Battle Royale

Advance word on 'Battle Royale' had been built up by quite a lot of online hype, so it was with much curiosity and trepidation that I approached the film when it arrived on DVD.

As is more often the case these days with genre movies, the plot is incredibly simple...it's the near future, unemployment is high and school kids have grown more disrespectful than ever - skipping classes en masse, abusing and assaulting teachers - the 'grown ups' have become fearful of the young generation and bring in a new law to strike back at them and to try regain control through using the same tactics of violence and fear. Hence of the 'B.R. Act' or Battle Royale as it is better known - a class of school kids is selected at random and under the allusion that they are going on a 'school trip' they are hijacked and taken to a deserted island where they are informed that they have three days to survive, there may only be one winner. Each kid has explosive packed tracer attached to their necks and are given some food, water and a randomly selected weapon (which can be anything from a handy Uzi to a not so lucky pan lid!) Fear and paranoia set in very swiftly and the killing very quickly commences...

Violent, bloody and emotive - 'Battle Royale' is a very high quality production that exceeded my expectations indeed. The film wastes no time whatsoever diving right into action and rarely lets slip throughout its lengthy duration. Interestingly, the film plays its viewers in two directions and thus should garner a wide interest even outwith the genre scene. On one hand, it's an out and out exploitation film where the scene is set quickly and then we're taken on a bloody murderous rollercoaster ride. On the other hand, there is (what no doubt the broadsheet journalists will pick up as being) a strong social commentary on the growing barrier between modern youth and the older generation who are fearful of losing control, as well as the inevitable commentaries on the collapse of the education system and the current interest in reality TV shows like 'Big Brother'. Don't believe me? Just wait until papers like The Guardian etc start covering the film in their usual pandering art-house pseudo intellectual manner! Exploitation flick or social commentary? Who cares - either way it's a damn fine film and an excellently accomplished one to boot.

Kinji Fukasaku's direction is gorgeous throughout, both stylish and very atmospheric and is edited nicely to keep the pace of the proceedings moving along a treat. Another thing that adds bags of class to the production is the use of a selection of famous 'classical' music pieces which adds to the film no end, adding to the emotive nature of some scenes and complements Fukasaku's direction perfectly. I was curious to note that although I had heard some grumblings of disappointment from some horror fans early opinions of the film with regard to the films violence level, I actually was surprised and pleased to see what was in fact quite a bloody and violent movie that didn't disappoint me on that level either. Ok, there's no intestines being ripped out or eyes being gouged, but plenty enough bloody carnage to keep this old boy smiling!

Another curious point is this early DVD release from (ahem, yeah right) Universe in Hong Kong. The disc screams bootleg from the moment you pick it up and glance at the cover (which is a decent enough 'Paintshop' paste together job!) The film itself on show has obviously been mastered from the official VCD release, but in all honesty I don't see this as a major problem. The widescreen image is pretty sharp throughout with only a few moments of digital blocking faintly rearing its ugly head, but in the main the image is very strong indeed. The audio is ok also, with a 2.0 mono track that pumps through all speakers clearly with only a couple of moments where some background silence hiss noticeable on the audio track. The english subtitles are burned onto the image and are fair enough but do suffer now and again from the white on white syndrome that plagues many asian releases. And as you would expect, the disc contains no extras whatsoever, there's the film and a menu screen - that's your lot.

So, it's a mixed bag on whether or not you would want to buy this at this time. To be honest, I'm actually happy with this DVD release. The film is excellent and is no doubt going to be quite a hit in the genre scene (as well as with the aforementioned 'art-house' crowd), the disc is decent enough quality to appease those of us that are keen to check it out. On the other hand, Tartan will in time be releasing a lovely anarmorphic widescreen version that will no doubt blow this version away in every aspect - I know I'll definitely be picking that one up when it's available also and so should you. Brilliant film and an ok disc for the impatient!

Review by Alan Simpson