Battle Royale

Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Taro Yamamoto Takeshi Kitano, Chiaki Kuriyama, Ko Shibasaki, Masanobu Ando
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Written By: Kenta Fukasaku
Rating: 5/5 unicorns

42 ninth grade students wake up on a deserted island with a mysterious device on their necks. They are told that they have been selected to compete in the Battle Royale. The rule of the game is the participants have three days to kill each other until there is only one survivor. If they fail to do so their device will be activated and all of them will die. The students are each equipped with a bag that holds a weapon, map and rations of food and water.

I will be the first to admit that I had never heard about  Battle Royale before this past spring. I was voicing my disappointments after  finally seeing The Hunger Games(THG) with one of my friends. I was complaining about how THG failed to live up to the book. He mentioned that The Hunger Games was pretty much a rip off of Battle Royale. I did a little research and I found out that Battle Royale is a Japanese film that came out 12 years ago. It is based on a novel by the same name that came out in 1999. When Netflix matched me with the film a few weeks ago,  I decided to add Battle Royale to my queue. I finally watched the movie over the weekend and I have only one word to describe it, WOW!

Battle Royale is hands down the most intense and frightening film I have ever seen. At the same time there is a lot of humor as well. I can understand completely why it is a cult classic. It felt more like Lord of the Flies meets Clockwork Orange meets Kill Bill than a superior version of The Hunger Games.You really see the grotesqueness of these classmates killing each other. It is not watered down so it is easy to digest but graphic and unsettling. The film is a beautiful portrayal of survival and friendship. Interestingly these two elements are codependent and conflicting from each other. It was fascinating to see how friendships were formed and dissolved under these circumstances. What made this film so horrifying for me is that it is something that could totally happen now. It asks some tough questions and illustrates the complexities of human nature. There are individuals who are natural born killers, others that are self sacrificing and few that refuse to play the game at all. I would recommend this film for anyone who is interested in having a twisted thrill ride.