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Film: Battles Without Honor & Humanity
Running time: 99 mins
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Starring: Bunta Sugawara, Hiroki Matsukata, Kunie Tanaka, Eiko Nakamura, Tsunehiko Watase
Genre: Crime/Drama
Country: Japan
Region 1 release.
In the bombed out shell of post World War Two Hiroshima, crime is king. The poor, malnourished masses swarm around black market goods, clamouring for even a single handful of rice. American soldiers patrol the streets, uncontrolled, unchecked. G.I.s chase down and rape women in broad daylight in the middle of the street as passersby turn a blind eye. Streets that were once controlled by policemen have fallen prey to the yakuza. The only law is that which you can enforce with a gun or a katana, and the streets run red with the blood and sick of street justice. In this hellish environment, a new breed a Japanese gangster emerges. Unfettered by tradition, undeterred by the status quo, they build a new empire on the bodies of drug addicts, extortion, and impromptu assassinations. These are the new filth, the new law, the new order. They are the yakuza of Kinji Fukasaku’s Battles Without Honor & Humanity.
Following the growth of the yakuza in post-war Hiroshima, Battles Without Honor & Humanity is a sweeping film that spans over ten years. The audience is introduced to each principal character one by one as they seek out a meager living on the streets.
Among these desperate men is Shozo Hirono (Bunta Sugawara), a former soldier. When a local gangster assaults one of his friends, he shoots him in the middle of the street, fully aware that his actions will land him in prison.
Trapped in an overcrowded jail, Hirono helps his cellmate, a yakuza captain, escape from prison by deliberately botching a seppuku attempt. Once on the outside, the captain’s friend Yamamori (Nobuo Kaneko) bails Hirono out in appreciation. Yamamori has big dreams of a yakuza empire and subsequently starts his own family with Hirono and his close friends filling in the ranks. From here, the film follows the struggles of the Yamamori gang in its rise to power.
Their main enemies are the Doi family, a powerful yakuza gang with major territorial holdings in Hiroshima. As the conflict for territory, product, and money expands, so does the body count. It isn’t long before there is open war on the streets. But soon, Hirono becomes disillusioned with the senseless violence and bloodshed. Angry with Yamamori, who reveals himself to be an indecisive coward, Hirono must make a decision about whether or not to continue his blind loyalty to the gang. Whatever the outcome, someone must pay. Someone must die…
Inspired by the release and monumental success of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, Toei Studios tried to replicate the success with yakuza films. Of all of the pictures that were released, Battles Without Honor & Humanity is frequently cited as one of the best and most influential. The film would go on to inspire four sequels and become known as The Yakuza Papers. Director Kinji Fukasaku, most famous for his infamous 2000 release Battle Royale, fills the film with high drama and excessive violence. Gangsters are not just killed; they are brutally cut down by assassins who take the time to fill their bodies with entire clips of ammo. There are entire montage sequences of death and murder as rival yakuza clans engage in a deadly game of ‘last man standing’. And therein lays its primary problem.
While Battles Without Honor & Humanity more than fills its quota of stylized violence, it lacks in the plot department. After the first half of the film, the story breaks apart completely as characters are picked off one by one. It gets to a point where the audience has no idea what is going on or who is getting killed. All the viewer can comprehend is the film’s incisive violence. And while entertaining in its own right, the violence is largely bereft of meaning. Near the end of the film is a sequence where supporting and primary characters are killed off (not all, but many of them). Each death gets a dramatic freeze frame and a subtitle announcing their death. But the sequence is largely meaningless as the film took neither the time nor the effort to fully develop or explore these characters, their motivations, and the reasons for their execution. In effect, they are just bullet-ridden bodies.
In addition, the film seems to forget who the main characters are from time to time. There are large sections of the film where neither Hirono nor Yamamori are involved and the action and plot is delegated to minor characters. In a sense, the conflict between the yakuza gangs seems to become the primary character of the film. But after the first half of the film, when individual characters like Hirono and Yamamori are so painstakingly introduced and developed, the switch in focus seems disorganized and even slightly amateurish.
But to suggest that Battles Without Honor & Humanity is a bad film would be a mistake. As an exercise in filmmaking technique, the film soars. It pumps with a constant, vivacious energy fed by quick edits and bold camera angles. Filmed largely with hand-held cameras, the film has a gritty feel to it as if the audience is literally in the middle of the action. Energized by a pounding (although eventually slightly monotonous) score, it is hard not to feel excited.
Tight editing and frenetic pacing do not make a film great. In all, the film suffers from a mediocre screenplay that leaves the audience confused as to the action. But as a sheer piece of bloody spectacle, the film excels. Despite its flaws, Battles Without Honor & Humanity is an entertaining film. Given its massive impact on the Japanese film industry and the yakuza genre, it is required viewing for film buffs. It may lack the precision of The Godfather, but it more than makes up for it with attitude, thrills and pure style. NH
Film: Battle Royale
Release date: 28th February 2011
Certificate: 18
Running time: 109 mins
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Starring: Takeshi Kitano, Chiaki Kuriyama, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Noriko Nakagawa, Tarô Yamamoto
Genre: Action/Horror/Thriller
Studio: Arrow
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: Japan
Labelled as “crude and tasteless” by members of the Japanese parliament, a decade on, Battle Royale still proves popular with audiences the world over. Upon its release, the film was nominated for several Japanese Academy Awards, and in 2009, Quentin Tarantino spoke of it as being his favourite film of the last two decades. This 3-disc release from Arrow Video has a host of extras, and a glorious high definition restored transfer of both the theatrical and director’s cut.
Battle Royale opens with Japan at the dawn of the millennium. Unemployment is high and students boycott schools. Adults, fearing their nation's youth, pass the Millennium Educational Reform Act, otherwise known as the BR Act. The purposes of the BR Act quickly become apparent, when we are introduced to a class of students who are nearing the end of their compulsory education. Once a year, a class of students are sent to a secluded island to participate in a game, the Battle Royale, and these are this year's unlucky participants.
The BR Act is promptly explained to its unwitting participants, with the help of an educational video, featuring a morbidly upbeat presenter. Each student is tagged with an electronic necklace and instructed to kill their classmates over the course of the next three days. At the end of the three days, if more than one student remains, their necklaces will detonate, killing all who remain...
It's not difficult to see why Tarantino holds this film in such high regard. Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale takes its viewer on a rollercoaster ride, alternating between an extravagant blood bath one moment and a high school drama the next. Its ultra-violent scenes and rather sadistic premise lie at the heart of what has made this film such a success. But the rather elegant, if not extreme, scenes of violence are firmly supported by some terrific dark comedy.
Ultimately, Battle Royale features many of things we'd come to expect from a teenage high school drama. Just as in any high school, the film's characters can easily be characterised into 'geeks', 'outcasts' and 'superficial bitches'. The major difference being, these emotional, jealous and troublesome teenagers are thrown into a big-brother style arena and equipped with knives, tazers and guns.
Whilst most of the film follows the activities of the students over the course of the game, brief flashbacks offer insights into the background of each student. Whilst this isn't enough to form any meaningful, emotional attachment to any of the characters, it does help give the story a layer of depth, beyond all the mindless killing.
That's not to say the film is nothing more than a comic blood-fest. Battle Royale, through all its bloodshed, does make some rather striking comments on society. On one hand, it exposes the perverted nature of reality television, whilst on the other, it condemns society's attitude toward its youth. Admittedly, the film (unlike the book) is a little ambiguous when it comes to this latter theme.
What's more, through all the comic action sequences, the film's young cast give some truly excellent performances. With Battle Royale relying heavily on action sequences to drive forward its narrative and, in turn, bring each character to life, it is quite an achievement to see a cast, whose average age could not exceed 15, giving such exceptional performances.
Ever since its release, Battle Royale has been both celebrated and criticised for its graphic violence. Although, it's hard to see where there is much justification for criticism, as its violence is always humorous in nature. In many respects, Kenta Fukasaku's use of gratuitous violence is rather elegant, as well as humorous. One memorable scene depicts Kazuo Kiriyama, a true 'bad ass', as he fires a handgun at a girl, who also appears to lack any compassion for the students she kills. ‘Air auf der G-Saite’ plays as she stumbles backward with each successive shot. In any other context, and lacking the talented hand of Kenta Fukasaku, this film may well have been a rather morbid affair. But the director's keen eye for humour makes Battle Royale's violence something to applaud, rather than condemn.
Battle Royale is an extremely impressive film, acting as a true representation of Japanese cinema at its best. Kenta Fukasaku has created a film which rivals, if not exceeds the likes of Tarantino's Kill Bill. Unlike many other films that glorify violence, it retains a comic feel and considerable depth, making Battle Royale a truly stunning piece of Japanese cinema. ME
In a world where teenagers have no respect and adults are losing control there can be only one solution: Battle Royale! Now, see what happens when you let a high school class loose on an island, arm them and then give them a simple choice: kill your friends or have them kill you; with poison, cross-bows, machetes and dynamite.
‘Beat’ Takeshi Kitano (Violent Cop, Zatoichi) is a teacher pushed to the edge by his unruly charges. Kidnapped and gassed, his class wake up with exploding metal rings around their necks. If they rebel, they could lose their heads. Now they have three days and only one is permitted to survive this grisly battle to the death.
Directed by the master of 1970s Yakuza thrillers Kinji Fukasaku, and featuring Kill Bill star Chiaki Kuriyama, Battle Royale is the movie that helped to define extreme Asian cinema in the 21st century.
This 3-disc edition, which includes the theatrical and director’s cut, features a brand new glorious high definition restored transfer, and a brand new subtitle translation on both features.
includes a panel reversible sleeve containing original artwork; a 32 page comic, Battle Royale: Parent's Day; collector’s booklet by Tom Mes, author of ‘The Midnight Eye Guide To New Japanese Film’ illustrated with stills, artwork and a printed interview with director Kinji Fukasaku; and a fold-out reversible poster of original artwork.
Film: Battle Royale
Release date: 7th March 2011
Certificate: 18
Running time: 109 mins
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Starring: Takeshi Kitano, Chiaki Kuriyama, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Noriko Nakagawa, Tarô Yamamoto
Genre: Action/Horror/Thriller
Studio: Arrow
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: Japan
Special Features:
•
Original theatrical trailer
•
The making of Battle Royale
•
Conducting Battle Royale with the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra
•
Special Edition trailer
•
TV Spot: Tarantino version
•
Shooting the Special Edition
•
Takeshi Kitano interview
•
The correct way to make Battle Royale (Birthday version)
•
Tokyo International Film Festival presentation
•
Opening day at Maro No Uchi Toei movie theatre
•
The slaughter of 42 high school students
•
Premier press conference
•
The correct way to fight in Battle Royale
•
Royale rehearsals
•
Masamichi Amano conducts Battle Royale
•
Special effects comparison
•
Behind the scenes featurette
•
Filming on set
•
TV spots
•
Promos and commercials
•
Kinji Fukasaky trailer reel
Film: Battle Royale: Limited Edition
Release date: 13th December 2010
Certificate: 18
Running time: 109 mins
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Starring: Takeshi Kitano, Chiaki Kuriyama, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Noriko Nakagawa, Tarô Yamamoto
Genre: Action/Horror/Thriller
Studio: Arrow
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: Japan
Japanese cinema never fails to stun its audiences. With its release at the turn of the century, Battle Royale not only caught the attentions of the Japanese Academy Awards but the Japanese government also. Putting a capital E on extreme, this film went on to achieve global recognition. Battle Royale possesses a penchant for blood-splattering violence and political comment that makes it the most explicit comment on ‘reality television’ to date.
In an alternative reality, Japan has reached the millennium in tatters. With an ever-increasing unemployment rate of ten million, and students in their thousands boycotting schools, the government passes an education reformation act called ‘The B.R. Act’. The act states that once a year a class is let loose on an isolated island to play the deadly Battle Royale game. Each student is given a random weapon, an electronic collar, and three days to kill or be killed. The winner is the last survivor, and if there is no winner after three days then the collars self-destruct killing any remaining students.
Former teacher Kitano abducts his former class and takes them to the island, having left their tuition after an act of violence against him by student Nobu. The bewildered teens are terrified to see that Kitano has hand-picked them to play his warped game, and are sent out with only a briefing and survival pack, which includes a flashlight and compass.
As the children begin a three day survival of the fittest, young Shuya is determined to escape the island with Noriko to whom he has sworn to protect...
Koushan Kutami’s little known novel of the same name was not nearly as revered as its filmic adaptation. This perhaps is because although on screen it incorporates the dark comedy, satire and political comment of the book, it is the action that makes this classic so appealing.
Veteran director Kinji Fukasaku installs a narrative pace that makes the multi-deaths and elaborate violence undeniably compelling. With decades of onscreen violence and breakthrough shock fests, Fukasaku became a hero to cult Japanese cinema with hits such as Tora! Tora! Tora! and Virus. He brings this wealth of knowhow with cartoonish action that is irresistibly satisfying in its gore and bloodshed. One particularly memorable demise is that of Nobu - as his collar explodes in a cloud of red blood, a class load of children look on at a spectacle that is as shocking as it is a sign of things to come.
The cartoonish nature of the violence does not just extend to the buckets of blood on show, with every punch comes an exaggerated thrusting sound, and with every stab an exaggerated squelch. Battle Royale doesn’t just glamorise violence, it makes it extremely fun - it’s nearly impossible not to get on board with the bizarre comic tone. Each death is accompanied by an onscreen title that gives the victims name, time of death and place in the contest - this is just one stylistic that trivialises the graphic action. You will blush also as Kitano addresses his class over a loud speaker in the most casual manor - the subject matter is unique but not self-indulgent, with the film happy to poke fun at itself.
Although the political drive is not completely stifled by the onscreen antics, you would imagine it played a much bigger part in the book. The extremity of the situation comments on the Japanese government’s incompetence, as well as growing problems within society. The most biting of the social comment comes with its portrayal of youth, and the similarities with Lord Of The Flies are clear.
The story places a dynamic that brings into question the capabilities of kids - we see some of the youngsters committing suicide, others protecting their friends, whilst many look out for number one. A clique of girls eventually wipe each other out in a show of backstabbing that makes Mean Girls look like child’s play.
It also puts into question the garish nature of reality television. A growing phenomenon at the time of the film’s release, shows like Big Brother have continued to stamp their place into contemporary culture. This is a play on these shows’ ideals, as we watch to see who gets killed as eagerly as we watch for the next Friday night eviction. All the elements of the ‘social experiment’ are there, but the selfish nature, attention seeking and two-faced plotting we see on television are shown here tenfold.
Takeshi Kitano shows why he is such an iconic figure in Japanese cinema as the contrived creator of the game, Kitano. Famed for the direction of films like Boiling Point and Brother, Kitano has starred in classics such as Zatoichi, and is even responsible for the much loved Takeshi’s Castle. He brings here a trademark cool, and acts as a perfect figurehead for the signature madness of the picture.
One of the boldest films of the century so far, Battle Royale is not to be missed. If you are a Japanese extreme cinema connoisseur this is no doubt an essential part of your collection, if you are a novice, it is the best possible starting point. This is essential world cinema. LW
Film: Battle Royale: Limited Edition
Release date: 13th December 2010
Certificate: 18
Running time: 109 mins
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Starring: Takeshi Kitano, Chiaki Kuriyama, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Noriko Nakagawa, Tarô Yamamoto
Genre: Action/Horror/Thriller
Studio: Arrow
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: Japan
Based on Koushun Takami’s 1999 manga, Battle Royale stunned and outraged the Japanese parliament upon its release in 2000. Ten years on, does it retain its impact?
Could you kill your best friend? That is the question posed to a horrified group of Japanese teenagers who, at the end of their compulsory education, find themselves abducted and taken to an abandoned school, where their former teacher Kitano (Takeshi Kitano) informs them that they have been entered into a deadly game - the Battle Royale - aimed at punishing unruly youths.
The rules of the game are simple: only one can survive. To do that, the ‘contestants’ must murder their rivals. If, after three days, there is no outright winner, then the explosive collars worn by all will explode, and everyone will be dead.
The film follows teenagers Shuya (Fujiwara) and Noriko (Maeda), as they try to stay alive, and figure out a way to do so without having to kill each other…
Too many movies are undeservedly labelled live action manga, but Battle Royale truly deserves the label. Not because its visual scope is overly wacky, or full of imagery one wouldn’t think possible with live action, but because of its boldness and energy. The viewer is thrust into the story with minimal set-up, the characters and dystopian-Japanese setting established with the broadest of strokes; the cinematography is stark, stripped down; and the performances (especially of the young cast) are big and loud. In all the right ways, Battle Royale is a manga come to life as invigorating cinema.
And as the game wears on, and the teenaged contestants enter into a thrilling and horrifying Big Brother meets Lord Of The Flies scenario, Fukasaku treats us to a series of increasingly intense set-pieces, all rooted in the central moral dilemma of what lengths the characters will go to in order to survive. Juxtaposed with rather bland flashback sequences to flesh out the characters, the survival story lacks a certain amount of tension (because we know, for at least the first hour, that certain characters are almost guaranteed to make it to the latter stages), but as the climax nears, and vulnerability increases, even a spacious cinema can feel like a prison cell for the viewer, such is Battle Royale’s sheer intensity.
A visual, visceral triumph, for sure, but not without its flaws. Any substance to the set-up is marginalised in favour of the arresting style. Quite what led to Japan being in the state that we find it in the opening act (explored in greater detail in the manga) is never full established, and, as such, there is very little to connect the viewer to characters - very little to demand sympathy beyond the recognition that the young people are in a horrible predicament. That the teens being generally identifiable movie archetypes suggest that this may be the point - a rush without emotional involvement, prompting guilt from the contemporary audience. Battle Royale certainly has a drum to bang about the demonising of youth - but it bangs that drum without any real rhythm or melody; its overall message unfortunately muddled. Scenes where characters gun down several others feel like simple stylised, exploitative, ‘cool’ violence - rather than the sort of profound, socio-political metaphor that the opening reel seems to promise.
But there’s no denying the effect of its stylistic choices. The intensity of the opening, as the ‘chosen’ children learn their predicament, and the bitter righteousness with which teacher Kitano establishes his dominance over them is instantly gripping, and visually horrifying. And as the game wears on, the viewer is held in rapt attention. But even such moments as these do not always enthral the viewer to the point of true emotional involvement and investment. It is established early on that that the emphasis is on a heightened, manga-like reality - with the teens in identical uniforms, forcibly sedated on a coach-trip and stalked by a power-suited lady in a gas mask, the viewer knows that Battle Royale exists within a slightly skewed, dystopian version of the real world. This endures throughout the film, and the effect is breathtakingly cinematic, but further undermines the raw power of any social comment Fukasaku seeks to make (of course, on this issue, the film certainly will play differently to international audiences after the fact than it does the contemporary local viewer).
As stated above, the performances - in keeping with the manga origins and stylised sensibility - are big, save for the standout supporting turn by Takeshi Kaneshiro, whose quiet rage and subtle insanity utterly sells the outrageous conceit. Those around him do a lot of wailing, shouting, panting and crying, and Kaneshiro - in a directorial choice perhaps designed to represent the brick wall off which youth angst and trouble so regularly bounces - presents a chillingly cold conviction. His role is small, his presence is big.
The younger actors don’t have much to do in the way of covering new thespian ground, but they fulfil archetypes well, and show the appropriate amount of fear as the battle royale goes on. Tatsuya Fujiwara, as Shuya, is the de facto hero, and he brings the right sort of earnestness and a quiet charisma to the role; Japanese popstar and actress Aki Maeda nicely shows Noriko’s early fear giving way to a wayward resilience at the demands and rigours of the experience; western viewers may recognise the actress Chiaki Kuriyama, in the role of Takako, her steely glare (which one may retrospectively term ‘Lisbeth-like’) almost identical to the one she employed in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 1.
But, though the cast do good work, none of them truly stand out, although that may be exactly the filmmakers’ point. Indeed, as the teens’ crushes and anxieties - pure adolescent fluff that would grace any ‘typical’ teen movie - come to the fore, intensified by the deadly context, one wonders if Fukasaku is intentionally presenting cliché - deliberately over-playing the yearnings and emotions we’ve seen in dozens of movies before. Is he offering some twisted form of optimism, saying that innocence, friendship and love are the best shields against a progressively more violent and oppressive world? Or is the director being more cynical, daring a viewer to ask themselves why they can feel for fictional youths while demonising the ones they interact with in reality? That there is evidence for both makes Battle Royale an endlessly fascinating picture, if not quite a true classic.
Battle Royale deserves every bit of its enduring cult success. Ten years on, it remains as shocking, powerful and twistedly exhilarating as it was upon release. Sensational. JN
Both the Blu-ray and DVD format releases feature brand new restored high definition transfers of both the ‘theatrical cut’ and ‘director's cut’, brand new subtitle translations, limited edition packaging numbered #/5000 (with certificate) and a whole host of new and exclusive extra features.
In a world where teenagers have no respect and adults are losing control, there can be only one solution: Battle Royale! Now, see what happens when you let a high school class loose on an island, arm them and then give them a simple choice: Kill your friends or have them kill you; with poison, cross-bows, machetes and dynamite.
‘Beat’ Takeshi Kitano (Violent Cop, Zatoichi) is a teacher pushed to the edge by his unruly charges. Kidnapped and gassed, his class wake up with exploding metal rings around their necks. If they rebel, they could lose their heads. Now they have three days, and only one is permitted to survive this grisly battle to the death.
Directed by the master of ‘70s Yakuza thrillers Kinji Fukasaku and featuring Kill Bill star Chiaki Kuriyama, Battle Royale is the movie that helped to define extreme Asian cinema in the 21st century.
The box set (some exclusive to the Limited Edition) includes a 32-page comic; a 36-page booklet (featuring short stories, an extract from Koushan Takami's original novel, original promotional material, including Director's statement, cast and crew biogs); 16-page booklet (including concept artwork and drawing for the limited edition set); 5"x7" Postcards of stills from the film; and a fold-out/reversible poster of the original artwork.
Film: Battle Royale: Limited Edition
Release date: 13th December 2010
Certificate: 18
Running time: 109 mins
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Starring: Takeshi Kitano, Chiaki Kuriyama, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Noriko Nakagawa, Tarô Yamamoto
Genre: Action/Horror/Thriller
Studio: Arrow
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: Japan
Special Features:
•
Original theatrical trailer
•
The making of Battle Royale
•
Conducting Battle Royale with the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra
•
Special Edition trailer
•
TV Spot: Tarantino version
•
Shooting the Special Edition
•
Takeshi Kitano interview
•
The correct way to make Battle Royale (Birthday version)
•
Tokyo International Film Festival presentation
•
Opening day at Maro No Uchi Toei movie theatre
•
The slaughter of 42 high school students
•
Premier press conference
•
The correct way to fight in Battle Royale
•
Royale rehearsals
•
Masamichi Amano conducts Battle Royale
•
Special effects comparison
•
Behind the scenes featurette
•
Filming on set
•
TV spots
•
Promos and commercials
•
Kinji Fukasaky trailer reel
Film: Battle Royale II: Requiem
Release date: 23rd August 2004
Certificate: 18
Running time: 133 mins
Director: Kenta Fukasaku & Kinji Fukasaku
Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Ai Maeda, Shûgo Oshinari, Ayana Sakai, Haruka Suenaga
Genre: Action/Drama/Thriller
Studio: Tartan
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
The original Battle Royale courted critical acclaim and controversy in equal measure. Kinji Fukasaku filmed only one scene for the sequel before succumbing to prostate cancer, leaving the writer of both films, Kenta Fukasaku, to complete it. Kenta says that he doesn’t consider the film his directorial debut but rather as his father’s final work, but is this an epitaph Fukasaku senior would be proud of?
Much like its predecessor, Battle Royale II begins with an unsuspecting class of unruly Japanese youths finding themselves fitted with ominous metal collars and standing at the starting line of a sadistic government initiative. This time is different, however, as where as the original combined public execution with a reality TV show, the new game (aptly named ‘BR2’) has been formulated to send the classmates to dethrone the dangerous terrorist and champion of the previous film, Shuya Nanahara. If they accept, they will have to assault a heavily-guarded island stronghold. If they refuse, they die…
The vicious beauty of Battle Royale was always in the tragicomic potential of its ultra high-concept, and in trading the free-for-all death match for a more strategic co-op dynamic, the film retains the appeal of having a conceit with a more clearly established playbook than your average videogame. Indeed, the Cluedo-like elements of individual character’s back stories, unique weapons and respective locations, is largely traded for a homogenous, Normandy-landing of panicked teenagers, but the deliciously vindictive new maxim that each combatant must also keep a particular classmate alive or face execution adds a fresh level of cruelty to the proceedings. A nice dark addition to the narrative is the voluntary participation of Shiori Kitano, the vengeful daughter of the teacher from previous film, allowing for a welcome cameo by Beat Takeshi.
Battle Royale’s ‘games’ have always been as psychotically intricate as anything Saw’s eponymous anti-hero could devise, but whereas the latter film’s strength is in the way it neatly ties up the various hideous loose-ends, Battle Royale II shamefully falls apart in the third act. Resulting from a plot development that removes any impetus to follow the rules of the game that traditionally underpin Battle Royale, the film flounders as it finds itself entering the territory of a misdirected war epic. Add to that a poor translation, an intrusive musical score, a teacher that unimaginatively apes Kitano’s original unhinged master-of-ceremonies, a playing time that stretches a solid ninety minute concept beyond the two hour line, not to mention the wide-eyed, melodramatic death-scenes of forty-two participants, and what could have been a fiercely delivered addendum to Kinji Fukasaku’s original political message actually starts to make a student’s head exploding feel routine.
“We declare war against all grown-ups,” declares Shuya Nanahara, and therein lies where BR2 loses its way. At the age of 15, Kinji Fukasaku and his classmates were drafted to a Japanese munitions factory when artillery fire hit the building, forcing Kinji and his fellow survivors to use the bodies of their classmates for shelter and leaving him with what he described as “a poisonous hostility towards adults.” It’s fair to say then that the apparently naïve declaration of Kenta’s protagonist are very much in line with his father’s world-view, but it leaves the motivation of the film’s latter half in very murky water.
The original’s UK release was three days after September 11th, and so it’s fitting that the sequel attempts to tackle this newest atrocity through the same challenging role-reversal - beginning the film with the collapse of a Japanese skyline and the previous film’s hero taking credit for the act of terror in manner not unlike Osama Bin Laden. Maturing from the subject of how the delinquency of youth leads to greater evils performed by authority in the name of justice, the sequel builds on this, tackling how marginalization can only lead to more radicalization, but while Kenta is evidently not afraid to invoke the USA’s bombing of Afghanistan, Japan and – as it observes - twenty other countries in the last sixty years, he lacks the strength of his convictions, failing to explain what exactly Nanahara is trying to achieve, why we should empathise with him any more than the next fundamentalist, and even, at one point, who exactly is attacking, as they resort to calling both the USA and Afghanistan “that country.”
Too ambitious by half, Battle Royale II attempts to tackle sixty years of America’s foreign policy in what is ostensibly still just an old-school exploitation flick. Starting off strong, the first hour is classic Battle Royale but it would be easy to then skip forty minutes and miss very little. Kinji deserved better. JB
Film: Battle Royale
Release date: 5th April 2010
Certificate: 18
Running time: 109 mins
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Starring: Beat Takeshi, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Chiaki Kuriyama, Aki Maeda, Noriko Nakagawa, Tarô Yamamoto
Genre: Thriller/Action
Studio: Arrow
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
Could you kill your best friend? For anyone who is not familiar with Battle Royale, the tagline printed along the top of the DVD case says it all. 42 students let loose on an island with an assortment of weapons and the promise of death can mean only one thing.
Having wasted no time in spotting the potential in Koushan Takami’s graphic novel published in 1999, Kinju Fukasaku promptly presented the film viewing public with his adaptation in 2000. The crux of the plot is basic enough. At the turn of the millennium, Japan is in chaos. Unemployment is rife, with 15% of its population left jobless; this means a total of ten million people trying to live on no income. Given our own present economic climate, this very detail hits a nerve and drives the problem home with a sledgehammer. Especially when we see what a society in such turmoil has turned to in order to conquer its demons.
Youth runs riot and school children skip school “‘cos we felt it”, as they write on Kitano’s (Beat Takeshi) blackboard. When they do choose to turn up, anarchy ensues, and Kitano is literally stabbed in the back. In an effort to control the new generations, the Battle Royale act is passed: every year a randomly selected class is subjected to three nights of pure survival; not that many see the third night. School children are told to kill or be killed and it isn’t long before they begin to realise just how serious their situation is, and begin to play the lawless game…
The plot’s simplicity leaves plenty of room for character profiles. The viewer is introduced to several students and allowed glimpses of their personal lives. Kitano is also given his own plight; initially, the defiant teenagers that he has to deal with beg the viewer to sympathise with and even pity him. But his participation in the barbaric regime awards him a dose of smug arrogance, and he finally appears to have some control over his tormentors. Finally, a reminder of his home life humbles him once more before his surreal finale that combines both sides of his story. Kitano isn’t the only one with a history; whilst Shuya Nanahara (Tatsuya Fujiwara) is the hero of the piece, and it is actually his tragic story that audiences are most familiar with - each pupil has their own string to add to the story’s bow, their own priorities and their own interests at heart. Fukasaku falls back onto teenage stereotypes that make Battle Royale more of a high school drama than the speculative science fiction film that its premise may imply.
There are the geeks, who take their hands to science and technology with a view of crashing the Big Brother-esque system that controls their fate. There are the stunningly attractive girls on the edge of womanhood who are superficial and unstoppable in their quest for self-fulfillment. Then there is the dark and mysterious loner, the enigmatic outcast. But these cliques work, for what are stereotypes if not short-hand versions of real personalities? In a film that discloses so many character-driven subplots, a cast of complex individuals would confuse and busy the story to an unbearable degree.
Despite the severity of their circumstances, true to that high school genre of film, characters are largely hormone driven. Between doing battle with cross-bows and embedding exes in each other’s heads, they manage to find chance to squabble over who feels what for whom, which ones are the virgins, and who stood who up. Such trivial tribulations of adolescent life enhance the violence, which is motivated by grudges and vendettas. At its most rudimentary level, Battle Royale is a whirlwind of blood and hormones.
It’s not all about fast-paced fight scenes, though. Of course, this is what the film is famed for, and no doubt always will be - there is certainly no denying the delightful excess of gore, but Fukasaku brings more to the story. He builds an omnipresence of distrust and paranoia that persistently bubbles beneath the bloody surface. In rare scenes where fighting has subdued to dialogue, nerves tighten in anticipation of the next revelation that will subsequently lead to renewed aggression. Similarly, in Kitano’s scenes, Beat Takeshi exudes a black aura of tongue-in-cheek humour, and the novelty of severed heads and torn flesh gives way to the novelty of Kitano’s dry quips.
Inevitably, Battle Royale’s reputation will always precede the film itself, but this is the curse of the niche being absorbed into the mainstream. Potential viewers must not let this hype deter them, for Battle Royale truly is a classic of the future. Already a decade since its production, it feels as contemporary as the latest blockbusters and even more poignant. RS
