Battle Royale: The Complete Collection [Blu-ray]
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One Of The Most Controversial Film Series Of All Time
Now Available For The First Time In America
In 2000, director Kinji Fukasaku unleashed BATTLE ROYALE, his violently poetic epic about an innocent group of Junior High students forced by the government to hunt and kill their classmates for sport. It was nominated for 10 Japanese Academy Awards, launched a global phenomenon, and banned from screens by frightened civic groups and distributors across America. Three years later, the equa
Battle Royale: The Complete Collection [Blu-ray]
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We, who are about to die…,,
So. At long last, the controversial film “Battle Royale” gets an official US release.
I suppose we have The Hunger Games to thank for that, bringing new interest to this film, as well the distance from the 2003 death of director Fukasaku Kinji. Fukasaku, a pacifist and anti-violence activist, is best known in Japan for his series Battles Without Honor & Humanity. He opposed an American release of “Battle Royale” fearing that Americans would not see the deeper message and only be excited by the violence, which was the opposite intention of his film.
Based off of the 1999 novel of the same name by Takami Koshun, Fukasaku also added his personal experience during WWII to “Battle Royale.” As a child working in a munitions factory, when the Americans dropped bombs on the factory Fukasaku and the rest of the children would fling themselves into a dogpile. Afterwards the protected ones on the bottom would dig themselves out from the burned corpses on top. This experience taught Fukasaku something about the will to survive even at the cost of the deaths of friends, and lead to his hatred and distrust of government and bureaucracy that would willingly send children to their deaths in such a manner.
“Battle Royale” is often compared to Lord of the Flies, but that is a bit of a misnomer. “Lord of the Flies” was about reverting to primitivism, whereas “Battle Royale” is a futuristic cautionary tale in the tune of 1984 and Brave New World. The caution at work here is the threat of absolute bureaucracy, and the dangers of the loss of the value of life and respect in a rules-dominated society. This is a threat quite apparent in modern Japan.
The actors in “Battle Royale” all deliver excellent performances, including the amazing talent “Beat” Kitano Takeshi playing the appropriately named “Kitano.” Because the film was not directed by Kitano, it lacks his beautiful visual style. It does, however, feature one of his riveting paintings. There is a good range of responses from the various actors playing the students, from outright suicide, to panic, to a drive to win to a drive to help. Unfortunately, the character of Kazuo Kiriyama (the machine gun boy) is woefully underdeveloped, and instead of the fierce, cold genius of the book he is a somewhat characterless villain.
While a violent film, I wouldn’t characterize “Battle Royale” as an action film, or a horror film. Anyone looking for a Hong Kong-style action film should realize that Japan and China are quite different countries with different approach to movies.. “Battle Royale” retains the quietude and patient pacing that is the hallmark of Japanese cinema, and which leaves some viewers bored, who are used to a quicker pacing. The bloodshed, while in great quantity, is also more cartoony in nature, which is also more typical of Japanese films, which does not favor a naturalistic approach.
Ii is important to remember that “Battle Royal” was not made for US audiences. There is an expectation of familiarity with Japanese history, as well as modern societal issues. Familiarity gives some necessary perspective to this controversial movie, and helps frame it as more than exploitation. It is a political statement, with a subtle message underlying the overt violence. Along with this, knowledge of Japanese culture deepens the understandings of certain scenes, such as when Kitano performs the prescribed exercises, and the training video shown at the beginning. Without understanding, these scenes might come off as merely quaint or odd.
This collection also features the sequel, “Battle Royale II.” This was made after Fukasaku Kinji’s death, and was directed by his son Fukasaku Kenta. The sequel is vastly inferior, and not even really worth watching. It is nice to have for completeness sake, I suppose, but that is the best that can be said about it.
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|The Shocking Japanese Classic Available As A Stand-Alone Or In A Four Disc Set,
With the emergence of “The Hunger Games” phenomenon of the last few years, the inevitable comparisons between that franchise and the cult novel “Battle Royale” by Koushun Takami have been plentiful. Sure, the two do share strong thematic and narrative similarities, but each has a distinctly unique vibe and explores the back story behind the violence in a different way. The film adaptation of “Battle Royale” by director Kenji Fukasaku garnered almost instant international notoriety in 2000 for its disturbingly bleak portrait of kids set upon one another in a violent death match. Despite being banned and reviled by many, the story’s visceral and emotional punch was hard to deny. It was nominated for numerous Japanese Academy Awards including Best Film, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Screenplay and won that country’s “Popularity Award.” The rumor that Hollywood was flirting with an American remake has been circulating for years, but some seem to think that the film adaptation of “The Hunger Games” might have hurt the likelihood of this occurrence. In any event, I never had high hopes that an American interpretation could rival the original.
“Battle Royale” is being released in two incarnations, a film only DVD/ Blu-ray or “The Complete Collection” DVD/Blu-ray.
Film Only: This includes the Director’s Cut of the film. First, the story is about a future Japan whose economy is in collapse and whose crime rate is spiraling out-of-control. In an effort to temper this uptick in violence by the juvenile population, the government has sanctioned an annual contest. In the movie, forty-two middle school aged students are dropped off and left to battle one another for survival. They are armed and coerced into fighting, for there can be only one winner left alive. As often as I’ve seen this movie, it never fails to shock and disturb me as it is exceptionally intense and powerful. Some complain that it isn’t as “good” as the source novel (which is a pretty common argument with most translations from the page to the screen), but I think this is a daring and audacious film that succeeds fully on its own merits. I’m not, however, a huge fan of the Director’s Cut. I don’t think the extra footage adds appreciable value to the movie and I don’t love the extended finale. This version has no special features.
Complete Collection (4 discs): The four discs are (1) Director’s Cut of the film (see above), (2) Theatrical Cut, (3) 2003′s “Battle Royale II” and (4) Bonus Content Disc. While I would certainly consider the original “Battle Royale” as a classic, its sequel is less so. It carries the same concept over to a new class with some variations on the original theme, but the major difference is that an underground plot by an unexpected terrorist cell plays a large part in this year’s action. It’s solid enough, I like it. It just lacks the emotional kick of the first film.
Bonus Disc Content included in Complete Collection only. This is on a standard DVD even in the Blu-Ray set (but all three films are on Blu-ray). The Making Of BATTLE ROYALE, BATTLE ROYALE Press Conference, Instructional Video: Birthday Version, Audition & Rehearsal Footage, Special Effects Comparison Featurette, Tokyo International Film Festival 2000, Battle Royale Documentary, Basketball Scene Rehearsals, Behind-The-Scenes Featurette, Filming On-Set, Original Theatrical Trailer, Special Edition TV Spot, TV Spot: Tarantino Version. It’s a lot of Bonus Material, but it has been used on Special Edition International versions of the DVD and is not new to this set (although now it is subtitled appropriately). Blu-Ray films have 1080p video and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtracks. KGHarris, 1/12.
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