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Battle Royale – Director’s Cut (2000)

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Posted on October 25, 2012 by Kit

If the popularity of The Hunger Games (2012) has sparked thousands of socially-networked Gen-X grumblings about the film just being a sappy version of Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale (as in the “do you know what they call Hunger Games in France/Japan” meme or just superficial nit-picking), there’s at least the consolation that a new fascination with teenage death games has led to Battle Royale re-entering the cultural consciousness, even if only as a point of comparison. This isn’t such … (read more)

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Battle Royale II: Requiem (2003)

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Posted on March 3, 2007 by Alison

A bitter and bloody disappointment. The original, Battle Royale, was a truly impressive film which was showered in justified accolades. This one is a piece of total bollocks ripping off the reputation of its predecessor. Despite a pretty good cast, including Fujiwara and Maeda from the original and Oshinari from All About Lily Chou-Chou, this one is just a fire-fest of automatic weapons. And the cast is wasted: poor Oshinari is forced to scream his lines, while other … (read more)

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Battle Royale (2000)

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Posted on March 3, 2007 by Jonathan

When Battle Royale was released in Japan in December 2000 it received a R-15 classification, meaning that director Kinji Fukusaku’s primary audience could not legally see the film. Fukusaku therefore went public with a statement to the effect of “Children! I made this film for you! See it however you can — break the law! Sneak into the cinema! Just watch the film!”

Fukusaku wasn’t just worried about his box office — BR isn’t just for teenagers because it exploits … (read more)

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