Review of Battle Royale (2000) by John M — 28 Apr 2012

Easy to see how this came to be a cult classic. So Battle Royale takes place in a universe where so many kids are boycotting school in Japan that the Battle Royale Act has been passed by the adults. To explain, they choose a class at random and ship them away to a remote and deserted island, arm them, and let them loose on each other.

The rules of the game make it so that there is no way around this kill or be killed mentality, and it is very clear that it is everybody vs. everybody, and if you are the last man standing, you get to go home.

It's a bit odd for me seeing this one so late in the game; about once a year or so, there's a knockoff of this movie, whether it be The Condemned, Smokin' Aces, The Tournament or even Operation: Endgame, so it is refreshing to see the premise done right.

One angle that I really loved is the fact that these are all ninth graders; they're still going through the same emotional problems kids of that age would be experiencing, and the fact that they all have to become killers is layered on top of that.

You could argue that it is a little gimmicky, with the scorecard popping up every other scene, but I would argue right back that it is a gimmick that works. It's chaos and mayhem like no other and you should accept no imitators.