Battle Royale - any thoughts?

[davidboring]

This is one of my all time favourite movies. Very violent, funny and thought - provoking. Anyone else like it? What do you think?

[lboinyamouf4sho]

i liked it, been awhile since i saw it though. did that girl go on to be in kill bill??

[Grant]

i liked it, been awhile since i saw it though. did that girl go on to be in kill bill??

Yeah. I haven't seen her in anything else. I was hoping they would cast her as Miho in Sin City. She would have been awesome.

[E-Nigma420]

WOW....that was one of the most interesting, and disturbing movies i've ever seen! Couple of questions though for anybody who has seen it or read the entire manga-series, or both......what purpose does the entire game play? What are they supposed to possibly learn from it? Is that supposed to make people want to stay in school??? I'd be a drop-out FOR SHEEZ!!!! Also, why are they wanted for murder in the end? That movie was.....WOW

[BlairH]

what purpose does the entire game play?
To teach those dangerous youths a lesson or two in survival of the fittest!


What are they supposed to possibly learn from it?
It deters "the youth" from comitting crimes and generally being evil! Furthermore, I learned that Japanese schoolchildren are resistant to bullets (they can take about 20 bullets before being killed).



Also, why are they wanted for murder in the end? That movie was.....WOW
They broke the first rule of fight clu....err Battle Royale. 2 people survived. There can be only one!

Yes the movie was awesome.

[KameTen]

WOW....that was one of the most interesting, and disturbing movies i've ever seen! Couple of questions though for anybody who has seen it or read the entire manga-series, or both......what purpose does the entire game play? What are they supposed to possibly learn from it? Is that supposed to make people want to stay in school??? I'd be a drop-out FOR SHEEZ!!!! Also, why are they wanted for murder in the end? That movie was.....WOW

The game is designed mostly to thin the herd of youths, since the process of choosing was made random to "ensure equality". The government had grown afraid of the teens, and feared that said teenagers would lead to the destruction of their newly formed power structure. That, and to provide entertainment for the higher ups, who I believe put bets on the "contestants" to see who would win.

[cactusmaac]

I was a little thrown off by the beginning which went something like "Unemployment is at 9%!!! Civilisation is collapsing!!"

Beyond that, I just wasn't taken by the movie which wasn't silly enough to be a satire and too silly to be taken seriously.

[Eliseu Gouveia]

Really loved it. :)

[Super Samurai]

I enjoyed it. But I feel it didn't really explain what every student was like(which is forgivable since it is a movie with time constraints). I suggest you read the book to get a better understanding.

[David O Burcham]

Running. Death. Toll.

[JonniRandom]

I just started watching this movie online, and even though it is in a different language with English subtitles, it is really interesting and I have heard great things about it.

Has anyone seen it? And does anyone has any opinions about it?

[StoneGold]

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=123208&highlight=battle+royale
http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=81854&highlight=battle+royale
http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=61736&highlight=battle+royale

[JonniRandom]

Oh for god's sake, this "new thread" paranoia is ridiculous.

[maczero]

Oh for god's sake, this "new thread" paranoia is ridiculous.In all fairness, he responded to your original post. You asked if anyone has seen it and had opinions on it. The links provided by SG pretty much answered both your questions. Besides, he didn't berate you for making a new thread.

[anomaly]

BTW

There's Battle Royale 2. Just thought you guys would like to know

[kimsonsolutions]

batlle royal is really , really bad in my opinion
but the first one is a master piece

[Nosgoth Phantom]

BTW

There's Battle Royale 2. Just thought you guys would like to know

Don't bother with the sequel. It stinks. It's nothing at all like the first one.

[nervmeister]

I have to hand it to Battle Royale for introducing me to two of the most loathsome villains in all of cinema (you know who I'm talking about).

Also, the scene with those girls in the lighthouse was sad and horrifying........ yet strangely funny.

[DrewTheXenocide]

Also, the scene with those girls in the lighthouse was sad and horrifying........ yet strangely funny.

I hate to be "that guy" but I highly recommend that everyone who enjoyed the movie read the book. I found it to be much better, much more engrossing, especially this scene.

And the movie also leaves out some bitchin' scenes that deserved to get noticed.

[nervmeister]

I hate to be "that guy" but I highly recommend that everyone who enjoyed the movie read the book. I found it to be much better, much more engrossing, especially this scene.

Why? Is that lighthouse scene even crazier in the book?

[Eliseu Gouveia]

I have to hand it to Battle Royale for introducing me to two of the most loathsome villains in all of cinema (you know who I'm talking about).




Aw, I´m sure there´s oodles of teachers out there who´d love to give some of their students the Kitano treatment. ^_^

Plus... hey, don´t go dissin´Kiriyama!
Guy has a whole online cult following of his own.

[nervmeister]

Aw, I´m sure there´s oodles of teachers out there who´d love to give some of their students the Kitano treatment. ^_^

Plus... hey, don´t go dissin´Kiriyama!
Guy has a whole online cult following of his own.I'm not saying they're bad villains. It's their actions that make you loathe them.

[JonniRandom]

I have to hand it to Battle Royale for introducing me to two of the most loathsome villains in all of cinema (you know who I'm talking about).

Also, the scene with those girls in the lighthouse was sad and horrifying........ yet strangely funny.

Oh yeah that scene was incredible.


I'm not saying they're bad villains. It's their actions that make you loathe them.

Agreed.



BTW: I watched the subtitled version, did everyone else? Or did they watch a dubbed version?

[Ryan K]

I could be wrong, but I don't believe there is an English dubbed version of Battle Royale. The movie has never been released in the United States and the UK version does not have a dub.

[StoneGold]

I hate to be "that guy" but I highly recommend that everyone who enjoyed the movie read the book. I found it to be much better, much more engrossing, especially this scene.

And the movie also leaves out some bitchin' scenes that deserved to get noticed.

The weird part about the book, just with the vague anti-Western message floating through the first film (that goes full-bore hit you over the head with it in the second film) is how pro-USA the book is.

[IronStarks]

just watched it online, thought it was a well done movie, alot better then some kill/tourture porn that they make here in the west.

[StoneGold]

just watched it online, thought it was a well done movie, alot better then some kill/tourture porn that they make here in the west.

You have no idea what porn actually is, do you?





Sorry, just kind of sick of the term.

[IronStarks]

You have no idea what porn actually is, do you?





Sorry, just kind of sick of the term.

Pornography or porn is the explicit depiction of sexual subject matter, especially with the sole intention of sexually exciting the viewer

[nervmeister]

You have no idea what porn actually is, do you?





Sorry, just kind of sick of the term.Get this text porn out of my sight! :tongue:

[Zero Hunter]

I loved the movie and ended up getting all 15 volumes of the manga. The art work in the manga was fantastic but wow does it get gory in some places.

[StoneGold]

Pornography or porn is the explicit depiction of sexual subject matter, especially with the sole intention of sexually exciting the viewer

And if Hostel is sexually exciting you, you have an incredibly low threshhold.


Seriously, from the description you just copied and pasted out of Wiki, does this fit like any of the so-called "torture porns?"

[StoneGold]

I loved the movie and ended up getting all 15 volumes of the manga. The art work in the manga was fantastic but wow does it get gory in some places.

I found the manga too over the top. The movie was probably the least over the top, with the book pushing one or two characters into slightly superhuman areas, but the manga made half the characters junior James Bonds or something.

[IronStarks]

And if Hostel is sexually exciting you, you have an incredibly low threshhold.


Seriously, from the description you just copied and pasted out of Wiki, does this fit like any of the so-called "torture porns?"

never said it sexually excited me, but it has to excite someone, and i must not be the only one with views like this, i didnt make the term up.

[The Xenos]

I take the 'torture porn' tag as a reference to the explicit 'pornographic' use of voilence. It might not be sexual even, in a way it takes sex and replaces it with violence. Instead of sexual lust, it arouses a bloodlust. I guess in Freudian terms, it's the violent thanatos replacing the sexual eros.

I dunno, that's just how I see the label of 'torture porn'.

[StoneGold]

never said it sexually excited me, but it has to excite someone, and i must not be the only one with views like this, i didnt make the term up.
No, but you're using it. And the thing is, unless you are getting sexually excited by it personally, have you bothered to ask whether anyone else was? And if you haven't, isn't it just as twisted imagining someone else is getting turned on by this stuff as actually getting turned on by this stuff?


And no, you aren't the only one. That doesn't make it right. To quote your mother, if everyone else was to jump off a cliff, would you?

[StoneGold]

I take the 'torture porn' tag as a reference to the explicit 'pornographic' use of voilence. It might not be sexual even, in a way it takes sex and replaces it with violence. Instead of sexual lust, it arouses a bloodlust. I guess in Freudian terms, it's the violent thanatos replacing the sexual eros.

I dunno, that's just how I see the label of 'torture porn'.

Then any movie that does its job is porn. Romantic comedies are "unrealistic views of love aimed at women" porn.


Porn is porn. If it isn't porn, it's something else. Sticking the porn tag at the end of something is the equivalent of calling someone a _____ Nazi. It stifles conversation by attaching an irredeemable qualifier at the end. That it's done second-hand and thoughtlessly doesn't make it right.

[StoneGold]

Not to post too many times in a row, but the other problem with the term torture porn is that there really is torture porn out there. In which there is both actual torture and actual sex. Granted, it tends to be with two consenting parties, but calling some movie with generous amounts of corn syrup for blood "torture porn" totally neuters actual torture porn.

[IronStarks]

Then any movie that does its job is porn. Romantic comedies are "unrealistic views of love aimed at women" porn.


Porn is porn. If it isn't porn, it's something else. Sticking the porn tag at the end of something is the equivalent of calling someone a _____ Nazi. It stifles conversation by attaching an irredeemable qualifier at the end. That it's done second-hand and thoughtlessly doesn't make it right.

well then back to my original statement, Battle Royale is better then the torture porn here, oh and the unrealistic views of love aimed at women porn.

[brundlefly]

Then any movie that does its job is porn. Romantic comedies are "unrealistic views of love aimed at women" porn.

Porn is porn. If it isn't porn, it's something else. Sticking the porn tag at the end of something is the equivalent of calling someone a _____ Nazi. It stifles conversation by attaching an irredeemable qualifier at the end. That it's done second-hand and thoughtlessly doesn't make it right.

QFT. Thank you. I despise that ridiculous "torture porn" buzzword, dreamed up by some attention-starved film critic who got queasy watching Hostel and then repeated ad-nauseum (even in this thread) by people who didn't even understand what the term meant, but boy it sure sounded edgy! :rolleyes: Every movie genre should get the suffix "porn" attached if horror movies are mindlessly tagged as "torture porn" for including any blood or torture. Action porn. Rom-com porn. Oscar-bait porn. Period drama porn. You get the idea.

On topic: Loved Battle Royale. Didn't know it had a sequel, but it sounds pretty lackluster from the reviews here. And the Battle Royale novel is still on my backlog of 'books I need to read.' :biggrin:

[DrewTheXenocide]

Why? Is that lighthouse scene even crazier in the book?

The thing with text based mediums is that you can really go into the minds of all the characters, even secondary ones. Meaning we get to really see how crazy those girls were.


The weird part about the book, just with the vague anti-Western message floating through the first film (that goes full-bore hit you over the head with it in the second film) is how pro-USA the book is.

I actually got my copy of Born to Run because of it.


And if Hostel is sexually exciting you, you have an incredibly low threshhold.

I dunno, that European chick at the beginning was pretty hot.

[nervmeister]

The thing with text based mediums is that you can really go into the minds of all the characters, even secondary ones. Meaning we get to really see how crazy those girls were.Well, to be fair, they were all perfectly sane girls who were all just suffering from an extreme bout of paranoia. :biggrin:

[TomServoFan]

Awesome and controversial cult Japanese sci-fi action thriller finally made it's US debut about 5 months ago prior to the similar "Hunger Games" to cash-in on Hunger Games and after years of having R0 imports from Asia Anchor Bay finally gave the US it's debut and my god on blu-ray it looks and sounds awesome.

It's about a futuristic society gone wrong and students are going against the school systems, so the Japanese government creates a program in which junior high kids are forced to kill each other on an island for 3 days until one is the victor but however 2 lovebird students don't want to fight as they want a way to escape the hellhole.

Brutally violent and disturbing with a good storyline and smart social satire, this is one of my fave sci-fi movies of the last decade and it's one of those death-sport movies like Running Man, Rollerball, Death Race 2000, Escape 2000 (aka Turkey-Shoot) or the recent Hunger Games movie.

Check it out if you want something different outside the mainstream and see why it's a cult movie.

[king mob]

Has it really only come out in the US? Bloody hell.

[Romero]

I saw it on Netflix like 7 years ago maybe? Certainly not blu-ray but not some cheap black market import either...

[DeadXMan]

got it wat back in the day from my LCS

[Arvandor]

Film is indeed great.

But not a patch on the novel.

Which is itself not a patch on the manga.

[DeadXMan]

Has it really only come out in the US? Bloody hell.



In wide release, yes. it was never offically band here, but distriputers did not want to release it after Colobine.

[Alex]

Kitano is fantastic in the movie, every scene he is in...which i think is only like 2 or 3, he completly owns and makes awesome.

[DeadXMan]

TBT I like the manga better.

it got more into the players backstories.

I am thinking about ordering the novel all of this was based on.


http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Royale-Novel-Koushun-Takami/dp/1421527723/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1350181405&sr=1-1&keywords=battle+royale

[Eliseu Gouveia]

Hard to believe some of those kids were just 15 at the time.

12 years after the fact, I wonder how many of them managed to build a career in show bizz.
I know 3-4 of them made it but the rest of the 40 or so...

<- tempted to do a "where are they now" research

[Bad Wolf]

Chiaki Kuriyama has been in a lot of stuff (she's probably most well-known in the U.S. for Kill Bill.)

It's a fun movie but a little too far-fetched to take too seriously.

[jesse_custer]

Like The Hunger Games, Battle Royale is overrated. However, I would rather watch Battle Royale because at least it's honest.

[Eliseu Gouveia]

Chiaki Kuriyama has been in a lot of stuff (she's probably most well-known in the U.S. for Kill Bill.)

kou "Mitsuko" shibasaki also seems to have made a career, she´s a songstress and an awarded actress.

Kou1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b_8yTBxirg)

Kou 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifzb51eof0A)

Saw her recently in the 2001 movie GO, where she starred next to "Kawada".

[Leocomix]

Never saw it but I saw the first volumes secondhand and bought them. Chapters 1-24 are pretty good.

[marshal99]

kou "Mitsuko" shibasaki also seems to have made a career, she´s a songstress and an awarded actress.

Kou1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b_8yTBxirg)

Kou 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifzb51eof0A)

Saw her recently in the 2001 movie GO, where she starred next to "Kawada".

Yeah , Kou Shibasaki has done fairly well for herself since Battle Royale. She was in one missed call and the poor knock-off sequel to Stephen chow "Shaolin Soccer" called "Shaolin Girl" where it's women's lacross and featuring 2 of the actors from Shaolin Soccer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hquI_ushqzU

She also appeared in a small role in the underrated supernatural romance movie "Yomigaeri" as a singer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff6CxVMd2WE

Chiaki Kuriyama also appeared in a supernatural romance movie of her own "Last Quarter".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CQnO26EGZo

[T Hedge Coke]

Film is indeed great.

But not a patch on the novel.

Which is itself not a patch on the manga.

I still the think the novel's the best of them, though the movie and its sequel are sharp as hell.