Customer Reviews

Battle Royale 2: Revenge [Extended Version]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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 (when shot by adults). 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.

As reviews go, this will be pretty weak.

As the title says, just a quick note to anybody who enjoyed the first Battle Royale movie. You will probably want to avoid watching the sequel.

I enjoyed the first Battle Royale. Felt like it set a great mood throughout the movie and kept a fast, intense pace throughout. Thought the acting was very good (especially Takeshi Kitano as the teacher). I'm a little biased because I really like 'survival' type movies, but even with all the blood-shed and sometimes disturbing images...I felt almost good at the end of the movie. (For a real review on Battle Royale, just look somewhere else...I just wanted to reference some of the things I liked so maybe it would convey what I didn't like about BR2).

Battle Royale 2... I have no good words for. I believe even the worst films usually have some redeeming features, but I honsetly can't think of one for BR2.

Spoilers ahead -

The guy survivor from the first movie has teamed up with terrorists in the middle east. The group of kids sent to participate in Battle Royale this year are sent to kill the terrorists instead of each other. That part of the movie lasts about 4 minutes...no more Battle Royale kids except the ones that team with the terrorists.
Quick summary...terrorism is an acceptable way to express yourself, and the United States is bad.

End of the movie the US blows up the terrorists with missiles and some little kids and a couple girls decide to carry on as terrorists.

Sorry my review was not more eloquent...it has just taken every bit of self-restraint I possess to try to post something more helpful than

This was a horrible movie!

I loved Battle Royale and had great hopes of the sequel, but was hugely disappointed, by the acting of some cast members, the ridiculous plot and extremely strange morality it appears to espouse.
Nanahara the male survivor from the first film has escaped Japan and for reasons that escape me decided it would be a fun thing to visit Afghanistan, where he discovered that civil war, rampant terrorism and government by extremist theocracy must be a good thing as some of the kids were smiling. Therefore, he decides that it would be a really good idea to declare war on the old home country, after all what better way could there be of putting a happy smile back on the poor downtrodden kiddies. Not over surprisingly after a terrorist attack, the government of Japan decide to deal with him in fairly ruthless way and combine the war with Battle Royale by sending the next batch of kids out to wage the war on their behalf. This exercise is organised by a new teacher and to be honest he isn't fit to step into Takeshi Kitanos shoes, he's a pill chewing raving loon, who's so overplayed it couldn't have been more contrived if he was in full Kabuki make-up. Well after the speech and equipping the team, he sends them off to do battle, the next episode is where the two sides kill a lot of each other before Nanahara discovers they're conscripts and disables the explosive collars. Much whittering about the joys of terrorism and the evils of US power later the two parties join forces. The USA isn't mentioned by name, but it's made crystal clear who they're talking about.
At this point the Japanese Government decide to do the job properly send in the army and finish off the "terrorists" themselves. The pill popping teacher, presumably stoned out of his tiny mind decides that it's all the fault of the US suggests that they're only doing this out of fear of US power and takes the opportunity to mouth off at the prime minister.
The Japanese army attacks and pretty inept they are to, losing huge casualties to a bunch of poorly armed kids, including Kitanos daughter, beyond allowing some flashback clips with Takeshi there is no apparent reason for her presence. At one point during the fight, the teacher turns up in rugby kit and despite revealing that Nanahara had killed his daughter in the terrorist attack, lets him go before blowing his own head off. I don't know who prescribed the pills he'd been swallowing by the handful, but they didn't seem to help.
The attack continues and despite their seeming ineptitude, the army prevails, killing most of the balance of Nanaharas motley crew. Some escape however, including Nanahara a man who like so many terrorist gurus has clearly rationalised running away and saving his own skin after getting so many people killed. Where do this group go ? Yes that fun filled capital of free speech and happiness Afghanistan, where presumably we are expected to believe they live happily ever after.
Now I'll be happy to admit that there may be some deep message to this that I've missed, but I doubt it. The US imperialism bad, terrorist freedom fighter good message is just too dumb to believe and the fact that it comes from Japan a nation with a brutal Imperial past that they're still in denial about just makes it sanctimonious in the extreme.

Watching this movie made me very very sad. I was hoping for an epic thrill ride like the original Battle Royale, but was greatly let down. The creator of this shoddy sequel was just trying to push his views on society throughout the entire movie. I would have gladly watched another round of BR as was shown in the first movie, just with new characters and new awesome. This is not horrible, but not what I was hoping for.

Alright, the premise of the first movie was far-fetched. But the fun of it made it worthwhile. This is just as sorry as any of Hollywood's worst make-a-buck sequels ... more inane, just about as much gore. But not gory enough to top the horror masters (so, again, nothing new). All in all, nothing for anyone (except the lead actor and actress's families, I guess).

As previous viewers have pointed out, this movie is absolutely horrible. While it can be argued that the wildly overrated Battle Royale is imbued with some relevance given its supposed social commentary concerning the flaws in modern Japanese society, this movie is limited to a childish and inexplicable Anti-americanism. A scene justifying the 9-11 attacks, at the beginning of the film, is the perfect example of this.
But perhaps the most unforgivable flaw of this movie is how unbelievably boring it is. I have a large collection of Japanese films and I can say unequivocally that this is the worst of the bunch.
If I could give this horrible movie zero stars I would. Buy this at your own risk.

So, I pretty much love Battle Royale. The sequel is decent. The technology in the second and the filming is generally better (better scenes, better film quality, etc.) and the gore is on par with the first. However, I will agree with previous reviewers that the plot is not as contained in BRII.

The plot tries to be just as personal as the first, but the first has flashbacks and back stories that are WAY better integrated into the movie than the second. If you dislike cheesy inspirational speeches, then you won't like the second movie. There's an uncommon amount of cliche freedom fighter dialogue in BRII.

The "United States bad" subplot is a little confusing at times. It doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the premise. If it just left that part out, the movie would be vastly improved. I especially liked the parts with Shuya and Noriko in the war-torn country they escaped to from Japan, and what Shuya has to say about it. Those scenes are very well done in terms of sentimentality.

Finally, the acting is not always as good as the first. One actor especially- he's a main focus from the new group of 8th graders- is REALLY bad sometimes. I nicknamed him the hulk because he has this god-awful angry face that he does every minute or so that is just laughable. The actor who plays Nanahara Shuya also doesn't act as well as in the first. However, that doesn't bring the movie down too badly. These things are detractors, but the movie can still stand up reasonably well.

Overall, this isn't an absolute bomb, but the sequel, like so many pair films, is not as good as the first.