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Such a frustrating disappointment

Sorry, this movie sucks

Nice effects though.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I have read some people comment that this film is harrowing, brilliant, compelling etc. I can only ask, what the f##k are these people smoking?This film is so bad that is an inadvertent comedy. The acting, plot, cheesy scenes of violence, all of it is utter garbage. This film is so bad that it's good. Quite possibly the worst film ever made

Subjected to a government sanctioned program in which they have to hunt and kill each other, a group of high school students reevaluate their lives in this controversial thriller from Japan. Sometimes cited as a horror movie, 'Battle Royale' is actually more of a black comedy with an insanely peppy instructional video plus a demented deadpan performance by Takeshi Kitano as a former teacher who takes discipline to a whole new level while running the program. This black comedy edge is, however, not always present with the film taking some unwise dips into melodrama as teens recall crushes and friendships. With over forty students in the class, very few are fleshed out in depth either, which makes it difficult to get emotionally invested, and while the killing methods vary, there remains something repetitive in just watching countless teenagers die. The film additionally concludes with too many loose threads for its own good. For all its shortcomings though, the film still resonates in the mind long after it is over and with the way the teens are cheered on and encouraged to kill one another, it is easy to see the film as a metaphor for a society that encourages young people to be ruthless in pursuit of their dreams. Kitano also has one surefire memorable final scene and his energetic acting keeps the film chugging along even if he only appears sporadically.

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE AND THE BOOKAnime-style gun battles: people get shot dozens of times and suffer no ill effects, except the one bullet delivered after a "cool" or "gut-punching" line of dialogue.Due to the sheer amount of crushes there is hyper-inflation in the value of romance in this movie. In other words, if everyone is love with everyone else then there is actually zero meaningful romance in the movie.Interesting characters die quickly while boring characters survive. Interesting characters never fight against interesting characters, its always Boring vs Interesting. Imagine if Sickle Girl had to confront the heroes, or if Bleach Haired Guy had any characterization other than deadly guy who teleports around the island. You never think to yourself, "Oh no, two characters I'm rooting for are fighting each other!"Just pick two or three relationships with backstories! There's no point in squeezing an entire backstory between two characters in 90 seconds before they kill each other! Forget half of these stories! Take Track Suit Girl, build up the story -- ending with her stabbing her attempted rapist in the dick -- and make it bigger!The acting is awful. Every time a character does their death soliloquy and pantomimes dying it was laughable, especially Beat Takeshi! Who is supposed to be good!The use of classical music is the definition of pretentious: it shoots for deep meaning and falls flat on its stupid face. If its supposed to be a humorous juxtaposition then - no, this movie totally lacks humour and is entirely self-serious.There is no meaning in the movie. A statement on older generations abusing and destroying the futures of their children, this movie is not. This movie is about screaming and arterial spray. (In the book, Japan is a dystopian country ruled by a totalitarian government. The winner of the Battle Royale receives an income and an apartment for life. These two details give the work enough meaning to push it past the threshold from "exploitation film" to "John Carpenter-level commentary")As an exploitation film there are no memorable heroes or villains, just a couple of cool deaths, no stand out special FX, a lame-duck twist (Beat Takeshi was stabbed in the butt and that's when he decided to become... a lame dude...). IIRC the book's climatic battle is with characters lobbing grenades at each other while in a car chase. Probably outside this movie's budget :(

So I finally watched BR after all this time and I feel that the hipsters are really at it with this one. This movie hardly is a masterpiece 10 out of 10 title, it is above average at best. The best thing with BR is not its over the top cheesy action scenes but the very story it portrays about the younger generation lost and an aging nation that as I am writing this review is having a higher mortality rates than birth rates. Japan is a polite country, with a culture based on politeness and this culture is constantly at clash with the western values and the influence it has on its youth. This has led to a gap that is separating the youth of the past two decades from the older people of the nation, to add to this Japan has also turned into the land of virgins with many young people skipping the whole procreation act and the relationship etc altogether. So you can imagine that the actual story the movie is telling you is not about the disrespectful teens towards their elders but this divide in place that is sending the Japanese society towards some really dangerous spirals. No this movie is not about how teenagers would act if they got their hands on guns as some reviews claim. This isn't either some knock on the kind of entertainment the Japanese people enjoy (comics, games, anime, baseball etc) as yet some other reviews claim. This is pointing the finger at both sides. This is why this movie is important in some sense. However as mentioned before this is not a masterpiece and there are some reasons behind it. For example the acting is pretty shoddy and just weird. The story seems to actually skip the realities of such a situation. I was honestly very surprised that rape was barely a part of story. The fact that there are that many teenagers without any boundaries gives any of these teens with their crazy hormones the complete power and reason to do commit rape. While I don't say all of them would commit such a heinous act but there would be an inevitable incident. Something that I enjoyed was all the weird moments when a waltz was played throughout the movie. It was just completely weird and yet good enough to make me laugh. The greatest achievement of telling the story of youngsters growing up in a harsh Asian society and the struggle of aging nation is what saves this movie gracefully. Not a masterpiece but indeed worth a watch.