Battle Royale: A 'bloody' classic (Battle Royale (DVD))

Member Name: vendettagirl

Product:	Battle Royale (DVD)
Date:	09/01/09 (12 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fast paced, thought provoking

Disadvantages: graphic, excessively violent?

Kinji Fukasaku's adaptation of Battle Royale, is a graphic and visceral film that grips you from minute one, and bombards you with the horrific implications of what these schoolchildren have been forced into.

With popular Japanese actor Tatsuya Fujiwara (also Kira in the film adaptation of the manga series 'Death Note') taking the lead role as Nanahara Shuya, we are presented with a world in which adults subject their children to new levels of violence and horror by forcing them to kill their friends and classmates off one by one, under pain of death. The characters each have their own pre-existing alliances and hang ups which motivate their subsequent actions - whether they relish the malicious freedom they have been given and choose to go hunting their fellow students, or group together in order to break free from the island and defy the adults, and this makes for a fascinating and fast paced movie.

It is very graphic, and some of the deaths in the movie are unusual and unpleasant, due to the nature of the situation, and the range of weapons involved. Neverthless, this violence is necessary in order to express the sheer grotesque nature of the environment these children are forced into, and the depths to which people will sink when their own life is threatened.

I would argue that this film is a must watch for horror fans, fans of Japanese cinema and those interested in psychological interaction in extreme environments. This film is a classic.

Summary: Classic Japanese thriller movie.