Battle Royal

What would you do if you and your friends went on a trip only to wake up on an island and be given the command that you should kill everyone else on that trip within three days or be killed yourself?. Hard to imagine isn't it?. well thats the basic storyline behind Battle royal. Set at a time when the youth in Japan become so out of control that the grown ups create the BR program. A class of teenager's is selected at random to kill each other until only one remains; he or she is the victor. Their prize, survival.

A surviver

This film seems disturbingly real, like this sort of thing could actually happen in the near future and the nice mix of computer generated blood and real nitty gritty hands on fake gore is a very nice touch. But it has its downfalls, the acting for instance can sometimes feel wooden and other times over the top. This is only true to a selection of the cast and for all I know they meant for their portrails of the characters to be un-emotive or over the top. Its hard to tell. however Kuriyama Chiaki does very well in her role as a sadistic killer, hell bent on being the surviver. Which no doubt contributed to her getting the part of "Go go" in Tarentino's Kill Bill.

Despite its faults and occasional discrepancies this is a overall enjoyable film which I would defiantly advise to people who enjoy violence and don't mind reading subtitles. If you are not one of those people then this film might not be for you. 6/10

edit-after re watching it has come to my attention that Kuriyama Chiaki does not infact play the psycho girl but does play the girl who likes to jog. apologies.

defukt · Joined: 29 Dec 2006 Articles: 2 Comments: 1

Good review

The 6/10 rating is about right, it's hardly a very innovative concept for a film but it's entertaining enough. There is a sequel but it's well worth missing.

Herrbach · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Articles: 2 Comments: 1

I thought the movie was amazing to be honest, however not even a shadow on the novel. The movie combines the right combination of tartan horror with bizzare Japanese comedy.