Folks, Harry here... and this sounds like the sort of sick and twisted stuff that unforgettable nights are made of. Read this review... instantly you will know whether or not this film is up your alley... for me, Yeah it sounds like a flincher to me... the type of film that you flinch alot in. Here's Tokyo Joe with our look....Oh, and you can see the trailer for the film at The French Premiere "BATTLE ROYALE" page!!!!
Battle Royale Review
A film called "Battle Royale" directed by Kinji Fukasaku is causing lots of fuss in the Japanese government right now, so on principle I went to see it to form my own opinion as opposed to some politician’s. Previous study of Media and Film allows me to, usually, form an objective opinion on a movie, while at the same time "experiencing" the movie in the way only a cinema viewing can achieve.
Occasionally movies are hard to watch. "Tetsuo – The iron Man" is so sick that it often takes two sittings (or a long beer break) before watching the rest. "Audition" left me horribly fascinated to the end. Both very well made movies, designed to shock and both achieve their goals admirably. Battle Royale is probably one of the hardest movies to watch that I’ve experienced in a long time. The problem being that movies such as "Tetsuo", "Audition" and "Tokyo Fist" contain such bizarre imagery that one can detach from the violence easily. B.R, besides the initial premise, is disturbingly realistic.
The basic plot is simple, 42 Junior high school 3rd grade students (14, 15 year olds) are sent to an island, fitted with explosive neck collars and given three days to kill each other, the last survivor gets to go home. If there’s more than one person left at the end, all the collars explode.
Battle Royale is, one presumes, designed to be a shocking movie. It’s a horror movie with no monsters, no "Boogie man", only each student’s individual terror and increasing paranoia at their situation. At least five or six people walked out of the theatre, when it became obvious what sort of film this was turning out to be. It’s incredibly violent, and unrelenting to the end. Often in watching movies involving just under two hours of slaughter (i.e Friday 13th part XXX) you become bored with overkill. It ceases to effect you in anyway. Not so with B.R. Maybe it’s just because I’m a teacher at Junior High school in Japan.
So, is it any good? As a movie designed to shock audiences, yes it is. Probably leaving audiences with the same feelings as the Exorcist gave twenty five years ago. But it’s very, very difficult to slot this into a horror category, it being a study of children coping (or failing to do so) in extreme conditions. The difficulty is a moral question, ‘are movies designed to entertain only, or to invoke an emotional response’. The movie, I feel, cannot be classed as entertainment (unless you go straight from a REALLY frustrating class at school). There appears to be a distinct lack of moral point, which will upset many, but ultimately is an undeniably effective film.
I personally feel that there is more "worth" in spending money on seeing this film than on an incredibly tedious, instantly forgettable movie such as Last years "Whiteout" or numerous Hollywood movies. On the other hand you could argue that for the same money a couple of hours of karaoke is probably a lot more fun.
If you’re looking for an entertaining "date" movie this is not it. If you’re looking for escapism from the harsh realities of today’s world, this probably isn’t it either. But if what you really need is a good slap in the face and followed by a feeling of relief that the world isn’t quite as bad as this one (at least not yet) then it’s probably worth seeing.
By the time this reaches the UK or USA then it’ll probably be in video (or DVD) form, and may well lose a lot of impact (and almost certainly be slightly cut).
I suspect that like "The Exorcist" and "T.Chainsaw Massacre", ten years from now, people will see this movie and wonder why people were so upset by it. Until then this is as bad (or good) as it gets.
Tokyo Joe @:-}=
