Customer Reviews

Battle Royale II

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Where Battle Royale was brilliant, Battle Royale II is just terrible. Everything that Battle Royale achieved the second movie failed at miserably. The dramatic story in this falls so deep into melodrama that's it's tedious to watch. The action scenes are cluttered and difficult to follow. And the characters are easily forgettable, at best. There are times when you can't wait for some of them to die off just so you don't have to watch them anymore.

In this one, the rules of BR have changed somewhat. Now, the students aren't out to kill each other, but to stop Shuya's (the main character of the first one) terrorist threat and his group known as the Wild Seven (sad thing is, there are more than seven). And instead of going onto the island empty handed, they receive full-assault gear. But Shuya doesn't know what is coming after him, and he fights this group of invaders as if they were true enemy soldiers, unknowing that they are playing the same game he struggled so hard to survive. When he does finally realize this, many have died on both sides of the conflict. An uneasy truce forms between the two groups, and soon they decide on their next enemy, the adults responsible for the game they must play to live.

Though originally I was intrigued by the premise of this sequel, after watching it I realize it was a bad idea. In the first movie, the drama there was more on a personal, easy-to-relate-to level: a friend loses a friend, classmates die, people confess their crushes, new vows of friendship are formed. In this one, the drama is more on the world-wide level, dealing with terrorism, war, and genocide. And, to all of you patriots out there, it has a whole heaping of United States bashing, which made me cringe. I think the story would have been better had they recycled the whole premise of the first film, but with new characters.

Another thing that was missing from this was the stabilizing presence of Takeshi Kitano (who can be seen on MXC, surprisingly enough). His role in Battle Royale was huge; though the antagonist of the story, his calm acting kept some of the chaos at bay. This movie does not have that kind of character, and it suffers because of that. Every scene is chaotic, there are far too many characters to keep track of, and none of them are as memorable as Takeshi Kitano's character in Battle Royale. And his brief guest appearance in this film isn't enough to satisfy.

I can't recommend this movie to anyone but true fans of Battle Royale, and to those of you who hate the United States. There is nothing here worth watching, and everything that is good in this movie can be seen in the first far more superior Battle Royale film.

For all of you who have seen and loved the first Battle Royal, the second is a terrible sequel.
The premise is that Kids have become too unruly in Japan. To keep order (a little) the worst
classes in either grades or behavior are drawn in a lottery. The class chosen, has to kill each
other off till only one remains. This was the old premise. The Kids who lived from the first movie
are now the head of a terrorist group and the new Battle Royal II is chosen the same way, but
now, instead of killing each other off, they have to kill the terrorists. They have 3 days, or their
collars will explode and they die.
It's a nice twist from the first film, but about half way through the film it just goes WAY off course.
Randomly through the film there are non-sequiturs to the United States being Evil. here is an
example:
"You were all brought here to kill these terrorist kids. They want a war, they will fight You, not
adults. The US has bombed these 20 countries. You will all have 3 days or your collars will explode."
I am not joking.
As the film goes on, there are more and more of these. The film also looses focus. It was the kids
Vs. adults. The kids want to act up, the adults want order. The kids fight back. But now suddenly they
throw the US into it, and prop up terrorists as the most honorable of people. The Terrorist kids look
like taliban fighters from Afghanistan. They use AK-47s and have a long speech about that being the
gun and symbol of the oppressed, etc. etc.

Till at the end we learn that they left Japan for a middle Eastern country where people are True,
honest, loving people, who despite the bombings (by the US) they still can smile openly, and love.
Their land is beautiful, and this is where true humanity can be found.
the end.


1st half very good. Second half: stupid as hell.


Kids can take up to 20 bullets. Adults can only take 1 or 2.
When a Kid gets shot, all firing of weapons stops till they die, and get their last sentimental words out.
40 untrained kids can fight 400 "elite" troops and win.
Terrorists are honorable fighters
The US is very bad.

Shuya Nanahara (Tatsuya Fujiwara), who survived the deadly game in the first film, has formed a terrorist group called Wild Seven to strike back at adults. The rules of the game are changed so that the next group of junior high school students is sent to the island where Wild Seven has made its headquarters with instructions to kill them.

If ever there was a film that didn't need a sequel, it was "Battle Royale." This second film is a complete mess, with confused direction and writing and an assemblage of the worst actors Japan has to offer. Riki Takeuchi, in particular, filling the position that Takeshi Kitano occupied so brilliantly in the first film, is ragingly bad, as if he were trying to sabotage the film with his hammy, mugging performance. It's pointless to catalogue all the lapses in logic of this film, but I'll mention the biggest one: if the Japanese government wants to destroy Wild Seven so badly and if they know exactly where they are, why would they send a group of students instead of...well, I think you get the idea. You're probably smarter than the guys who put this film together.

Well, I know what I'm going to be doing on January 1, 2026.