Battle Royale II

B and Cult Movies rating : 4 stars
Year of Release : 2009
Movie Certification : 18
Running Time : 133 mins
Genre : Action/ Thriller
Starring : Tatsuya Fujiwara, Ai Maeda, Shungo Oshinari, Ayana Saki, Riki Takeuchi

Ah, the Battle Royale films. You know. I’m sure I’ve played a few computer games very similar to this movie. I mean it. It reminds me of playing something like Call of Duty with the amount of violent war scenes involved. I’m not being critical but this is what it reminds me of.

Obviously the film is a follow up of the first Battle Royale film which gathered a big cult following and quite justifiably so. The world has descended into an age of terrorism and chaos, due to the demented “grown ups” who have established the Battle Royale program. And for those of you who are not familiar with Battle Royale, the story goes like this: It is based on a fictional reality TV program where teenagers have been captured and put on an island where they are forced to battle to the death. Battle Royale II stars its original character Dhuya Nanahara who survived the first film by fighting his way to the prize, aka, the prize being survival. Nanaharas group, called ‘The Wild Seven’ are an anti state organisation that has declared war on the grown ups who force teenagers to kill each other under the Battle Royale Act. A coach load of school children are abducted and forced to hunt and kill Nanahara and the Wild Seven in less than 72 hours. Their abductors have attached necklaces onto them which will explode if they do not complete their missions or do not stick by the Battle Royale rules.

As you can probably imagine when reading the summary. The film is full of violence, blood, war and all that kind of stuff. It is literally a battle to the death. The actors have a really good grip on their roles and Tatsuya Fujiwara plays an excellent war torn and emotionally disturbed Nanahara. Shungo Oshinari who plays Takuma, who is one of the teenagers who have been abducted, has really good potential as an actor. If you have not seen Battle Royale and you are around 15 minutes into the movie, you would probably think that Shungo would be the main character, and in a sense he is, well, at least one of the main characters. But really the lead role stands with Nanahara. Nanahara has become a diehard killer after three years on the island and is full of remorse but definitely the ultimate survivor. Of course, in a movie like this that is full of death and war, you also find characters that are bolder than others. There is a scene where the hunters meet the Wild Seven and they blame them for the war. As the movie progresses compassion between the groups is formed. The mean and nasty teacher Riki is a little hard to take seriously, but let’s face it, you don’t exactly watch a film like Battle Royale II to take it seriously.

There is definitely an anti regime feel to the film and it shows a dislike and rebelliousness to government control. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that when Nanahara gives a speech on peace and freedom that he mentions countries that have had major political problems. The camera work suits the film really well and gives you a feeling of being with the characters by moving along with the characters when they are running in a fighting scene. It doesn’t take long for the action to kick off at the start of the film and the directors, Kinji Fukasaku and Kenta Fukasaku, build this up with some pretty intense classical music which works really well. The Battle Royale necklaces are definitely one of the major stars of the show and create an uneasy feeling throughout. But it’s not all violence. The characters become attached and more dependent on each other as the film moves along. This helps to dramatise the plot which becomes less silly as you get more gripped.

Personally, I really liked Battle Royale II and I might even say just as much as the first film. When I put the film on at first I thought it was going to be fun but a little daft. Now don’t get me wrong, being a b and cult movie fan, daft and fun in a film does not bother me. But as the movie progressed so positively did the plot. I know that there has been a lot of criticism on Battle Royale II, and of course this has to be expected with a sequel of any kind. But I genuinely liked various factors of the film such as the cinematography, the actors and characters and of course the buckets of action. Once again world cinema proves there is more than just Hollywood.