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review: battle royale (2000)
By vrtualme | April 18, 2007
The Asian cult classic Batoru rowaiaru (aka battle royale 2000) puts a class of 9th graders on a deserted island and forces them to kill or be killed. They are each tagged with an electric neck collar, given a random weapon and told that at the end of three days there can be only one. If there is more than one student still alive than they will all die. Plain and simple. More than just the typical gore fest; the psychological aspects are really interesting. Like Lord of the Flies (1990) before it, it deals with social dynamics. But what I really liked was that they explored the personal moral issue of what would you do if you were forced to kill your classmates? Your best friends? I’d love for them to make an American version of this one, but don’t believe it would ever make it past the censors. Kids killing kids, oh no! Anyway, if you’d like this type of movie than you’ll really like this movie.