Battle Royale review

Teacher Kitano: So today's lesson is, you kill each other off till there's only one left. Nothing's against the rules. 

Director: Kinji Fukasaku
(2000)

Battle Royale has an excellent premise. 42 school children stuck on an island, given a bag of provisions and told to kill each other. The lone survivor can go home. The reason for this tournament of sorts, to try and keep adolescents in check in a crumbling Japanese society.

The film wastes little time in starting the bloodshed, with practically no character development at all. The class of highschoolers have learned of the fate; being part of the battle royale programme. Their games master is ex teacher Kitano, happy to force his old students to kill each other. The murder starts promptly, with Nobu -best friend of protagonist Shuya- is brutally slaughtered. With the killing happening this early, it’s almost impossible to care just 15 minutes into the film. This scene does, however, give a glimpse of the impending violence and gore. From the start of the tournament, Shuya and friend Noriko hide together, later allying with mysterious exchange student Kawada.

From here on, battle Royale is a waterfall of death. Shootings, stabbings, suicides, the bodies hit the floor at times by the minute. But with 42 contestants, the film can’t develop their characters, making their murders seem empty. Seeing 2 characters kill themselves to avoid being dehumanized by the games should be harrowing, but instead it’s hollow. The small amount of backstory that is developed comes in the form of flashback, but this is only for the 3 protagonists. Furthering the emptiness of the murders is the hammy acting. Dialogue is stilted and death scenes are often laughable.

Battle Royale does have some great moments though, the best being a sort of Mexican standoff between friends. In an instant the trust they have in each other dissipates; the result is a massacre. It’s gory, gripping and plays to the strengths of the themes of the film. Must of battle Royale is well shot, so action is interesting and brutal, the camera is happy to linger on the mutilated corpses of children, earning the film its 18 rating.

The films climax truly is its weak point. After an hour of people dying, all tension built is lost in a final shoot-out with the films dull antagonist. From here the plot loses is simplicity, throwing a curveball into the narrative that makes no sense to those who haven’t read the book. Despite its flashes of brilliance and interesting idea, battle Royale is an unfortunately average film. It seems that a good idea isn't always executed into a good film.

5