Hey folks, Harry here with more on BATTLE ROYALE! God this must play AUSTIN NOW! I want to see it! I've been wandering around Battle-Royale.Com aimlessly for a bit, not being able to understand what any of the symbols mean... but just hoping that some of them say ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE, AUSTIN TEXAS... NEXT WEEK.... but alas my hopes are not through the roof that those words are on that page.... YET..... Check out this batch... plus additional weirdness!

Hello Harry,

I too attended the U.S. premiere of the Kenji Fukasaku film Battle Royale last night at the Egyptian theater in Los Angeles. Even though I've already read a couple of opinions from fellow ticket holders, this movie was so good, I felt I still needed to include my two bits, and shed some light on the point of what some people think is a pointless film.

I must first say that the main reason I wanted to see Battle Royale was because of one of its supporting characters played by Takeshi "Beat" Kitano (whose birthday was actually yesterday). I've been a huge fan of Kitano ever since I saw his amazing film Sonatine a few years ago, and I have a good collection of his movies on DVD. I've yet to be let down by a Takeshi Kitano film, whether he's acting, directing ,writing or editing it, Kitano's movies never cease to inspire me.

So when I heard he was co-staring in a new film by longtime director Kinji Fukasku, I instantly knew that I had to see this movie. Then I began hearing reports on its controversial violence, and the push by the Japanese political authority to outright ban the movie from theaters throughout Japan. I've never been a squeamish film-goer, so this only intensified my desire to see the film. Having just been released in the Land of the Rising Sun last December, my heart sank as I knew there would probably be a long wait for Battle Royale to make its American debut, and as I read more about the controversies surrounding the film, I began to fear I might never see it all.

Lo and behold, I was flipping through the pages of my LA Weekly publication last week when I happened upon on add for a screening of Kenji Fukasaku's latest film Battle Royale, premiering one night only at the Egyptian theater here in LA as part of a two week retrospective of Fukasku's 60 film career. Now, there are moments in ones life when one feels as though they've been blessed, and I certainly knew at that moment that I had been smiled upon by the cinema gods. They gave me a chance to see this movie I was coming very close to obsessing over, and I knew there was no possible way I would miss seeing Battle Royale (short of a rolling blackout). It was a miracle.

So I grabbed a buddy, and we made our trek to the newly restored Egyptian theater. Before the film started, Fukasaku himself introduced the film through the assistance of a translator. He expressed his gratitude at the turnout and thanked all of us for showing up to watch Battle Royale--the first screening of the film outside of Japan. He mentioned how theaters were selling out in his country, and attributed that fact to the overwhelming support that the "young people" were showing towards his film. Fuksaku went on to explain how the Japanese PTA and politician's were pushing to ban the movie from all theaters. He continued by saying the Japanese film board gave Battle Royale a rating of R-15 (meaning, I suppose, that no one under the age of 15 would be allowed into theaters showing the movie.) Fukasaku then joked that he wished the film would have gotten something like an R-50 rating, thus preventing anyone over 50 from viewing the film. This got quite a laugh from the audience. Everyone applauded as Fukasaku stepped aside, the theater darkened, and the movie began.

Battle Royale has some brilliant moments, and the prelude was that--simply brilliant. We discover in the not-too-distant-future that kids have become much more aggressive, tend to "boycott" (I assume skip) school to an alarming degree, and have generally just become a nuisance. But what else is new? Because of these facts, the adult authorities enacted a law instituting "Battle Royale", a deadly game where once a year, a single jr. high school class is chosen at random, taken to a deserted island where they are forced to kill each other until only one remains (sort of like Highlander, except much, much better). If, after three days, more than one person still survives, everyone dies as explosive neck collars are detonated, opening the arteries of the remaining contestants.

Now, on to the brilliant opening scene. The film comes to life as an overly dramatic, but a well done musical score blasts over the Toho Film logos. We see a group of news reporters in a frenzy. The winner of the latest "Battle Royale" has returned. Helicopters buzz in the sky overhead, military personnel push and shove people out of the way as they make room for the survivor.

One of the reporter yells into her microphone, "The winner is a girl! She's holding something!"

We can barely glimpse the young girl through the throng of people swarming around here.

The reporter continues, "She's holding a teddy bear!"

We then see the young teenage girl tightly clutching a stuffed teddy bearsmiling maniacally into the camera, the glean of braces covering her teeth.

Cut to black. Film titles "BATTLE ROYALE"

I can think of no other way to say this than... Kick ass! There were rounds of applause, and a few "oh, my god"'s whispered throughout the theater. It set the perfect mood for the rest of the film. At that moment, I knew, and I believe the rest of the audience knew as well, that for the next 90 minutes, we were in for a hell of a ride.

I don't want to spoil too much of the movie, but there's one more scene I simply have to mention that again, I believe falls within the purview of brilliant. After the current jr. high school class, consisting of 42 students, has been abducted to the island, their former teacher Kitano, played superbly by Takeshi Kitano (I have a feeling that part was written specifically with him in mind), begins to explain the situation the students are in, and what they will be facing for the next 72 hours. To further elucidate, Kitano plays a video tape narrated by a cute and perky Japanese girl who further elucidates on the rules and regulations of Battle Royale. The way Kitano plays against the video is so damn funny, and he does a great job of also making you feel very unsettled and disturbed at the same time, while retaining a very child-like attitude during the whole proceeding, that is until he flings a knife into the head of one of the students for whispering during the video presentation.

The entire film is one great ride. There's a fantastic sequence in a lighthouse that I will not spoil here as it's too damn good to give away in such a cruel manner by the written word to those who haven't seen the movie. Even the end continues to surprise with it's originality. And although there are some very violent scenes, there are conversely some quite humorous ones as well. Occasionally, the humor and violence would occur simultaneously, thus keeping the viewer in a constant state of being on the edge of their seat.

And speaking of the violence, I have to say... I think it's being slightly exaggerated. Don't get me wrong, there are some terribly violent and bloody moments in the film, but it's nothing compared to something like Salo or Men Behind the Sun (which I couldn't even get through) or even Saving Private Ryan. In my opinion, I never felt that the violence was exploitative either. They keep the exploding collars to a minimum [I must say here that I really felt they handled the exploding collars very well, and they didn't resort to the old head exploding bit seen in a few other films that feature explosive neck collars. Instead, when they detonate, they simply open up the arteries in the neck, which actually made for a more disturbing scene than a gory melon being blown to bits.] The violence is shocking, sure--one scene in particular had every man in the audience grasping their genitals and wincing in pain--but so is the violence in Goodfellas and Reservoir Dogs, and countless other films. In my opinion, this isn't violence for violence's sake. It's just a well made action movie. And unlike most Arnold Schwarzenegger films where the big guy kills someone gruesomely, then whips out a snazzy one-liner, the deaths in Battle Royale have true repercussions and are much more potent emotionally as these children are forced to kill their friends and lovers. I kept finding that I was identify with these kids quite a bit in this movie, wondering what I would do if I were in their situation.

All of the acting was excellent as well. Although the only actor I was familiar with was Takeshi Kitano (it just goes without saying that he was awesome), all of the kids put in very convincing portrayals. I was quite impressed. I was also pleased to note that the jr. high school students spoke like jr. high school students should speak, unlike a show like Dawson's Creek where the writers are trying to pander to kids as Kierkegaarian scholars. There's one scene in particular that was at once amusing and tragic all at once. A girl, having been shot, is quickly dying. The boy who had a crush on here has sworn to stay by her side until the end. The girl thinks I want to say just one more thing to him before I die. She then turns to the boy and proclaims "You're so cool..." Whereby the boy responds while crying "I think you're cool too. You're the coolest girl in the world." It was a touching scene, a funny scene, and a tragic scene all rolled into one. There aren't many films being produced these days that have any of those elements in them, let alone all three in the span of a few seconds.

Finally, I feel I must editorialize what I believe is the theme, or central point of the film, as many people seem to think Battle Royale is a pointless execution in extreme violence. The film deals quite a bit with the concept of trust--how the adults don't trust the children, thereby enacting "Battle Royale", how the children don't trust the adults, and how the children don't trust the other children as they're frantically trying to survive on an island where everyone else is out to kill them. Several times in the film one of the participants states how you can't trust anyone. You begin to wonder if the film is just a cynical view on life, but... well, I'm not going to spoil it for you, as I believe amidst the brutality and violence, there is actually a good, if not somewhat obvious message being told throughout the carnage.

So let me sum this up... Battle Royale is a great film, not for the squeamish, but not as bad as everyone would lead you to believe as far as the violence is concerned. It's a very fun ride, with some truly touching and dramatic moments as well. I highly recommend this film, particularly to all those people out there who enjoy that TV show Survivor, as I believe there's a lot in Battle Royale that parallels that program.

Hecubus

P.S. Before the film started, a speaker got up before the audience and stated that this two week retrospective of Kinji Fukasaku's films is touring throughout the country and will be heading to Cleveland, Portland, Toronto, and New York I believe. However, if you live in a big city, I would be doing some research to find out if Battle Royale will be playing in a local movie house. Because if you blink, you might miss out on the chance to see a truly original and incredibly cool ride of a film.

Now, lest you think every single person on planet earth loved it.... Here comes someone that liked it, but didn't think it was 'all that'. So here ya go...

Harry,

If my computer was up and running I would've emailed you last night about Battle Royale, but I have to add to the comments already posted, which is basically I don't think Battle Royale was all that.

The only reason why the movie works, and believe me it makes it worth seeing, is on the strength of the concept of 42 kids on an island who have to kill each other until only one survives. However, outside of that and a few decent gruesome deaths, everything else is a real cliche.

There's the virtuous couple you KNOW are going to survive, the renegade who must plot revenge, the slut who you know will get their comeuppance, the brainiacs, etc. etc. All the while Beat Takeshi plays his role as the teacher/puppetmaster with a campy glint in his eyes.

It's also to take the movie well when nearly everyone dies with that pat way of saying one...last...word... and then just slumping over and closing their eyes as if to say "poof, I'm dead". I wouldn't mind that if one character dies that way but EVERYONE dies that way...a testament to the inexperience of these young actors.

Given the controversy, the gore was nothing that exciting. People not accustomed to gore will be shocked, but true gore fans should note that, even with it's R-15 rating in Japan, this IS a mainstream studio movie (Toho) so it's not that gruesome.

Overall it's OK and certainly worth checking out, but believe me it's not worth all the praise of the other 2 opinions you have posted.

Repojay

Alright... Now I know you've been curious to learn what those bizarre strange figures all over the place on this page are.... Well BATTLE ROYALE may be some sick as can be stuff, but who says it ain't MERCHANDIZABLE!!!!????? I love the Japanese dearly.... My wallet and my watch are both from there, because only there could these things these cool be made!

Although this does'nt count as a scoop or anything, I thought I'd send some pics and a little backstory, since you'd been running Battle Royale posts over the last couple of weeks.

Medicom, a toy/hobby company in Japan produces a line of Lego-esque cute figures named Kubricks. They produce these Kubrick figures from various anime licenses such as Mazinger, Tetsuwan Atom (Astro Boy), and Evangelion to little SWAT guys complete with machine guns and gas masks.

Anyway, I'd seen a couple of new sets on the Medicom website ( http://www.medicomtoy.co.jp ) that I could'nt figure out what the hell they were from. With the help of the great guys at http://www.toyboxdx.com (an incredible toy/anime/diecast site ran by the best bunch of robot gimps around), they informed the world that Battle Royale Kubricks were here! Here's a couple of pics of the little figures (the kids even have explosive collars).....now who would'nt pay for a chibi-sized version of Takehashi Kitano!

JodyCody