Customer Reviews

Battle Royale (Director's Cut Collector's Edition)

5 star:		(127)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Before you type out a retaliatory positive review- read on!

I want to start off by saying I absolutely LOVE Battle Royale- It is most certainly on my list of favorite movies. HOWEVER- this 'Director's Cut' is total garbage.

Sadly, as with the case for many 'Special Edition' DVDs, Battle Royale: Director's Cut adds unnecessary footage that does nothing to enhance the film. The end is extending by 8 minutes or so - and delves into a sort of epilogue and series of dream sequences.

The Battle Royale wiki explains the changes here: (...)

No attempt was made to clean up the subtitles: I can ignore misspellings and incorrect conjugations - however at one point the subtitles ran off the screen. The subtitles in the added scenes were far worse than that of the rest of the movie.

I am not bashing Battle Royale; I want people to buy the regular version and forget that this Director's Cut is even an option.

this movie has alot of qualities that i liked from the start. the way the students tried to find a way around the game, the social interactions of the students, and the question of could you kill your best friend. the movie goes smoothly from the start, with everyone on the bus, and then comes to on the island. i even have a soft spot for kitano, the cookie eating teacher. the cast did a superb job giving the book characters life and keeping to the plot. and the fact that it didnt save characters that you get to like made it sad, yet, gave the sense that the students really were trying to survive. the one thing i like to point out is the way the students' clicks fell apart after one or two days. some worked better as a team, while others got ripped apart at the seams.

Very good movie. I strongly reccomend this movie to anyone who enjoys strange movies, because you've never ever seen a movie like this.
It's the future... Kids have stopped going to class, and are becoming pests. So the government has started a new program called the "BATTLE ROYALE SURVIVAL PROJECT." What happens is that one class of 9th graders a year is chosen by impartial lottery to go onto a deserted island. The kids then get 'voted off' the island. And by 'voted off' I mean they kill each other. Each kid gets a bag, inside is food, water, a map, and a random weapon. With this weapon, they are ordered to kill each other until one remains.
This movie has everything. Violence, plot, character development (somewhat -- enough to satasfy me), and an amazing story. It'll keep you on the end of your seat, or couch, or whatever.

Oh, and if you go out and see the new Tarantino movie, KILL BILL, the actress that plays Liu's bodyguard is one of the kids from Battle Royale.
Buy this movie. I can't stress it enough.

I must clarify what this movie is about, Wilmington, NC's review is completely misleading.

A shocking tale set in Japan. The government has labeled the next generation (students) the reason to degredation in society. They have greated a BR (Battle Royale) program that places one school class on a deserted island.

Class 3B was chosen (9th graders, highschoolers). Awaking on the island they find metal colars on their necks and their teacher explains that they have been chosen for this year's Battle Royale...

The Rules: They are given weapons and are forced to kill each other. Only the last one surviving will be able to go home.
Why comply to these rules? If there isnt a winner in 3 days, the colars on the students necks will explode, and no one goes home.

Some students form alliances, others will allow nothing to keep them from the win...

The producer meant the movie to be for kids the age of those used in the film (highschool) and older, however to his dissapointment the movie was rated R...

"Battle Royale" is a superb film, subtle and sad and over-the-top and loud all at the same time. The story is often compared to "Lord of the Flies," but that is a bit of a misnomer. "Lord of the Flies" was about reverting to primitivism, whereas "Battle Royale" is a futuristic cautionary tale in the tune of "1984" and "Brave New World." The caution at work here is the threat of absolute bureaucracy, and the dangers of the loss of the value of life and respect in a rules-dominated society. This is a threat quite apparent in modern Japan.

The actors in "Battle Royale" all deliver excellent performances, including the amazing talent "Beat" Takeshi Kitano playing the appropriately named "Kitano." The film was not directed by Takeshi however, so it lacks his beautiful visual style. It does however feature one of his riveting paintings. There is a good range of responses from the various actors playing the students, from outright suicide, to panic, to a drive to win to a drive to help. Unfortunately, the character of Kazuo Kiriyama (the machine gun boy) is woefully underdeveloped, and instead of the fierce, cold genius of the book he is a somewhat characterless villain.

While a violent film, I wouldn't characterize "Battle Royale" as an action film per se. Anyone looking for a Hong Kong-style action film should realize that Japan and China are quite different countries with different approach to movies.. "Battle Royale" retains the quietude and patient pacing that is the hallmark of Japanese cinema, and which leaves some viewers bored, who are used to a quicker pacing. The bloodshed, while in great quantity, is also more cartoony in nature, which is also more typical of Japanese films, which does not favor a naturalistic approach.

I think some familiarity with problems in modern Japan (ie: school violence, overwhelming bureaucracy) gives some necessary perspective to this controversial movie, and helps frame it as more than exploitation. It is a political statement, with a subtle message underlying the overt violence. Along with this, knowledge of Japanese culture deepens the understandings of certain scenes, such as when Kitano performs the prescribed exercises, and the training video shown at the beginning. Without understanding, these scenes might come off as merely quaint or odd.

Even though the movie is billed as a cult flic supposedly full of horror and violence, it is in fact a very sweet tale of coming to age with a obligatory happy ending. Since it is a Japanese movie, it is full of turning people into sushi scenes obviously, but this is as expected.

I would suggest to not to watch it with kids as some scenes could be misinterpreted; for example it is hard to explain that hacking someone with a icepick could be a positive experience for all parties involved.

As expected, icing on a cake is Chiaki Kuriyama, the scene where she finishes a boy in a very deserving way after he makes a couple of lewd comments will bring much joy to hearts of feminists worlwide.

Rated 5 out of 5, must have for all Japanese cinema aficionados.

Directed by the late Kinji Fukasaku, "Battle Royale" is a truly magnificent film, and is highly recommended. I first saw the film a few years ago at the urging of a friend and was not disappointed in the least. The film itself is based on the novel by Takami Koshun, which I have not yet had the chance to read. The films narrative deals with the escalating violence among the youth in Japan, and in particular, with the violence in schools. Is the violence that bad? Are things really going to hell in the classrooms? The Japanese authorities seem to think so. So how do the authorities set about disciplining the youth? Detention and expulsion? No, that won't work. With high unemployment, the youth will just wander the streets and cause mayhem. Something much more harsh and drastic must occur in order to capture the present youths attention.

Moreover, the very fabric of the nation is at stake. How are the Japanese authorities going to set an example which will reverberate within their society? Well, for starters they pass a new law. So what! There are already laws on the books dealing with this kind of behavior---Right?. How will this new law change student behavior? Well, for starters, this is no ordinary law. This new law enacted by the government allows a quasi-military type militia to abduct students from selected schools and send them to an isolated island. But what ever for? Surely not a youth camp? There are enough of those already. No, this is something much more draconian and drastic.

Further, things are about to get very extreme in this new youth controlled government. For starters, this militia has complete control over these students lives, and they will force the youth to play out a very twisted and cruel game. One like no other they have ever played. [With the exception of two ringers who volunteer for the game]. As these students are sent to an undisclosed site, they must face a horrifying reality: Schools out--welcome to Battle Royale. Director Fukasaku made the right decision to have actor Takeshi Kitano as the former school teacher who is the one in charge of this latest group of competitors. Who better for the role?. As the former school teacher of this new group chosen to compete in this years game of survival, he makes it a point early in the film to set the tone by letting the students know that this BATTLE ROYALE is no joke.

And the point Takeshi Kitano makes with a couple of students in the beginning of the film is not lost on the other students. The students must kill each other in order to survive. Only when ONE of the students is left standing will the game come to an end. It is here where you see loyalties and friendships part ways, or strengthen. I like the way Kinji Fukasaku directed the film. This is not like "Lord of the Flies" as I read in one of the reviews. "Battle Royale" is a totally different take on a future 21st-century society of ADULTS, that have come to see unruly students as having to be dealt with severely in order to conform to a Japanese society that THEY feel is being threatened. This is a truly great film. Highly Recommended!

When one looks past the modest production values and few scenes where the acting seems a bit unrealistic (or perhaps simply to my American eye), Battle Royale succeeds in it's aims and succeeds as a movie. The fear of a situation of being pitted in a life or death situation was well-captured, and overall the acting was very good, especially considering the fact that besides Beat Takeshi, all of the other central are played by relative newcomers.

This may seem like an extremely violent film at face value, but Fukasaku tries hard not to overdo the violence and gore, and holds either a certain respect for or a certain humor of the portrayal of death (the one over-the-top scene seems more comedic than sickening, and seems fitting, due to the character's role as an antagonist). Because of the strive for realistic death, and because of the good acting in the scenes between the violence, characters are able to grow. Death of some of the more central characters begin to carry emotional weight, despite the cast of 40-odd characters packed into a 2 hour film. This is where I found Battle Royale a good film; despite amazingly short screen times for most of the characters, Fukasaku is still able to make us care about them, to sympathize with a position we will never find ourself in.

Now on to a completely different topic... As for this "Director's cut" from Amazon, I found it included some nice additional footage, from typical cast reviews to video of the whole cast celebrating Fukasaku's birthday. However, the quality of the picture of these as well as the movie was a bit grainy and of a lower quality than I'm used to, to the point where the DVD feels a bit like a bootleg. And because of the more than modest price of the DVD, I'd personally recommend you first look for other options. This copy wasn't terrible, but there are probably better versions at better prices.

"Battle Royale" was much talked-about in the United States back in 2001, but it took a while to get here, allegedly because distributors were reluctant to promote 2 hours of teenagers on a killing spree. The film is based on the popular Japanese novel by Koushun Takami, whose considerable length condenses surprisingly well to a fast-paced feature film. In a dystopian future, Japan is at risk of societal collapse from high unemployment, economic stagnation, and general discontent. Youth bully their teachers and boycott school. The "BR Act" is passed, authorizing the government to select classes of 9th graders to be confined to a deserted island and forced to fight each other to the death until only one student remains.

Shuya (Tatsuya Rujiwara) is a thoughtful young man who lost both of his parents to Japan's bad times. On a class trip, he and his classmates are drugged, transported to the island where they will be forced to take part in the Battle Royale, and fitted with electronic collars that monitor their movements. Their bombastic teacher Kitano (Beat Takeshi) explains the rules of the game and distributes a survival kit and one weapon to each of the 42 students, including 2 mysterious "exchange students". If more than one person survives 3 days, they all die. We follow Shuya and his friend Noriko (Aki Maeda) as they come to grips with their situation and try to survive with the aid of Kawada (Taro Yamamoto), an older student whose purpose is not at first clear.

The film strays from the book in some details but is substantively similar. We don't get to know the secondary characters as well, so questions of trust are not as complex as in the book. The instructor Kitano is fleshed out more in the film and comes across as a lonely and strangely pathetic man. It's interesting to observe how the various personalities react to the game, from the young lovers who commit suicide to the sickle-wielding vamp Mitsuko (Kou Shibasaki) who is determined to win. The politics behind the "BR Act" is simplified and more coherent in the film. Adults fear youth, because their refusal to accept the values of their elders will exacerbate social collapse. The "BR Act" forces young people to compete ruthlessly or perish. Kitano's sick sense of humor provides comic relief. "Battle Royale" is a bloody, unsubtle satire, but it's entertaining.

For the longest time I had been desparately trying to find a copy of Battle Royale. Finally I just decided to download it off of Kazaa. Let me tell you this is probably one of the most improtant films ever made. If you were to take Lord of the Flies, A Clockwork Orange, Stephen King's The Long Walk and The Running Man, and The Most Dangerous Game of All you would get Battle Royale. the movie really got to me for two reasons: One, seeing all those kids being pinned against one another made me feel like that was me and one of my highschool classes, I don't think I would have the heart to kill the kids that I grew up with. Two, the violence in the movie is portrayed as violence should be: cruel, unforgiving, and irreversible. None of the violence is glorifed of made to look cool. Because violence isn't a glorious thing at all. Thats why I also beieve that that the teenagers of the USA would benifit greatly from seeing this movie. Too many of the movies in America glorify violence, death, and guns. But I am a bit timid about it being released in the US too. I worry that some kid who is immpretionable would get the wrong message and think that killing is cool, lords knows the US has enough trouble with those kind of people. Yet so does Japan and it went over very well over there, so I am optomistic about a US audiance understanding this movie. The very end of the movie when the credits roll really pulled at my insides. The background for the credits is a class photo of Class B. The camera goes over each section of the pic so that you may get a close up of each student. You are reminded that when you see their faces that these are kids. They had lives, families, friends, goals, dreams, and most painful of all students who were in love with them, sadly alot of them never found out until it was too late. In the special version we see flashbacks of their childhoods. We see them struggling against not fitting in, domestic violence, and suicides in the family. And we see that none of these kids are bad kids, they are all alone and crying out for love. That is probably the greatist tragedy of all.