Customer Reviews

Battle Royale 2 Revenge Uncut SE

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I have read a lot of complaints about this movie, but after watching the first movie, and reading the manga, I have learned that a lot of people just don't understand the TRUE meaning to the story. For one, you must read the graphic novels or manga before even watching the first movie. The manga provides a deeper plot and background story to ALL the characters, not just Noriko and Shuya. It also provides a more intense understanding to what's mentally happening to the kids, kind of like what they did in the second movie. The first movie, only provided the idea of what a Battle Royale is, but the second movie tells you what it's doing to the kids and the consequences. Everyone who gave this movie a bad rating seriously (if they are a true fan) needs to re-watch the first movie and/or read the books, because the second movie out of the two is the BEST when it comes to the plot.

The critique for this movie really blows me away. People cite it as inciting terrorism and such, but seem to forget this movie is set in an alternate universe! It's frankly bizarre how quick people are to put this down when it really is the direction that this franchise would go. How could you possibly say it's an imitation of the first film, when they are nothing alike other than in characters. The setup makes you think it will be a replica, but having an actual enemy for the students rather than themselves turns the whole plot on it's head. They are nothing alike It seems clear to me that a lot of people here barely understand the first movie in the first place. You have to watch this as a direct sequel, and you have to THINK about where the characters' minds are. One reviewer says that having the students team up with the terrorist is obvious. Did you watch the first part of the movie? All of the students have collars on them that could explode at any time. If you assume that they're going to team up the way they do, deactivating the collars and all, you are likely looking for the movie to be a failure. Think about it, they kill half of the class before they even reach the terrorists, why would they want to join them?

Now, I don't want all of this to be some sort of counter review. This movie does have a few cheesy moments, and the beach landing scene is very dated already, but I think if you go into this movie not thinking "it's going to suck" or "it's trying to imitate BR1" and view it as a direct sequel in terms of plot advancement to BR1, you will enjoy this. Don't pick this up WANTING to see another BR, see it if you want to know where the story goes, because that's what sequels should be for primarily and that's what this is.

Battle Royale II takes all the substance out of what made the original so compelling ... the character studies, the story arc, the underlying social commentary.. and what have you... leaving a hokey... sci-fi channel movie production quality neck blowing up fest. Now that shouldn't be the worst thing ever... sacrificing story substance for cheese at least sounds like a fun time...case and point-Howard the Duck or Snakes on a Plane. but they sacrificed the fun too.... this movie is boring and every scene drags. This is a "cash in" film, and a horrible one at that. File with Weekend at Bernie's 2, Mannequin 2, American Psycho 2 (starring Mila Kunis of That 70s show), Beverly Hills Cop 3, Honey we shrunk ourselves, Secret of Nimh 2, The Neverending Story 2, The Ring 2,... you get the point... although Mannequin2 and Weekend at Bernie's 2 were easier to sit through.

Battle Royal was one of the few good contemporary films to come out of japan in decades(besides Godzilla). After watching an all too familiar twin towers toppling scene at the beginning, and the terrorist responsible making a moving speech at the end for several nations to start a war with us! I'd say the director of BR2 got a little side-tracked. This movie attempts to accomplish two things- glorify terrorism and slam America. Riki Takauchi is talented at looking crazy while chewing on tic-tacs. BR2 is a rehash of the first film and a 911 fantasy from a director with his own extreme agenda.

This wasn't as good as the first. The first is way better. This one went too far off the story line into a whole other type of movie. I did not enjoy this as much as i enjoyed the first, but this is still a good movie.

BATTLE ROYALE II: REQUIEM
[Batoru Rowairu II: Rekuiemu]

(Japan - 2003)

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Theatrical soundtrack: Dolby Digital

Under the new Battle Royale Act, a group of unruly juveniles is taken to a remote island and forced to engage in mortal combat with another set of teenagers who have defied the Act by engaging in militant activities.

Disappointing sequel to the magnificent BATTLE ROYALE (2000), completed by Kenta Fukasaku following the death of his father Kinji during production. The movie is no less bombastic than its predecessor, though it lacks the element of surprise and is further weakened by a meandering plot line which heads in fairly obvious directions. More controversially, Fukasaku's script (co-written with Norio Kida) launches a blistering - though indirect - attack on American foreign policy, which it blames for fomenting unrest in Arab nations, leading to the events of 11 September 2001 and subsequent terrorist attacks on international targets. This probably accounts for the film's lack of exposure in American theaters!

Teen idol Tatsuya Fujiwara makes a welcome return from the first film, playing the disillusioned leader of an uprising against 'fascist' adults and their murderous regulations, and 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano appears briefly in a minor cameo. However, the film is undermined by Riki Takeuchi as the former teacher with a grudge against Fujiwara's rebellious clan, giving a cartoonish performance as the chief villain.

The storyline of BR II was stupid and didn't make sense. I own both movies and say BR II was a pale imitation of the first. There was no suspense or surprises. At first, It looked like a remake of the first movie. The only thing that made it worth viewing was that it helped answer a few unanswered questions from the first movie. No major revelations, but it was nice to have a more complete picture about the background of BR I. I would recommend renting BR II if you can find it but not buying it.
In a side note, although I think BR I is a masterpiece. I do see a flaw in both stories. The kids in BR are supposed to be the worst in the school system and cannot be rehabilitated. They are destined to be the worst elements of society like bullies, future criminals, or Paris Hilton types. In the story, after they are introduced to the game they break character. The school trouble-makers turn into sympathetic, sad, love sick, romantic victims. It was like a bunch of bikers are thrown into prison and suddenly become cute puppy dogs who are just misunderstood. Only 3 characters maintain the tough rebellious characteristics that made them a candidate for the Battle Royale.
From the beginning, the story tells you that students have become uncontrollable and immoral and to get rid of the worst of them Battle Royale was created. I think the story teller should've made up a reason why there was a mixture of bad and good kids sent to the Battle Royale Island like "you can't punish the guilty without hurting the innocent" or "there's always collateral damage" or some kids were there by accident. Any excuse would've helped me kick that question out of my head during the movie because clearly most of the students didn't deserve to be there.

Unfortunately this sequel to the amazing cult classic doesn't stack up to the original at all. Despite the disappointing movie I was very pleased with the DVD itself. It comes in a well packaged case and there are plenty of extras on the DVD to keep you busy. The product itself was very good, I wish I could say the same for the movie.

"Battle Royale 2" is exactly what would happen if Michael Moore got all liquored up, had a weekend cheeseburger & rotgut bender in some cheapo New Mexico hotel room, and then remade "Saving Private Ryan" the next morning.

Why not just take all of the first film's fans and shoot them in the face? That would have at least been merciful.

Instead, Kenta Fukasaku, who took the helm of Number 2 when his old man Kinji croaked, rips off everything insane, edgy, dangerous, and gloriously bloodthirsty about the infamous Battle Royale---pretty much "Lord of the Flies" with an NRA membership and exploding necklace IEDs---and turns it into a steaming cauldron of rhinoceros doodle.

Without a doubt the younger Fukasaku was already in an untenable position: #1, he had to finish what his old man had started. And #2, he had to make a sequel to Battle Royale, a wicked, deviant, deeply troubled cult classic, full of sound and fury (oh yes, especially fury) signifying total carnage.

So going in, did I expect Kenta Fukasaku to top his old man? No. But did he have a make this atrocity?

BR2 badly wants to be Battle Royale, like a little changeling dwarf child badly wants to be a real boy. So it has all the ingredients, all the trimmings, all the neato stuff Kenta thought he should include, of the first flick: the graduating class riding together on the bus; the nerve gas interlude; the chaotic broil of soldiers, armor, helicopters, klieg lights, herding Shenizaru Middle School #4 into the Death Room for guns, gear, and a little object lesson in what happens to disobedient children (hint: spare the beeping collar, spoil the child).

This time our class has been drugged and dragooned by their Sensei (Riki Takeuchi, who chomps pills like Rush Limbaugh in a fright wig and later really switches it up for a groovy last-minute mass die-in, donning his rugby gear and death-collar to get into the game, you know, really show you what it means to be the ball, BE THE BALL BABY!)---hauled to a military camp on a desolate beach overlooking, um, Monster Island, and forced to don battle-dress to take out that dastardly bunch of truants, the Terrorists, now doing a little Brand Management(tm) as the Wild Seven. Jeez, and you thought high school Detention was rough.

The rest of the flick goes by the numbers and on the Bounce, as follows:

1) Kids storm the beach! Machine-guns chew up the Kids like they're beef jerky in an all-night truck stop!

2) Gratuitous Syrupy Flashback! OK: the first flick did this too, chiefly as a way to develop character on the fly. But a) you actually cared about the characters in the first BR, and b) the first BR didn't chow down on donkey rungus.

3) Kids/Special Forces/Army/Tac-Nuke Storm the Beach! (see #1, above)

4) Lead Terrorist Guy Emotes! Makes rousing speech!

5) Gratuitous Syrupy Flashback!

6) Kids Storm the Beach!

That's the film, and it goes on for what feels like, uh, eternity. Comparing BR2 to its infamous predecessor is like comparing Bizarro to Superman. The guy's got the color scheme right, you know, same hairdo, red cape, flies around, faster than a speeding bullet and so on, sure, but there's something---wrong. Something off. Like a Hot Fudge Sunday, only with liquid squid sclooge for a topping instead of hot fudge.

It is monstrously terrible. It is ploddingly derivative. It is howlingly incompetent. It can be funny, though---in a "we're laughing at you, not with you" way. Example: the Military kidnapped the kids, bullied and beaten them, shoved guns and billy clubs in their faces, slammed them into the blood-smeared concrete floor, shot one of their number at point-blank range, popped the tops off two others like ripe grapefruit courtesy of their necklace-bombs, and then force-marched the rest out to Monster Island on a suicide mission---and even so, one radio-man slaps his cheeks McCauley Culkin style later in the movie and shouts in shock and surprise "Commander! This is impossible---your class has joined up with the terrorists!" Betrayal! No way!

Credit to Kenta for portraying us (America, baby, yeah!) as the monsters we are. We worked hard for it! That's right: just as a hot crap Sundae would be nothing without a cockroach doodle on top, BR2 manages to underscore and highlight its own inferiority by being pointlessly, gratuitously anti-American. The survivors end up hiding out with the Taliban (and, evidently, a papier-mache tank) in Afghanistan. The chicks are in burkhas. One of the schoolboys is even named "Osamu". GET IT? OSAMU, GET IT?

Taken another way, "BR2" is the ultimate Daddy Movie, a Far Eastern take on the Big O (for Oedipus, not Oprah): a non-stop cage fight with a barrel of Daddy Issues! The Ingenue & Beat Takeshi---Daddy Issues! The Grown-Ups v. the Kids---Daddy Issues! The Cool Emoting Hero with a Revolutionary Father---Daddy Issues! And best of all, the Ultimate Daddy-Kiddy Relationship, Japan v. the USA---Daddy Issues!

Whatever. BR2 is hardly an act of filial piety: if Kenta wanted to strike a blow at Daddy from Hell's Dark Heart, why not just snort the old man's ashes over a cheeseburger, the Keith Richards way? That would have been kinder (& certainly more interesting to watch).

If I've made this swill seem enjoyable, I've failed: this is shoddily done tedium that is a snooze to sit through. Kenta Fukasaku has made a war flick that really is The Bomb---just not the kind he was hoping for.

JSG

I enjoyed the parts of the film I have seen yet, I have bought 2 copies and both seem to be missing footage and the end of the movie. The two copies I bought were from 2 seperate sellers and neither had ever seen the film so they could not answer my question. Has anyone else had this problem?