Review of Battle Royale (2000) by Johnny T — 26 Feb 2014

Battle Royale is a controversial and violent parable of adolescence, heightening teenage melodrama with life-or-death stakes. Before The Hunger Games there was Battle Royale. The bloody spectacle of Japanese schoolchildren being forced into a sadistic game of "last man standing" packs an emotional wallop. As usual, Fukasaku directs Battle Royale with force and conviction, even as the tone of the picture veers back and forth from unabashedly ludicrous to deadly serious. The gory showdowns are well staged and initially pack a disturbing charge, but Fukasaku fails to develop any momentum from scene to scene, and the killings, which you expect to escalate in intensity, quickly become redundant and rote. Awful deaths (and hysterical reactions to them) punctuate declarations of love and friendship, revelations of treachery and heavily armed expressions of angst. What it does have is plenty of splatter, noise and energy. The film has no sense of progression; every other scene introduces us to a new victim and so the movie is constantly starting all over again. Battle Royale squanders its considerable potential almost immediately with a rocky opening. But movies this smug and determined in their ability to shock aren't shocking, just dull. Maybe Battle Royale's ultimate punchline is its inexplicable ability to fool some people into taking it seriously.

VERDICT: "In The Zone" - [Mixed Reaction] These kinds of movies are usually movies that had some good things, but some bad things kept it from being amazing. This rating says buy an ex-rental or a cheap price of the DVD to own. If you consider cinema, ask for people's opinion on the film. (Films that are rated 2.5 or 3 stars).