Battle Royale - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

RubberSouls · 05-05-2003, 05:44 AM

Has anyone else heard of this movie/book? If anyone has, what is it about?

Ganguro · 05-05-2003, 06:08 AM

i have had it for 2 years now.
It's pretty decent, but it's not "the grapes of Wrath" or anything..

here is a review i swiped from the Battle Royal UK site

Quote:

At dawn of the new millennium, the country is in a state of collapse. Unemployment stands at 15% with millions out of work. School violence is out of control and rebellious teenagers stage mass boycotts. The beleaguered government retaliates with Battle Royale.... Each year a randomly chosen class is pitted against itself on an abandoned island in a cruel game of survival.
A boisterous group of 9th graders embarks on a school trip. A typical group of adolescents, they flirt, tease, bully and joke on the bus journey to their destination. Nanahara Shuya, shares cookies with his friends Nobu and Noriko on the way. On arrival, they awake from a drug-induced sleep, to find that they have been hijacked to fight this year's Battle Royale.
A former teacher, Kitano (Beat Takeshi), will oversee the battle. Flanked by gun-toting soldiers, Kitano explains that each student has been fitted with a necklace that monitors their location. It can also explode on command. He casually murders Nobu to make the point. The rules of this game are simple:
• It lasts three days
• Each player starts out with food, water and a "weapon"
• If more than one player survives, everyone dies
• There is no escape
As the roll call begins, one by one the kids grab backpacks and stumble away towards death or murder. As Noriko picks up her pack, Nanahara quietly urges her to wait for him. When they meet outside they barely have time to compare weapons before a classmate falls on them with a hatchet. In the struggle that follows, Nanahara inadvertently kills the boy. Confused and angry, Nanahara vows to protect Noriko, and to outwit his government's sick experiment by finding a way to survive with his friends.
As the game progresses, terror and panic challenge the students' fragile trust in each other. Some suspect everyone, blindly striking down those who cross their paths. Others form alliances dreaming of a peaceful solution with multiple survivors. Against a tapestry of violence, hope and fear, Nanahara and Noriko begin to fall in love. Despite the game's brutality, the adolescent players maintain their school obsessions with crushes, petty grudges and their dreams. But as the game approaches its shocking final stages, even this semblance of normality disintegrates.

If you can get a DVD copy ofg it, please do so.. but If you must get a VCD or VHS copy avaoid the Korean copies like the plague. Bad english and chinese subtitles. There are no dubs of this movie. But it's very good. The director died this year directing the sequel, and his son finished the movie for him. The books im trying to suffer through, but I just dont read japanese THAT well..

There is also a manga for those who like to look at pictures.

here is a link for the review and more info: battleroyalmovie.com

You can purchase it here: http://pokerindustries.com/

Viz will be producing the graphic novels and can be purchased here: animecastle

diergray · 05-06-2003, 03:46 AM

The movie is excellent. I got it off of ebay for less then $10.

Hal Incandenza · 05-06-2003, 12:09 PM

I saw the Flaming Lips on Sunday night. During one song (can't remember which one--"Fight Test," maybe?), they played a scene from Battle Royale on the big video screen behind them. Watching Japanese schoolgirls slaughter each other with submachine guns while a couple dozen people in animal costumes danced on each side of the stage and huge balloons bounced around the audience made for one of the more interesting visuals I've ever seen at a show...

RubberSouls · 05-06-2003, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Hal Incandenza
I saw the Flaming Lips on Sunday night. During one song (can't remember which one--"Fight Test," maybe?), they played a scene from Battle Royale on the big video screen behind them. Watching Japanese schoolgirls slaughter each other with submachine guns while a couple dozen people in animal costumes danced on each side of the stage and huge balloons bounced around the audience made for one of the more interesting visuals I've ever seen at a show...

That must have been hilarious

RubberSouls · 05-06-2003, 03:19 PM

I bought the Novel just recently.

degrawj · 05-07-2003, 02:51 PM

i remember seeing a preview for this movie when i was in japan a few years ago. it looked pretty freaky. i haven't seen it though.

bundy · 05-07-2003, 06:04 PM

i just saw this film last night in sydney.

CLASSIC!

this is a fantastic film. i may even go so far as to say the best i've seen this year.

i'm now in the process of hunting down a copy of the book.

Uuudar · 05-07-2003, 07:12 PM

i think my friend has a rip of this. are you talking about the one where they kidnap a class of japanese kids, put them on an island, and they have to kill each other, last man standing wins?

username · 05-07-2003, 09:09 PM

I have this film myself and it is really good although it slows down in the middle. Best of all it has Beat Takeshi as the teacher.

bundy · 05-07-2003, 11:56 PM

thats the one Uuudar.

just heard that a sequel is in the works...

Gambit · 05-08-2003, 03:29 AM

I'm almost very certain that Tokyo Pop acquired the American rights to the manga. If not them, someone else, because I specifically remember reading about this before. I can't wait!

Eiresol · 05-11-2003, 10:12 AM

The sequel is finished I think. Western world probably wont get a cinema release though.

Sledge · 10-22-2003, 09:19 AM

Back from the dead
I resurrect this thread.

I saw Battle Royale with my girlfriend last night. I'd like to talk about it, but I don't know what I want to say yet. I'm blown away.

Anyone seen this? What do you think?

Kyp · 10-22-2003, 11:42 AM

I saw it... it was messed up. The ending was kind of lame. I didn't think it was that great at all. Just a stupid action movie with 9th graders. It was okay but nothing spectacular.

Arc101 · 10-22-2003, 11:53 AM

You can't go wrong watching a bunch of schoolkids killing each other. I liked the bit where they have to pick a bag which has weapons in it. Some of the bags have guns, some have stuff you couldn't kill a fly with !

Ganguro · 10-22-2003, 01:01 PM

i liked the movie a lot, but im really in love with Takeshi Kitano. The manga and written novel are pretty intense as well.
What do you wanna talk about sledge?

JimmyTheHutt · 10-22-2003, 01:23 PM

I still haven't seen the film, but the novel was severly disturbing. Needless to say, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Some good characters and a really good perspective on what really lurks in everyone's heart....

Veritas en Lux!
Jimmy The Hutt

Sledge · 10-22-2003, 02:59 PM

Hehe.

My friends and I disagree about the craft of the movie, sometimes to polar-opposite opinions - I think it did a really good job of fleshing out the teenagers, while they thought they were flat stereotypes with no development; I think the violence was intended to prove a point about Japanese society, while they thought it was just a gorefest.

I see how you could interpret the movie both ways. I guess I'm just led to give it the benefit of the doubt.

So... intelligent drama or brainless bloodfest?

What makes me think that this is more than just another slasher fic is the consistency of each character. Take Mitsuko (the crazy killer girl). Yeah, when she dies there's the voiceover where she says "I just didn't want to be a loser." If you go back and watch again you can see hints of that earlier, especially in the conversation with the second girl she kills. She's had a tough life that easily leads her to the conclusion that no one will help you and you better work to get to the top.

I don't know, there are just these little details that fit together. Kawada ties his shoelaces and sprints out of the room when his names is called at the start, which fits with his commando-like persona. It's thrown into sharp relief by the other "transfer," Kiriyama, who's chewing gum or tobacco as he walks out of the room slowly, completely relaxed. When Kawada runs back in because he doesn't like his weapon, he knocks Kiriyama aside, but Kiriyama doesn't even stop chewing - completely without surprise or emotion. Nothing groundbreaking, just kind of neat.

IMO, it's the characters that keep this movie from being senseless violence.

jhericurl21 · 10-22-2003, 08:02 PM

the movie was all about the characters

has anyone seen the sequel yet? heard it was a let down from the original.

does anyone know where i can the manga or novel, i really want to read this

Ganguro · 10-23-2003, 08:30 AM

jheri you can buy the manga in most places that sell manga
Try bookstores, or suncoast video, etc..
if that doesnt work, i believe VIZ published the manga and possible the written english novel as well.

JimmyTheHutt · 10-23-2003, 01:27 PM

How do you make a sequel to that? Just out of curiosity...

Veritas en Lux!
Jimmy The Hutt

Ganguro · 10-23-2003, 02:46 PM

The offical plot summary for BR2:

Quote:

The film, 'Battle Royale', released in 2000 focused on Shiroiwa Prefecture's Public Junior High School's class 3B being forced into Battle Royale. The film concludes with the two main characters, Shuya Nanahara and Noriko Nakagawa, escaping the island and fleeing to Tokyo.

Three years after escaping Battle Royale, Shuya Nanahara forms an rebel group called 'Wild Seven' to bring down the Japanese government and stop the BR Act. Like the adults who have contempt for the young, 'Wild Seven' shows their contempt for adults, urging all young people to rebel against adults and stand up for their rights. Nanahara's 'Wild Seven' soon proves to be a terrorist organization, the rebel group receiving training in Afghanistan with another group of young Japanese terrorists, and then destroying several major buildings in Tokyo city, killing thousands.

The terrorist attack in Tokyo sends a shockwave throughout Japan, and the government is forced to amend its law, announcing the 'BR2 Act'. Machishikanotoride class 3B is taken by the Japanese military during a Christmas ski vacation, and the new 'BR2 Act' is outlined to the new class by the aggressive new BR coordinator, Riki Takeuchi:

1. The student who manages to kill Nanahara in the time frame of 3 days is the winner and is allowed to return home.

2. There is a new 'pair tag match' rule. To improve battlefield efficiency, students are grouped up in pairs and must remain together during their hunt for Nanahara. If one of the pair is killed, the other is killed by their explosive collar.

As in BR1, two students violently oppose their new task and as a result are killed. The remaining 40 students are sent in automatic boats to the beach of the island where 'Wild Seven' has been found to be hiding and the battle begins once again.

This movie wont be following the novel so much, but will be more of a "war movie" based on the director's experiences in WWII. I hope the director's kid Kenta didnt fuck up his fateher's vision and dying wish..
It should be interesting.. we might see it on VCD or DVD in about 6-8 months or so..

well.. what i mean by that is.. we wont be seeing it stateside, but .. i figured you could guess that

JimmyTheHutt · 10-23-2003, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ganguro
The offical plot summary for BR2:

This movie wont be following the novel so much, but will be more of a "war movie" based on the director's experiences in WWII. I hope the director's kid Kenta didnt fuck up his fateher's vision and dying wish..
It should be interesting.. we might see it on VCD or DVD in about 6-8 months or so..

well.. what i mean by that is.. we wont be seeing it stateside, but .. i figured you could guess that

There was a second novel as well, I take it? Coolness....

Veritas en Lux!
Jimmy The Hutt

Hal Incandenza · 10-23-2003, 07:56 PM

I've seen Battle Royale a few times, and I think it's pretty great. It's by no means a cinematic masterpiece, but there's something about it that sucks me in every time. I think what I like most about it is the tone--it's part action movie, part horror, part sensitive coming-of-age story. Plus it's got a bunch of cute kids in school uniforms annihilating each other, which makes for some truly unbelievable visuals. It's a movie that could never be made in America.

I've heard that Kinji Fukasaku (the director) said the movie wasn't allegorical, but come on: it's a movie about schoolkids from one of the most hypercompetitive educational systems in the world forced to compete against one another for literal survival. Plus it illustrates how solutions are often worse than the problems they purport to solve. It's got a lot of whoa-check-that-out carnage, but at heart I think it's a pretty serious movie.

Bonus trivia: Chiaki Kuriyama, who plays Chigusa in Battle Royale, has a role in the new Tarantino movie (she's the one swinging the mace at Uma Thurman in the trailers).

meepa · 10-23-2003, 11:18 PM

It's a Japanese, gorey version of "Lord of the Flies". I thought it was pretty entertaining, but the ending was pretty bad in my opinion. Certainly worth seeing if you don't mind seeing kids murder each other

Ganguro · 10-24-2003, 05:23 AM

In defense of this movie, and other foreign cinema.. A lot of japanese movies have similar endings to this..
It's a different culture and the pacing, underlying tone, and themes are different than may western releases. A lot of people hate japanese and chinese movies for this reason. Imagine what they think of our blockbuster movies. Diff'rent strokes.. you know?

Hal: i didnt see Kill Bill, but i knew she looked familiar..
she was the jogging/ track girl who went a little nutty and hunted that bow with a switchblade.. right?

Hal Incandenza · 10-24-2003, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ganguro
Hal: i didnt see Kill Bill, but i knew she looked familiar..
she was the jogging/ track girl who went a little nutty and hunted that bow with a switchblade.. right?

She's the one. I would've loved to have seen what it was like in the theatres, when half the audience doubles over at a certain point during that scene....

Has anyone seen any movies like Suicide Club or Stacys? Battle Royale is apparently the tip of the iceberg in terms of wonderfully effed-up Japanese movies.

Sledge · 10-24-2003, 08:59 PM

There are more?? I'm a happy man. Got more titles I can look up?

Hal Incandenza · 10-25-2003, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sledge
There are more?? I'm a happy man. Got more titles I can look up?

There are a couple of sites I've picked up on--

Poker Industries
Snowblood Apple

--that have gotten me started. I'm sure that there are way more comprehensive sites around, but these two are enough for the moment--you have to track a lot of this stuff down, since it's not like the local Family Video is going to be offering something like Flower of Flesh and Blood anytime soon....

Porkchop · 10-26-2003, 01:35 AM

There is a sequel also. I have the special edition with extra gore and such. It is brilliant.

Kaos · 10-26-2003, 08:47 AM

That movie sounds like an updated version of Lord of the Flies. If I see it, I will have to watch it sometime.

gabshu · 10-27-2003, 08:11 PM

I just bought this movie, I'd been meaning to for a long time, and I remembered it when I saw this thread.

I just have a question for all of you. Is this movie scary? I mean, I hate scary movies and I get terrified at anything, even tough I see it coming and I know its fake. I just want to be warned before I pop it in. Thanks all!

05-05-2003, 05:44 AM	#1 (permalink)
RubberSouls Addict	Battle Royale Has anyone else heard of this movie/book? If anyone has, what is it about? __________________ I'm so bad I kick my own ass twice a day.

05-06-2003, 03:46 AM	#3 (permalink)
diergray Psycho	The movie is excellent. I got it off of ebay for less then $10. __________________ "Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.” ~ James Bryant Conant

05-06-2003, 03:19 PM	#6 (permalink)
RubberSouls Addict	I bought the Novel just recently. __________________ I'm so bad I kick my own ass twice a day. Last edited by RubberSouls; 05-06-2003 at 03:21 PM..

05-07-2003, 06:04 PM	#8 (permalink)
bundy . Location: Tokyo	i just saw this film last night in sydney. CLASSIC! this is a fantastic film. i may even go so far as to say the best i've seen this year. i'm now in the process of hunting down a copy of the book. __________________ Ohayo!!!

05-07-2003, 11:56 PM	#11 (permalink)
bundy . Location: Tokyo	thats the one Uuudar. just heard that a sequel is in the works... __________________ Ohayo!!!

05-06-2003, 12:09 PM	#4 (permalink)
Hal Incandenza Tilted Location: Enfield MA	I saw the Flaming Lips on Sunday night. During one song (can't remember which one--"Fight Test," maybe?), they played a scene from Battle Royale on the big video screen behind them. Watching Japanese schoolgirls slaughter each other with submachine guns while a couple dozen people in animal costumes danced on each side of the stage and huge balloons bounced around the audience made for one of the more interesting visuals I've ever seen at a show...

05-07-2003, 02:51 PM	#7 (permalink)
degrawj I'm still waiting... Location: West Linn, OR	i remember seeing a preview for this movie when i was in japan a few years ago. it looked pretty freaky. i haven't seen it though.

05-07-2003, 07:12 PM	#9 (permalink)
Uuudar Insane	i think my friend has a rip of this. are you talking about the one where they kidnap a class of japanese kids, put them on an island, and they have to kill each other, last man standing wins?

05-07-2003, 09:09 PM	#10 (permalink)
username Insane	I have this film myself and it is really good although it slows down in the middle. Best of all it has Beat Takeshi as the teacher.

05-08-2003, 03:29 AM	#12 (permalink)
Gambit Upright Location: Philly	I'm almost very certain that Tokyo Pop acquired the American rights to the manga. If not them, someone else, because I specifically remember reading about this before. I can't wait!

05-11-2003, 10:12 AM	#13 (permalink)
Eiresol Crazy	The sequel is finished I think. Western world probably wont get a cinema release though.

10-22-2003, 09:19 AM	#14 (permalink)
Sledge Pasture Bedtime	Back from the dead I resurrect this thread. I saw Battle Royale with my girlfriend last night. I'd like to talk about it, but I don't know what I want to say yet. I'm blown away. Anyone seen this? What do you think?

10-22-2003, 11:42 AM	#15 (permalink)
Kyp Insane Location: Oregon	I saw it... it was messed up. The ending was kind of lame. I didn't think it was that great at all. Just a stupid action movie with 9th graders. It was okay but nothing spectacular. __________________ When life gives you lemons, sqeeze the juice into a squirt gun and shoot people in the eyes

10-22-2003, 11:53 AM	#16 (permalink)
Arc101 Addict Location: Nottingham, England	You can't go wrong watching a bunch of schoolkids killing each other. I liked the bit where they have to pick a bag which has weapons in it. Some of the bags have guns, some have stuff you couldn't kill a fly with !

10-22-2003, 01:01 PM	#17 (permalink)
Ganguro Army of Me	i liked the movie a lot, but im really in love with Takeshi Kitano. The manga and written novel are pretty intense as well. What do you wanna talk about sledge?

10-22-2003, 01:23 PM	#18 (permalink)
JimmyTheHutt Psycho Location: Hell (Phoenix AZ)	I still haven't seen the film, but the novel was severly disturbing. Needless to say, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Some good characters and a really good perspective on what really lurks in everyone's heart.... Veritas en Lux! Jimmy The Hutt __________________ Think Jabba, only with more hair and vestigal legs.... "This isn't a nightmare, its real. Nightmare's end." -ShadowDancer

10-22-2003, 02:59 PM	#19 (permalink)
Sledge Pasture Bedtime	Hehe. My friends and I disagree about the craft of the movie, sometimes to polar-opposite opinions - I think it did a really good job of fleshing out the teenagers, while they thought they were flat stereotypes with no development; I think the violence was intended to prove a point about Japanese society, while they thought it was just a gorefest. I see how you could interpret the movie both ways. I guess I'm just led to give it the benefit of the doubt. So... intelligent drama or brainless bloodfest? What makes me think that this is more than just another slasher fic is the consistency of each character. Take Mitsuko (the crazy killer girl). Yeah, when she dies there's the voiceover where she says "I just didn't want to be a loser." If you go back and watch again you can see hints of that earlier, especially in the conversation with the second girl she kills. She's had a tough life that easily leads her to the conclusion that no one will help you and you better work to get to the top. I don't know, there are just these little details that fit together. Kawada ties his shoelaces and sprints out of the room when his names is called at the start, which fits with his commando-like persona. It's thrown into sharp relief by the other "transfer," Kiriyama, who's chewing gum or tobacco as he walks out of the room slowly, completely relaxed. When Kawada runs back in because he doesn't like his weapon, he knocks Kiriyama aside, but Kiriyama doesn't even stop chewing - completely without surprise or emotion. Nothing groundbreaking, just kind of neat. IMO, it's the characters that keep this movie from being senseless violence.

10-22-2003, 08:02 PM	#20 (permalink)
jhericurl21 Banned	the movie was all about the characters has anyone seen the sequel yet? heard it was a let down from the original. does anyone know where i can the manga or novel, i really want to read this

10-23-2003, 08:30 AM	#21 (permalink)
Ganguro Army of Me	jheri you can buy the manga in most places that sell manga Try bookstores, or suncoast video, etc.. if that doesnt work, i believe VIZ published the manga and possible the written english novel as well.

10-23-2003, 01:27 PM	#22 (permalink)
JimmyTheHutt Psycho Location: Hell (Phoenix AZ)	How do you make a sequel to that? Just out of curiosity... Veritas en Lux! Jimmy The Hutt __________________ Think Jabba, only with more hair and vestigal legs.... "This isn't a nightmare, its real. Nightmare's end." -ShadowDancer

10-23-2003, 07:56 PM	#25 (permalink)
Hal Incandenza Tilted Location: Enfield MA	I've seen Battle Royale a few times, and I think it's pretty great. It's by no means a cinematic masterpiece, but there's something about it that sucks me in every time. I think what I like most about it is the tone--it's part action movie, part horror, part sensitive coming-of-age story. Plus it's got a bunch of cute kids in school uniforms annihilating each other, which makes for some truly unbelievable visuals. It's a movie that could never be made in America. I've heard that Kinji Fukasaku (the director) said the movie wasn't allegorical, but come on: it's a movie about schoolkids from one of the most hypercompetitive educational systems in the world forced to compete against one another for literal survival. Plus it illustrates how solutions are often worse than the problems they purport to solve. It's got a lot of whoa-check-that-out carnage, but at heart I think it's a pretty serious movie. Bonus trivia: Chiaki Kuriyama, who plays Chigusa in Battle Royale, has a role in the new Tarantino movie (she's the one swinging the mace at Uma Thurman in the trailers).

10-23-2003, 11:18 PM	#26 (permalink)
meepa Insane	It's a Japanese, gorey version of "Lord of the Flies". I thought it was pretty entertaining, but the ending was pretty bad in my opinion. Certainly worth seeing if you don't mind seeing kids murder each other

10-24-2003, 05:23 AM	#27 (permalink)
Ganguro Army of Me	In defense of this movie, and other foreign cinema.. A lot of japanese movies have similar endings to this.. It's a different culture and the pacing, underlying tone, and themes are different than may western releases. A lot of people hate japanese and chinese movies for this reason. Imagine what they think of our blockbuster movies. Diff'rent strokes.. you know? Hal: i didnt see Kill Bill, but i knew she looked familiar.. she was the jogging/ track girl who went a little nutty and hunted that bow with a switchblade.. right? Last edited by Ganguro; 10-24-2003 at 05:26 AM..

10-24-2003, 08:59 PM	#29 (permalink)
Sledge Pasture Bedtime	There are more?? I'm a happy man. Got more titles I can look up?

10-26-2003, 01:35 AM	#31 (permalink)
Porkchop Psycho Location: Good ol Blighty	There is a sequel also. I have the special edition with extra gore and such. It is brilliant. __________________ Be cool btch now btch be cool Sport 1976 Taxi Driver.

10-26-2003, 08:47 AM	#32 (permalink)
Kaos Ssssssssss Location: Ontario	That movie sounds like an updated version of Lord of the Flies. If I see it, I will have to watch it sometime.

10-27-2003, 08:11 PM	#33 (permalink)
gabshu Psycho Location: The capital of the free world??	I just bought this movie, I'd been meaning to for a long time, and I remembered it when I saw this thread. I just have a question for all of you. Is this movie scary? I mean, I hate scary movies and I get terrified at anything, even tough I see it coming and I know its fake. I just want to be warned before I pop it in. Thanks all! __________________ Go Kool Aid. OH YEAAHH http://www.retrocrush.com/archive2003/koolaid/