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Battle Royale [Blu-ray]
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| Genre | Suspense/Thriller |
| Format | Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, NTSC, Widescreen |
| Contributor | Chiaki Kuriyama, Beat Takeshi, Kinji Fukasaku |
| Language | Japanese, English |
| Runtime | 6 hours and 8 minutes |
Product Description
Product Description
One Of The Most Controversial Film Series Of All Time
Now Available For The First Time In America
In 2000, director Kinji Fukasaku unleashed BATTLE ROYALE, his violently poetic epic about an innocent group of Junior High students forced by the government to hunt and kill their classmates for sport. It was nominated for 10 Japanese Academy Awards, launched a global phenomenon, and banned from screens by frightened civic groups and distributors across America. Three years later, the equally disturbing sequel -- featuring a new class, new rules, and a brutal terrorist plot by the first film's young survivors -- triggered its own tragic firestorm around the world. Now for the first time ever, you can see it all: Experience the entire BATTLE ROYALE saga on 4 discs -- including more than 3 hours of definitive Special Features -- that forever blasts open one of the most potent, shocking and savagely influential sagas in motion picture history.
''My favorite movie of the last 20 years…I wish I had made this movie.'' - Quentin Tarantino
''If you love The Hunger Games, Battle Royale sets the stage. One of the best - and most violent - genre films ever made. It's also a hell of a lot of fun.'' - Entertainment Weekly
Review
With the Japanese currently leading the way in thought-provoking cinematic violence, it's only fitting that Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale is being touted as a Clockwork Orange for the 21st century. Based on the novel by Koshun Takami, the film opens with a series of fleeting images of unruly Japanese schoolchildren, whose bad behavior provides a justification for the "punishments" that will ensue. Once the prequel has been dispensed with, the classmates are drugged and awaken on an island where they find they have been fitted with dog collars that monitor their every move. Instructed by their old teacher ("Beat" Takeshi) with the aid of an upbeat MTV-style video, they are told of their fate: after an impartial lottery they have been chosen to fight each other in a three-day, no-rules contest, the "Battle Royale." Their only chance of survival is through the death of all their classmates. Some pupils embrace their mission with zeal, while others simply give up or try to become peacemakers and revolutionaries. However, the ultimate drive for survival comes from the desire to protect the one you love. Battle Royale works on many different levels, highlighting the authorities' desperation to enforce law and order and the alienation caused by the generation gap. Whether you consider the film an important social commentary or simply watch it for the adrenaline-fueled violence, this is set to become cult viewing for the computer game generation and beyond. --Nikki Disney
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 1.78:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 3.2 Ounces
- Item model number : ANCH25705BR
- Director : Kinji Fukasaku
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, NTSC, Widescreen
- Run time : 6 hours and 8 minutes
- Release date : March 27, 2012
- Actors : Beat Takeshi, Chiaki Kuriyama
- Dubbed: : English
- Subtitles: : English
- Studio : Lionsgate
- ASIN : B006L4MX4A
- Country of Origin : USA
- Number of discs : 4
- Best Sellers Rank: #10,966 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #36 in Foreign Films (Movies & TV)
- #1,351 in Action & Adventure Blu-ray Discs
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
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Movies usually attempt to elicit an emotional response, but this one makes you think. Not in a dull, pondering kind of way. It jacks up the adrenaline in your brain. High school kids with guns? The very idea is just so out there. (At least at the time when the movie came out about 10 years ago. It preceded anime such as Gunslinger Girl and Noir). In a way, I think it comments on violence in general in such a way as to strip away all the bits we've become so desensitized to by not involving non-innocent adults. By involving children it slaps you in the face and re-educates you on what it really means to shoot or stab someone, to make them bleed and die.
The flashbacks to daily school life are brilliant too. Put there, no doubt in case you've become desensitized again. Wow.
You could see this movie as a violent movie, or as a horror movie. But if you do I think you're totally missing the point.
One reviewer on this site referred to Battle Royale as being "hyper-violent". I suppose you could say that. But it would be more accurate to say that ALL violence is hyper-violent, and that's the vibe I'm getting from Battle Royale. I think that's the point.
Also:
Despite the claims of some that it takes its cue from movies like Running Man. Ah, well, maybe just a tad -- nothing really worth mentioning. That aside this movie, now over 10 years old, was a really fresh and original idea with the fact alone that its main players are children. And it's this fundamental concept which Hunger Games repeated.
Several people have commented on what they described as 'bad acting'. Ah, didn't see any of this in Battle Royale. I thought the acting was brilliant... and real, which helped with the shocking concept of this movie. Perhaps they're just too used to seeing "over acting" when you watch just about any American tv show.
I won't comment on the sequel (different director) because it's not really worth mentioning or seeing.
But everyone should see Battle Royale, not just the anime/game generation it's being targeted to.
A word on the packaging:
It looks brilliant. However Anchor Bay sacrificed logic for looks as all you need to do is tilt this box set on its side to see the discs come falling out. They could have taken the book approach used for the Star Wars set but I guess it was cheaper for them to do it this way. Yeah, there's a cheap plastic slipcase to goes around the set but then again there's the same problem as it's totally open on the top and bottom. Just weird. Anyway, if you get this set, just be careful with it.
the first movie is a classic. This set includes some bonus stuff and the second Battle Royale, but BR2 is a long, drawn out, bad sequel. simply because the director died midway through shooting the second film and the "third" movie (it was supposed to be a trilogy) will never see the light of day. The vision of the movie died halfway through BR2 with the director. If you are a huge fan of this series, then this is a no brainer to get this. But if you just heard of Battle Royale, and looking throughout Amazon. Buy the first movie only and save yourself a few bucks. You aren't missing anything with BR2.
Then this came out in the US market. No more import prices, no more trying to pay an insane price for a foreign film.
But be warned, this is a brutal movie. School students killing each other and all of that.
This should only be viewed by very mature/adult audiences.
Top reviews from other countries
Battle Royale I - absolutely incredible film. It's by no means perfect but I would easily give it five stars on it's own. the acting is good, the characters are good and the premise is good.
Battle Royale II - poor film. The main character with the bleach blonde hair always seems to look as if he's about to hulk out. The acting's bad, the character's aren't that good. The whole idea is pretty rubbish. The guy who was their teacher acts terribly and looks like some sort of cartoon character. It's completely overacted. If they really wanted the guy from the first film dead, they wouldnt make it so easy for the battle royale students to die.
If you want to see a great film, buy battle royale I, if you are a completist however, then you'll want this box set. It's worth the £15 i paid for it I would say... Maybe
Anyway, this set contains both versions of the first film, theatrical and director's cut, along with Battle Royale II: Requiem, and a full fourth disc with a few hours of special features on it.
BATTLE ROYALE: I think the director's cut to be superior to the theatrical cut. I'm saying that right now. Both versions are great, however. We all know what its premise is by now: a class of middle school kids gets abducted by their government to compete in a tournament on a secluded island. They have three days to kill each other, and if any rules are broken, the collars around their necks will explode. They have three days to kill each other, and only one may survive.
This is a very powerful movie; the characters, most of whom are likeable, are portrayed the way they should be portrayed, and not like some cold-hearted suddenly-badass action heroes that can rampage through the island with plot armour to protect them. No, they're shown as desperate, scared, and for some of them, even a little crazy from the pressure. I don't mind badass action heroes with plot armour, but I was glad that this movie didn't go down that route. The characters are down-to-earth and the movie progresses at a steady pace, with quite a few memorable scenes along the way (the lighthouse scene, for instance, which is my favourite). Hell, you even feel something for Sakamochi (the instructor that pretty much forces them to kill each other) other than hatred and rage when you realize his own daughter hates him (and not because he's killing kids either, she isn't aware of that). We follow Shuya, Noriko, and Shogo, who've teamed up to fight their way through this madness and try to figure out a way to escape the island alive, and all of them are pretty likeable and (thankfully) don't act like total nimrods (like characters in a horror movie; just referencing that since this is pretty similar to a horror movie, really) that WALK into certain traps and stuff.
Anyway, ****1/2 out of ***** for Battle Royale: Director's Cut. **** out of ***** for the theatrical cut. I just felt the DC was handled better.
BATTLE ROYALE II: REQUIEM: The second film in the series takes place three years after the first one, and now Shuya Nanahara (survivor from the first one, a bit of a spoiler but we all knew he'd survive the first one anyway) is the leader of the terrorist group Wild Seven (a nice nod to the book) and has waged war against all adults (good luck with that, buddy) for the BR Act. To counter this, the government has sent another 'random' class of middle school kids to fight their battle for them, and send them to the island to kill Shuya. Whoever kills Shuya wins the game. Oh, and now the students are in pairs, meaning that if one student dies, the collar for the other student explodes. So the stakes are raised.
I found it interesting that Sakamochi's own daughter, Shiora, is in the class, apparently going to the BR II program to find out the truth behind her father's last message to her (despite the fact that she hates him for no real reason, I don't know why she'd risk her life to find out). I get the whole 'honour your mother and father' thing, but I honestly don't get what Shiora's deal was. Her real reasons for hating her father were never explained, and she just came off as a spoiled brat. The same thing applies to almost everyone else in this movie: NO ONE WAS VERY LIKEABLE!! AT ALL!! It's really sad when SAKAMOCHI is the most sympathetic character in this movie (he appears in Shiora's flashbacks, and it's almost as if the movie itself is telling us "LOOK!! HE FORGOT HER BIRTHDAY AND WAS A DAY LATE WITH GIVING HER A PRESENT!! THIS MAKES HIM EVIL!! HATE HIM!! HATE HIM, AND JOIN HIS DAUGHTER IN HER JUSTIFIED HATRED OF THIS MAN!!) I couldn't help but feel sorry for the man because of the way his daughter was treating him. No wonder he hated children! If he were the instructor in THIS movie I probably would have found myself rooting for him!
And that wasn't the only problem with this movie. There were several more problems, such as the medium-quality special effects (just passable), the plot that seemed to have confused itself, and the cartoonish acting from some of the cast. I won't get into too much detail about the problems this movie has. It had an interesting premise, but it just didn't seem to achieve everything it was trying to achieve. If the original director didn't die after shooting the first scene for the sequel, then it might have been a much better movie. By now, I'm used to Japanese B-movies with cheesy effects (Tokyo Gore Police, Machine Girl), so this movie didn't bother me as much as it should have. I still enjoyed it a bit, although I do think the first movie is infinitely better.
**1/2 out of *****
If you're going to get Battle Royale, get this set. The picture and sound quality is excellent. It's a good price for three movies plus an extra disc full of a few hours' worth of special features, and the case is really nice, if a little difficult when it comes to disc storage (you slide the disc in and out of a slip cover). The cover was made to look like a middle school year book, which was a nice touch, and the cover has a protective plastic cover to slip over it. I highly recommend this set; its only flaws are the way the discs are set and the sequel film. This collection is as perfect as it's gonna get.
Único inconveniente para quienes no sepan inglés... Solo tiene subtitulos en ingles.
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