are just two.

As you can see, it's impossible not to talk about the film's violence, some of it very bloody. 9th graders get shot, impaled, decapitated, and castrated... by other 9th graders. It's not comfortable to watch, and making it even more difficult is how uncertain it all is. The movie never takes sides, which means that you never know who's next. Even the closest of friends could turn on each other at any moment.

I know many that would probably find this movie repugnant, and yet have no problem watching any of Schwarzeneggar's movies, or teen slashers like "Scream" and "Final Destination". However, those movies let you off the hook. They never force you to invest in the characters, in their dilemmas. "Battle Royale" is not a mindless action movie (even though I listed it as "Action/Adventure"). It is not an adrenaline rush. You care about these characters. You might even see yourself in some of them. And watching their innocence taken away in the name of society's benefit is perhaps the most difficult thing of all.

It's interesting (and perhaps necessary) to understand the director's vision with a film like this. Kinji Fukasaku was in 9th grade himself during World War II. His class was assigned to work in a munitions factory, and in the war's final days, to dispose of corpses. In the midst of that wretched duty, he came to realize that everything adults had told him concerning the war had been a lie, a lie he had no part of and yet was forced to accept guilt for. That sentiment, that sense of betrayal resonates throughout the film.

After I watch a film like this, I try to figure out its value, whether or not it was worth my time. Whether or not it was worth subjecting myself to rather, um, extreme filmmaking. Yes, I do that so I can defend it against friends and family, but also so that I can hopefully spread the word to other who might find it valuable as well. Whatever the case, the struggle is there. But I've come to believe that the very existence of that struggle implies value. If a film (or any work of art) forces you to wrestle with it, if it sticks with you for any extended period of time, there must be something there. And in that regard, I think "Battle Royale" has value.

But what if, at the same time, the movie also hits you on a deep, emotional level? What if, in the midst of a movie that most would gladly ban, you saw something that moves you, almost to the point of tears? Something that redeems whatever controversial contents the movie might have? What then? Well, my friend, then you've got a truly great film on your hands.

REVIEW:
Some have compared this film to "A Clockwork Orange." While, honestly, the similarities in the film's themselves are few and far between - they do share one thing. Both are controversial, violent films that go beyond mere sensationalism and really have stories to tell and points to make. Battle Royale is a brilliant piece of film-making that brings a human element to the death and killing, pulling viewers deeper in the process.

As the film puts 41 classmates into this island of death, its obvious that the film cannot and will ont try focus equally, or even significantly, on all the students. We are quickly aware of who our main protagonists will be and the story focuses mostly on these students as they fight for survival. It does take to time to at least show every student in some forms, though - with more time being devoted to some than others. We will see how many students deal with the situation they have been put in, showing drastically different reactions by people of different personality and experience. Thanks to great characterization, most of these are accompanied by a range of emotions on the viewers' part, from hatred to empathy, as they make their own paths. Even the teacher, who is early painted as a hard-nosed, vengeaful man, cannot be passed off so easily. He will also start to show more dimensions to his personality.

Our main protagonists, though, are the heart of the film's human element. They exemplify hope as they try stay true to each other and to their principles. This is not necessarily easy, as the film goes along, which makes the character's that much more real. The tension grows as they try keep it that way as the deadline approaches, and viewers are given reasons in backstory, both to hold out hope and to prepare for the worst. Thanks to this, the film leaves far greater impression due to the emotion than due to any sensationalism.

As for the action and violence, it should be stated that the violence is a little overstated. No doubt, this is a very violent movie - but there are plenty of movies that will make you far more squeamish. This movie has gotten its violence controversy due to the ages of the characters involved. And, this movie is not about sensationalism in its violence. So, the action and death scenes are neither sensationalistic, nor are they meant to be glorious acts of choreography. They create tension and make an impact by their intent and by their results. As such, they are filmed purely in the same fashion as the rest of the film, with enough camera cuts to follow the actoin. This allows them to flow well with the film without having them stand out too much as "seperate" sequences - because their impact lies in their interdependency with the story. You won't find yourself skipping to an action scene without watching the narrative before and after it.

Battle Royale is a must for fans of ALL cinema. It's human connection makes it much more than the controversy surrounding it. It's got amazing characterization, the right amount of tension, and even throws in some dark humor (which works surprisingly well). It's also worthwhile to mention the amazing score, which really helps pull the film together adds impact at the right moments. No matter who you are, no matter where your tastes in cinema lie - Battle Royale is essential viewing.

In a time when the children run riot with no respect for their elders, it's time for a new law to be instigated! Under the terms of the survival program, known affectionately as 'Battle Royale', a carefully selected group of kids are transported to a far away island before being given the glad tidings that they must fight it out until there is only one survivor. In this particular instance, it's a class of 9th Graders that are chosen and we must watch as, slowly but surely, they begin to ease into their situation and the countdown begins to see who will emerge victorious.

The keyword for this film really has to be originality which it screams throughout. So many of today's films achieve notoriety thanks to established parameters that echo through the majority of the big screen extravaganzas but 'Battle Royale' really does take a refreshing form of attack. There is no long winded explanation behind the characters or any kind of attempt to rationalise the mindless violence but instead we are left with a film that blasts you into a grotesque world where teenage arrogance is unforgivable and the adults will fight back, no matter what the costs! The resulting effect is a picture that really allows you be swept along with the film without ever having to understand more than the basics, achieving pure unadulterated entertainment.

The action that fills the majority of 'Battle Royale' certainly owes more to Japan's history of horror movies than to the intricate kung-fu seen in present day Hong Kong flicks. Bloody shoot-outs prominantly occupy the screen, accompanied by some larger than life hand-to-hand combat that always ends in a suitably gruesome conclusion. Heads roll, limbs fly and innocent blood is splattered about the place but all of it seems somewhat fitting in this bizarre situation.

'Battle Royale' is a fast paced, intense and emotionally charged film that goes where most filmmakers would never dare and produces a highly recommended movie for fans of all genres. It's also one of those rare films that leaves the audience with several thought provoking dilemmas and will remain a talking point amongst friends for sometime to come.

TECH SPECS
Picture: Letterboxed at 1.85:1. A very average print that suffers from an overall softness to the picture and washed out colours. It does however remain damage-free and is still the most watchable version around.

Sound: Japanese stereo, DD 5.1 and DTS soundtracks with removable English, traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese subtitles.

Trailers: The trailer for this film and a preview of 'Tales Of The Unusual'.

Extras: Just the one file for Takeshi Kitano.

The primary cause for the shock and outrage directed toward the movie from us Yanks is simple enough: violence. To sum it up in a nutshell, this is a movie about recent middle school graduates who are rounded up and transported to a remote island where they are forced to hunt one another down for the amusement of adults. The film pulls no punches in depicting the brutality of adults toward children as well as from one child to another. This simply will not fly in the United States. The recent glut of tragic school shootings has left America somewhat shell-shocked and hesitant when it comes to dealing with the topic of teen violence.

We're happy to simply gloss over it -- perhaps the biggest tragedy of all to come from these horrible events. We blame the media, blame video games, blame extreme music. Basically, we blame everything except poor parenting, a complete lack of discipline practices, and a social set-up that encourages the alienation and persecution of any student who is different, smart, or in any way quirky and deviant from the rigid status quo. While we went on and on about violence video games and movies, we completely failed to address the obvious roots of the problem because it required us to point the finger squarely at ourselves. That's something we've never been very good at doing.

I would not sit here and try to tell anyone that violent entertainment does not trigger violent behavior in certain people. It's obvious that it does, just as The Holy Bible has triggered extreme violence in masses of people throughout the centuries. The question we should be asking is not why we have these violent movies or video games. The question is simply why are people today so monumentally stupid that they can't grasp something as basic as the difference between real and make-believe?

I grew up watching screwy movies, stuff far more twisted and violent than these kids ever saw. Horror, kungfu, crime, by the age of twelve I'd seen more shockingly violent fare than most people do their entire lives. I watched pro wrestling, listened to heavy metal and angry punk rock. And you know what? Not once did I ever entertain the thought of walking into a classroom and offing the kids who fucked with me in school -- and believe me, as a punk rocker growing up in a rural Kentucky town during the mid 1980s, I got fucked with plenty. Not once did I ever think it was okay to piledrive my younger sister or try to fly by jumping out of a tree. Not once did I ever think anything I sw in a movie wa anything other than just what it was: an image in a movie. Not real life. Not how you are supposed to behave.

I'm not particularly smart, but I'm also not a complete idiot. Even a simpleton should be able to comprehend the simple concept of what you see in a movie not being an example of what you do in real life. So what is it then, what is it we're doing differently, that is causing kids and adults both to behave like brainless twits who cannot conceive of the fact that you should not drop a flying elbow off the couch onto a two year old child?

A big part of the problem is what I think of as new-age parenting. We live in a society that is so terrified of punishing a kid for being a rotten, spoiled asshole than we've ended up with a whole population of rotten, spiled assholes. Parents who attempt to discipline their children are chastised and live in constant fear of some bleeding heart guidance counselor from school turning them in for child abuse. Likewise, teachers are shackled, forced to operate with bound hands and attempt to instruct children who have basically been allowed to run wild and develop not the faintest sense of responsibility or consideration for others. To make matters worse, teachers who dare to flunk a student who deserves to be flunked are punished either for making the child feel bad about themselves or for making the school lose face by having failing students. As a result, we have a population that is now not only meaner and completely devoid of any sense of responsibility regarding their own actions, we also have a population that is just plain dumb as toast.

Unable to understand that their actions have consequences, and too stupid to realize that what they see in movies and video games is not real, we end up with students who lack any sort of coping skills, who freak out and can't think of anything to do other than respond with violence and screaming. And as adults, rather than analyze our failure as elders, we simply blame the movies, even though countless other people saw the same movie and didn't interpret it as an okay to gun down classmates or co-workers.

In this environment, it's no wonder people would be gun-shy about a film like Battle Royale. It requires an audience to understand the difference between reality and fantasy. It requires the audience to think about why the violence on screen is occuring, to analyze the actions of the people on screen, to think about why they have been driven to do what they are doing. It requires a basic understanding of satire and social commentary. None of these are things the average American youth has been taught how to do by either parents or school. Given our stunted emotional state in America, I have no doubt that a movie like Battle Royale would indeed result in violent behavior among some of the more astoundingly moronic kids who managed to see it. Given this admission, although I'm not a fan of censorship, I'm ultimately happy that the film may not see the light of day in the United States. The fewer idiots who have it as an excuse for their own misanthropic hatred, the better off the rets of us will be. besides, it's not like it's been banned -- it simply hasn't found a domestic distributors. Even with that limitation, it's not as if the movie is difficult to find.

Anyway, it's impossible to discuss the film without discussing, at least in some cursory manner, the plague of youth violence. I'm not equipped for a full-on debate over the topic, but it had to be mentioned. It's also worth mentioning the difference between school violence in America and school violence in Japan. Although not nearly as violent as America, nor as well armed, Japan still has its fair share of youth trouble, and they are the impetus for much of the action in this graphic but well-made film.

While American schools seem set up to reward mediocrity and encourage the dim-witted to beat down and prey upon the smart and unusual, Japanese schools are dog-eat-dog in the opposite direction. The pressure to get high marks, be an ace student, and get into a top college is intense, and much of the violence that occurs doe so as a result of this pressure. AT no point is this more absurdly obvious in Battle Royale than in a scene where a bloodied student, crazed by the situation in which he and his classmates have found themselves, charges toward his friends with guns blazing, screaming, "I will win this game and get into a good college!"

Things begin on a troubling note, with a frantic newscaster scrambling to get shots of the "winner" of some game, a smiling, blood-covered young girl. The movie continues innocently enough, as a senior class prepares for their final day of middle school. Everyone's thinking about their future, and the happiness is only slightly marred by the attempted stabbing of one of the senior teachers, played with biting wit by Takeshi Kitano.

While on a bus ride, the graduating class is gassed. When they wake up, they are in a dingy classroom on some remote island. Takeshi Kitano is present, along with a group of trigger-happy guards, to fill them in on what's happening. They have been chosen at random to compete in a game. The goal of the game is simple: kill all your classmates and avoid being killed yourself. The last one standing is the winner. If more than two students are left at the end of the game, everyone dies. If you refuse to play or attempt to escape, a lock around your neck will detonate and blow your jugular all to hell.

The students find this impossible to believe, but a switchblade to the head of a protesting young girl quickly convinces them that this is serious. A couple more students mowed down by machine gun fire, and one demonstration of the blood-spraying effectiveness of the exploding necklaces later, and everyone falls into line.

What struck me immediately about this film is that none of the deaths are lightweight. Even though the students who are killed straight away have had no more than a minute or so of screen time, their deaths affect the viewer. Part of it is the simple shock of what you're seeing. Outside of fetish porn, you don't expect to see a teacher fling a knife into a young girl's head. These aren't especially bad kids as far as we know; they're simply paying the price. The result is that each death, despite being sensationally gory, is also amazingly important and somewhat depressing. At the same time, each death is totally senseless. There is no reason, within the plot of the film, for the killing. No purpose is served, and that senselessness is the primary source of power, ironically enough.

The students are forced to watch a cheery orientation video in which the basic rules of the game are relayed to them by a perky spokeswoman. They're then released into the wild. Some immediately form coalitions, while others immediately become paranoid. A few simply go insane with fear. The killing starts the minute they get out the door, although a number of the students are more interested in finding a way to beat the game than they are in killing one another. There must be a way to disarm or remove the collars. There must be a way to survive the game without playing it.

But it's hard to think rationally when other students are lunging at you with a variety of weapons. Each student is given a weapon at random. Some turn out to be crossbows, stun guns, rifles, or machetes. Others are pot lids, binoculars, and similar completely useless items. As the bodies pile up and students form bonds and establish plans and strongholds, the adults provide play-by-play body counts and updates. Once again, the movie succeeds in making not a single death gratuitous. Each one is slightly heart-wrenching, and as the action progresses, you get sucked into rooting louder and louder for them to find a solution to this deadly puzzle. At no point did any of the violence and killing strike me as cool or slick. It's bloody, and it's upsetting, just as it should be.

That's the true triumph of the movie, and the big element that your average dolt would miss. The violence in the movie is certainly not glorious, and the call for an end to violence, for people to learn to cope with life without resorting to bloodshed, rings clear in every frame of the film. Of course, no matter how loud the message may be, plenty of people simply aren't interested in listening and would instead rather just look at all the cool blood.

The action focuses primarily on a young couple, Noriko and Nanahara, and a guy named Kawada who vows to help them get off the island and stay alive. It's no easy task, of course, what with the the students who have embraced the violence all too quickly and the constant threat of betrayal. When Nanahara is separated from the group and wind sup recovering from wounds in a lighthouse occupied by a force of girls, he's witness to all hell breaking lose when suspicion gets the better of them.

Meanwhile, another group of students set up a headquarters, complete with a generator and laptop computer one of them had in his backpack. Their hope is to get help from outside or find a way to disarm the necklaces. One of them, the son of a 1960s activist, figures the best way to really play the game is by taking the fight directly to the adults who are controlling things.

The movie keeps you off-balance by proving to you that anyone could die at any moment, even the people who seem like they're set up to make it. Additionally, it messes with expectations by doing things like staging an encounter in the woods between Norika and Nanahara and Takeshi Kitano during which he treats them with warm-hearted kindness. It's obvious at that point that there's even more to the game than we first suspected, and that it may be more than a simple case of adults being fed up with their self-centered offspring.

Meanwhile, the guy with the computer successfully link sup with a hacker group and downloads a virus into the control room's computers. Before they can take advantage of the collapse of defenses however, they are set upon by one of the few students. In the end, it comes down to only three, the same three who have been working together since the beginning: Nanahara, Noriko, and Kawada. With time running out before the collars self-detonate, the tension mounts. Will they stick together, find a last-ditch solution, die together, or turn on each other?

Despite the sensationalism surrounding the film, there's no denying it's power. It's a stunner, that's for sure, and not just because you'll sit there amazed at just how far the movie is willing to go in order to get its point across. While he may not be the director, it's obvious that the peculiar humanist twist Takeshi Kitano brings to his films was brought here as well. Amid the non-stop carnage and mayhem, there is an overwhelming sense of sadness and hope. The final stinger -- I don't know if you can call it a joke -- punctuates the proceedings in the most classic of Kitano ways.

There is no one in the world as adept at using violence to create such striking anti-violence messages as Takeshi Kitano. As far as I'm concerned, he's the most gifted film maker working today. And as I said, even though he's not sitting in the director's chair here, his influence is certainly prevalent. A film about school kids forced to hunt one another down is ripe for the tendency toward exploitation, but while it certainly isn't afraid to get its hand's dirty, it never sinks to the level of lesser films. It never undermines its own message, something that marred films like Men Behind The Sun, who undercut their own power by revelling and wallowing in the depravity they depicted. That movie, while effective, also felt too exploitive, too interested in depicting grotesque deaths while not interested enough in creating any sense of character.

Battle Royale does wonders in establishing personalities for the characters in a very short amount of time, and that adds strength to the story. While undeniably gory, the death in the film takes a back seat to the struggle, and there is no point in the film that the violence ever seems fun, sensible, or in any way appealing. A lesser film, once again, would have simply relished each murder while forgetting that each death needs a meaning, needs to pack a punch that will further turn off the viewer to violence and make them hope, against all odds, that the kids who rely on peaceful cooperation will pull off the seemingly impossible.

That said, it's a movie that would be totally misunderstood by the vast majority of American film goers (I'm not well acquainted with the movie goers of other countries, so I can't comment on them), adult and juvenile. Dismissed as poorly wrought melodramatic exploitation, tasteless insanity, or a really cool movie about kids killing each other, I really don't see a lot of people appreciating the effectiveness of the film. Chalk it up to culture gap, a lack of desire to see movies as anything beyond what exists on the very surface, what have you. Ultimately, it's not my job to give you your opinion, and we all have our own reasons for liking and not liking a particular movie.

Personally, I find the melodrama touching in much the same way it was pulled off in John Woo films like A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Bullet in the Head. All three are frightfully melodramatic, but it's composed so well that you can't help but be sucked into it if you give it half a chance. But just like John Woo films, a lot of people will simply not be interested by the melodrama (or realize the fact that we are, as a species, way more melodramatic than even the most overblown of movies) or will walk away from it snickering. So be it. I have no vested interested in getting people to like a movie.

Unlike a John Woo film, however, the violence on display here is never poetic or beautiful. It's just gory and mean and depressing. It's a movie that makes you hate violence, that makes you want to just see the insanity end. Or at least, that's what it did to me. Admittedly, I went into the movie already abhorring guns and real-life violence, so I didn't take much convincing. It's not that I'm a pacifist -- I'll freely agree with the notion that there's are times when physical and violent confrontation are the corners we've painted ourselves into. It's simply that I think we've devolved to the point where violence is our first and only solution for even the most petty events. People killing each other because they got angry at a bad umpire call during a tee-ball game? This is not the behavior of a rational species. Violence should always, in my opinion, be the final resort, not the initial response. See? I grew up watching violent films, even watched Battle Royale, and I have yet to want to go out and murder people.

Director Kinji Fukasaku spent most of his career making some of the better yakuza films, with some sci-fi and ninja fare thrown in for good measure. At somewhere right around seventy years old, he's a rather shocking figure to have made such a shocking film. But then, Takeshi Kitano ain't no teenager, either. Together, the two of them, along with writer Kenta Fukasaku have done an admirable job in adapting the best-selling but highly controversial original novel by Koushun Takami into film. While some changes had to made (obviously the book is able to get into the heads of the characters in much greater detail) or simply were made (the movie is set merely in the near future, while the book is set in an alternate timeline when Japan did not lose World War Two and never had to repent for its brutal imperialist advances), they still manage to catch the essence of what is a very complex subject wrapped in what appears at first to be a very simple film. The screenplay is actually as much a better-armed reworking of Golding's Lord of the Flies as it is an adaptation of the Battle Royale novel, with a little MOst Dangerous Game thrown in for good measure.

It makes me wonder how people react to a book like Lord of the Flies these days, which is one of the original and most powerful explorations of children turning savage on one another. I've always felt that Lord of the Flies and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness are two of the absolute best novels for teaching young people to analyze and understand literature. Both books have a ton of messages in them, and very few of them are that hard for the average student, or even a sharp middle schooler, to grasp. But then, I don't even know if they teach literary criticism in schools anymore. From what I've seen, they barely even teach the kids how to read, let alone understand what it is the words are attempting to say to them. I think Battle Royale is bloodier but no less savage or intense than Lord of the Flies, but because it's using guns instead of pointy sticks, and because it's a movie instead of a book, it's going to get a lot more attention. I'm willing to bet if you relayed to the sensation-hungry mass media the story of Lord of the Flies without telling them what it was you were actually telling them, they would vomit out all sorts of indignant reports about this vile and violent story corrupting our children and forcing them to kill one another and break each other's glasses, how this twisted sick tale has children of no older than eleven or twelve marching around spewing vulgarities like "Sucks to your ass-mar."

There are plenty of other reasons to go bonkers over this movie. The acting is fine. Granted, the young cast mostly has to scream, cry, and die, but each one is believable and no one falls flat. They seem like actual school kids. Takeshi Kitano is, of course, gold. He plays pretty much the same deadpan but emotionally deep character he's known for in his own films, and he brings a twisted sense of very black humor to the violent proceedings. Scenes of him and a guard fighting over cookies in the control room as they continuously update the body count are a treat.

Aside from the acting and message, the film boasts a ton of action, all of it bloody and well-paced. An action film with a message would still be a crummy movie if it was boring and poorly executed, but Battle Royale injects the events with a sense of tense hyper-activity. There is no moment in the film when anyone is safe, when anyone can rest and relax. There is no point, even during the melodramatics, when you can let down your guard and take a breath, because there's always a very good chance that someone with a machete is about to pop up over the hill. While the action is not "well choreographed" in the same sense that action in Hong Kong is staged (after all, these are just kids, not hitmen well-trained in various gymnastic maneuvers to make their action flashier), it is brutal, bloody, and pulled off with a tremendous amount of energy.

But no movie is perfect. Battle Royale possesses a few problems that, while easy to ignore in my opinion, are still worth mentioning. For one, it's not clear exactly why the battle is allowed to take place. There is mention of an act passed by the Diet (Japanese congress), but it seems that such an act would not be passed even in extreme times without lots of controversy and constant protest, especially since it seems the battle itself actually does very little to curb teen violence. Since the kids are chosen at random, good ones get lumped in with the bad, and so there is no sense of it being a punishment or type of retribution for aggressive behavior. Why, after all, would you not be rotten if being good had just as much chance of landing you in the game? The news report at the beginning serves to further confuse the matter a little,as it would make it seem like the battle was a nationally televised event, yet once there, none of the kids seem to know what it is.

Another weakness of the script is that at times it becomes unclear exactly what it wants from the future. Obviously, a country that is willing to sacrifice its young in the name of stability, is roundly criticized (shades of the intense pressure put on young people to succeed in business and academics). Likewise, a world where children are simply allowed to run rampant with no discipline and no sense of responsibility is equally dangerous. It seems, ultimately, that movie simply calls for a little bit of common sense and understanding. In a way,it may seem like a slightly anti-climatic wish, but it's certainly sane. What we see in the film is what we seem unwilling to see in society: that we're destroying ourselves.

I know every generation thinks theirs is the worst, that they are the ones living in the end times and witnessing the fall of the empire, so on and so forth. I'm not naive enough to be that self-centered in the face of so much suffering throughout the history of humanity. But as far as things today go, you gotta admit, regardless of how hard those who lived through the Dark Ages had it, we could use a lot of improving. It seems amazingly simple. I mean, if we all just stopped being such assholes all the time, that would go a long way, but people seem to cling to their hatred of their fellow man (especially while driving) with dogged tenacity. And as long as we're insulating ourselves from and denying the causes of so many of our woes, as long as we're unwilling at every turn to accept any of the blame for the state of things, there's not much hope that the world is going to improve.

So perhaps the final message of Battle Royale is this: as adults, we've shouldered the younger generation with a hideous burden. We've completely failed to prepare them for life. We've completely failed to teach them responsibility, respect for others, or respect for themselves. We've failed to steer them away from self-indulgence and self-destruction. We've shouldered them with our guilt, our incompetence we remain unwilling to accept. We've decided the world is too much trouble for us, and we've left it to them to solve all the problems, while at the same time leaving them emotionally and mentally stunted.

And then we blame them. We blame them for being assholes when all they're doing is what they've been taught. We blame them for being out of control when we never made any attempt to teach them restraint. We blame them for our own bitterness, hatred, and buried sense of failure. We've stopped having children as a way of "feeling immortal" or simply because we want to love them, and we've started having children so we can have scapegoats and victims readily available.

In the end, a movie is a mirror. When a monkey looks in, no philosopher looks out. You take out of Battle Royale what you bring into it, and no one can be forced to find meaning in something that has no meaning to them. To be honest, I didn't expect to find the movie as powerful as I did. I expected to react to it no differently than I did to other noble but flawed attempts at using violence to criticize violence. Instead of drawing from the Cannibal Holocaust well, however, the film has much more in common with the work of Sam Peckinpah or even A Clockwork Orange, though I would not put it on the same level as that film. It took me off-guard, and maybe that augmented my reaction somewhat. It was certainly a pleasing revelation. Maybe I'm simply hungry for a movie that addresses what I feel is one of the fundamental great denials destabilizing our society; the self-same problem which probably makes it best that this movie isn't going to be gobbled up by teens across America.

By now you'll probably know at least the idea behind the plot and for those who don't I wouldn't want to spoil it for you. This really is one of those films where its best to see it without any expectations. Comparisons with Lord of the Flies are valid but this film is far more shocking and the character's predicament is uncovered in such a way that you can't help but sympathise and feel a sense of horror as they discover what is about to happen to them.

Production values are high throughout and performances are excellent from the entire cast. Takeshi as ever steals the show playing it in his usual deadpan manner. His transformation from victim to monster is as surprising to the viewer as it is to the unfortunate school kids. Although his character is never really explored, the main focus of the film being the slaughter taking place, we do get moments of insight into his background such as when he takes a phone call from his resentful daughter.

I've read that the authorities in Japan tried to have the film banned due to its excessive violence. Its not surprising as it is one of the most violent, and sometimes unnecessarily bloody, films I've ever seen. Even my partner, a fan of Italian horror films, said that it went too far in places. The violence is also extremely stylised and I wonder whether this may have contributed to its problems in Japan.

Its not just the violence that makes this film however. There are moments of poignancy and stillness that contrast with the horror going on around and I found the plot to be extremely intelligent. Altogether this is an unmissable film and probably my favourite for the year.

A very well made film with a very dark and nasty sense of humor. The "Battle Royale" training video that the students are forced to watch is wickedly amusing. The film does an excellent job of capturing the very essence of teen angst, featuring overly melodramatic dialog and a completely over-the-top musical score . It's also shockingly and graphically brutal, causing me to jump out of my seat on several occasions. While I don't understand it, I found a sick fascination in watching attractive teenagers kill each other. (time for therapy, perhaps?) It's also quite satisfying if you like girls 'n' guns action, since the girls in the film are arguably more violent than the boys, and have no qualms when it comes to pulling the trigger (whereas almost all of the boys are impotent with their weapons). Things sort of fall apart towards the end, but the film never fails to be interesting. While it's not for all tastes, "Battle Royale" is a truly awe-inspiring action/horror film as well as a fascinating character study and a biting commentary on society. Check it out.

A one-line plot description, such as “a bunch of kids are stranded on an island and forced to kill each other until one is left standing” simply sounds outrageous and over-the-top in the audacity of its premise. Yet the film delivers by shoving its nose into the viewer’s face and screaming, “Why are you watching?” Really, it challenges the very notion of the entertainment value of an action movie by asking very basic questions of the viewer: “Do you like to see people being killed? Are you prepared to die to defend your friends? At what age does a young man or woman become an adult? Are there any circumstances that justify murder?” At the same time, it cannot be denied that the film IS “entertaining” in the sense that the young performers are convincing in their desperation, the lush and romantic musical score is alarmingly ironic, and the direction is crisp and engaging.

Is this a perfect film? By no means. Some of the plot twists may induce eye-rolling and giggles rather than terror, the melodrama is laid on thick, and the ending is bizarre and not completely satisfying. It should also be noted that some of the violence depicted is quite bloody and explicit. Still, this is compulsory viewing for all serious film fans. And, considering its content and the current sensitivity about teen violence, it’s not likely that a U.S. distributor will make this available anytime soon.