Movie Review : Battle Royale

It's not really supposed to be horror, more like violence throughout, but no other choice so whatever and I finally finished watching this movie.

I'll try not to write too much. Actually, there's nothing much to write about cos it's just frenzy killings all over, with lots of bloodshed and I really mean A LOT!

The story is basically about these bunch of student, one class selected to undergo this Battle Royale Act ( it's a law made for lousy/or BAD students who skipped classes or just fooling around)

Rules are very simple for this law. They're dumped into this isolated island and then with 3 days limit, they're provided with various weapons, now, if you are lucky, u'll get a machine gun or say...knife or axe...but if not, then u get stuffs like metal lids, or just a binocular...and they have to kill each other off until one stands alive in the end. but if 3 days arrived, and more than one survives, all of them will be blown to death, they have this colar they wear on the neck...so it's simple.

The casts:

1. Shuya----> Apparently he's the main character BUT I dont really liked him. It's blunt and straight but true. I think if they actually made him a small actor or something, it'd have been so much better! Seriously, he doesn't exactly have much to do here, there's no real feelings that he had to generate, he's just mostly trying to protect this friend of his, and fear (i guess anybody could've easily done his part afterall) this is defnitely one of the letdowns in this movie.

2. Noriko----> She is the friend he's trying to protect. This actress is mediocore, nothing spectacular, apparently it seems like the protagonists in this movie doesn't have much stuffs to act, except running away, looking scared or terrified all over till the end. And it's just weird when they dont get hurt much at all...

3. Kawada---> He's half protangonist, half bad guy. He's good. Especially flashing back and just different emotions flowing in his character. He helped those two up there, but in the end he died anyway...and one wonders why...after what he did. Sigh...

4. Mitsuko----> Among all the girls, this is the one that stood out. I prefer her over the lead actress. Although she's bad here, and violent, but this movie's all about survival, and killing is like a normal thing for them when witnessing deaths over 3 days involving about 40 students. She's killed quite a few, there's one scene she could've easily taken Noriko's life, but because of Kitano's presence, she got terrified and ran away instead.

5. Kitano-----> I kinda hated him from the first scene he appeared. I hate his moody look, sober and treated everything as a game and he's responsible for the first two deaths even. He's the teacher and in charge of this sick game. It's obvious that somehow, he treated Noriko well. He wanted her to survive. and he helped her in some ways or other, watch it and you'll see.

The Pros

1. This is a great directed movie filled with violence all over the place involving 9th graders students. Killing each other off like it felt nothing. This definitely brings out the fear and strength of these kids under these kinds of circumstances.

2. Murder scenes are believable, if not pretty fine and the blood seemed real. this is because in lots of movies I've watched, they can't even mix Blood well. They look fake most of the time, but this passed incredibly. Although it might feel kinda unrealistic towards the end cos u've seen lots of blood and it somehow looked rather dull at one point.

3. Acting-----> These bunch of kids are great, except for the lead male. Anybody could've taken his role and maybe could've done a whole lot better than him. I dont even understand why they took him back for the sequel even. Then again, the sequel isn't as great and classic as this one. The dying scenes are umm....awesome?

4. The ending makes u wonder a lot. After visiting some sites, I got almost every twist now i suppose. And it'll open ur mind to the beauty of this movie, well crafted and I like it's sarcacism. Classical music in this movie? It cant get any better than that.

The Cons

Only one. I would have wished they changed the lead male and exchanged him with the other casts like maybe the guy who made the bomb or something.

I'm sure you all would ask, Is it worth watching?

The answer is Yes! and I shall recommend it to anyone. No doubt it's a bit violent, but it makes u think a LOT. Just like a lot of japanese movies, it makes u think after the ending.