Battle Royale (2000)

Battle Royale Poster
Original Title: バトル・ロワイアル

In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.

Introduction
"Battle Royale", directed by Kinji Fukasaku, is a Japanese dystopian thriller film released in 2000. The screenplay, written by Kenta Fukasaku, is based upon the questionable 1999 book of the same name by Koushun Takami. The cast includes Takeshi Kitano, Tatsuya Fujiwara, and Aki Maeda.

Plot
"Battler Royale" is embeded in a dystopian alternative Japan, which has rabbit innovation and collapsing financial structures. The federal government takes on the issue of rebellious, disaffected youth by enacting the BR Act: every year, a 9th grade class is arbitrarily picked and taken to an isolated island where they are forced to kill each other up until just one survivor is left.

The unlucky class in this instance is Class 3-B, which includes the movie's two primary characters, Shuya Nanahara (Tatsuya Fujiwara) and Noriko Nakagawa (Aki Maeda), who share a mutual, hidden romantic love. The trainees are knocked unconscious, fitted with explosive tracking collars, and upon waking, informed by their previous instructor Kitano (Takeshi Kitano), who informs them the rules of the video game.

The Battle Theory
Each trainee is provided a bag with food, water, a map, compass, and a random weapon. A grim truth dawns when Kitano kills two students to emphasize the intensity of their scenario. The trainees are released, and the fight starts. The island's areas are subjected to sequential threat zones, engaging additional conflict among the trainees.

Amidst the carnage, some trainees play the game, others devote suicide, some try to find an escape, while others like Shuya and Noriko abuse their weapon and effort to discover a serene solution. The duo team with Shogo (Taro Yamamoto), a mysterious transfer student who seems to know a lot about the BR Act.

Fights and Resolve
The film primarily concentrates on the deadly fights, showcasing the horror, betrayal, short-term alliances, and the conflicting humanity when pressed to extremes. As the classmates dwindle, the staying ones include the 'wild cards', crazed student Mitsuko, and the cold, calculated Kiriyama, a transfer student who willingly joined the game.

Shogo exposes that he is a former winner of Battle Royale, playing once again under an initiative for winners who select to return. His plan is to undermine the video game and expose its brutality to the world. They suffer a major problem when Shuya is hurt badly, and Shogo single-handedly secures Mitsuko and Kiriyama.

The Climax
In the climax, only Shogo, Shuya, and Noriko remain. It seems that Shogo kills both Shuya and Noriko as part of the guidelines, but it is later revealed to be a ploy to deceive the organizers that he has emerged as the winner. Shogo permits Shuya and Noriko's collars to be removed and instructs them to leave, but not before Kitano confronts them. In the final showdown, Kitano is eliminated, and the duo, declared as fugitives, run away on a ship, vowing to stick together.

Total Impact
"Battle Royale" is a harsh and intriguing film, masterfully mixing components of black funny, social commentary, and intense action sequences. It stays as a cult motion picture that stimulates the unethical and extreme lengths to which a desperate society might go. The film indeed reflects the absurdities of a reality-show-bound society and the alienation of youth, making it a thought-provoking and chilling watch.

Top Cast

  • Tatsuya Fujiwara (small)
    Tatsuya Fujiwara
    Shuya Nanahara (Boy #15)
  • Aki Maeda (small)
    Aki Maeda
    Noriko Nakagawa (Girl #15)
  • Takeshi Kitano (small)
    Takeshi Kitano
    Kitano
  • Tar? Yamamoto (small)
    Tar? Yamamoto
    Shogo Kawada (Boy #5)
  • Masanobu Ando (small)
    Masanobu Ando
    Kazuo Kiriyama (Boy #6)
  • Ko Shibasaki (small)
    Ko Shibasaki
    Mitsuko Souma (Girl #11)
  • Chiaki Kuriyama (small)
    Chiaki Kuriyama
    Takako Chigusa (Girl #13)
  • Takashi Tsukamoto (small)
    Takashi Tsukamoto
    Shinji Mimura (Boy #19)
  • Sousuke Takaoka (small)
    Sousuke Takaoka
    Hiroki Sugimura (Boy #11)
  • Yukihiro Kotani
    Yôshitoki Kuninobu (Boy #7)
  • Eri Ishikawa (small)
    Eri Ishikawa
    Yukie Utsumi (Girl #2)