Battle Royale (2000) - 7/10

Battle Royale is one of the tougher films I've come across. Not only is it highly regarded amongst critics, but it is often cited by filmmakers as an influence on their work. The problem is I feel like I just don't get it. Even giving the 7/10 rating feels like a capitulation because I know, with an objective lens, this film has importance even though I didn't connect with it. Maybe the rubric will sort it out, but I almost feel disappointed in myself that I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. 

1. Acting

The acting in the movie is largely fine. I think there is two things to note for myself here:

a) The language/cultural barrier is causing me to miss some of the nuance. I am by no means a regular consumer of Japanese media, so I don't really have a litmus to judge the acting here. 

b) This film is written to be a hyper-realized parable. Its excesses are intentional. Therefore, I think some of my inability to connect to the film is the point... maybe? Or perhaps a better way to put it - I am likely not the target audience for the parable. 

2. Cinematography

I actually really enjoyed the cinematography of this film. The abandoned island has an odd sense of beauty to it and the shots, especially B-roll, spend some time highlighting that. It is a nice juxtaposition to the extreme violence occurring in the plot. 

I also really enjoyed all the different locales they shot at around the island. Each scene felt distinct and the variance in settings prevented this from just feeling like a generic jungle fight. 

3. Production/Costume Design

The costuming and set production felt like another strong point for the film. I'm not sure how much of the locations were just pre-existing structures versus fabricated, but the end result was the same. I always felt engrossed by the settings

4. Writing

The first time someone described this movie to me was something along the lines of 'what if The Hunger Games didn't suck'. That's really the bulk of the plot - a group of kids thrust into a lone survivor fight to the death in an isolated locale. What that description lacks however is a lot of the nuance around the script. 

This is also where I forgive myself a little bit for 'not getting it'. In my attempts to learn a little bit more about this film, I read through a bunch of different reviews. In them I saw a wide variety of descriptors that I found interesting. I saw this film described as a parable, a metaphor, controversial, melodrama, outrageous, action, horror, comedy, appalling, troubling, repulsive, weird, and a teen movie. And here's the thing, I think they are all correct. This film is trying to do a lot of different things and maybe in the fragmentation I lost the connection.  

However, after a bit of time I'll say this: I love the ambition and the effort. This is definitely a melodramatic 'teen movie'. It is definitely hyper violent and crosses many different genres. I didn't find it to be overly outrageous or shocking or anything like that; though that may just because its 25 years later and violence like this is more normalized onscreen now. I think, at the end of the day, the final product here is just a bit too muddled for me.

5. Sound Design

The sound effects for this film seem a bit outdated and I’m not sure if that is an intentional choice or a product of being a Japanese film or the result of budgetary limitation.

What I did end up really enjoying was the infusion of bombastic classical music and Masamichi Amano’s original score. It brought a high level of energy and combativeness that really matched the tone of the film.

6. Editing

I thought the editing of the film was really interesting. Its clunky and oddly paced. The flashbacks and dream sequences are weird. But somehow it all feels fitting for the multifaceted ambitions of the piece.

7. Visual Effects

Again, I’m unsure if the effects here are a product of the budget, stylistic choices or cultural differences. Yet, the film seems to walk a tight rope of B-movie sensitivities and gritty hyper-realism that I didn’t really question much as I was watching.

8. Originality or Strength of Adaptation

The film is an adaptation of a novel by the same name. Having not read it I wont comment on the debate of movie vs book. I’ll just remark quickly that the film likely suffers a bit from not having any breathing room to actually establish any of the characters. It at least tries to for the characters that appear the most, but the film is obviously constrained from any real character development for the bloated cast.

9. Stunt Coordination

Again, I just think I lack the familiarity to distinguish style from the norm. Taking the movie for just what it is, the stunts feel fitting within the world they created.

10. Direction

Kinji Fukasaku clearly had a vision for the film and, as I previously stated, I applaud it for its ambition even if I didn’t quite connect with it. Fukasaku drew inspiration from his experiences working in factories during WWII and his traumatic experiences during that time are the lifeblood of the children vs adult story playing out in the film.

Legacy/Final Thoughts

You’ll see this movie appear in ‘Top movie’ type lists across many different platforms and several accomplished filmmakers cite it as an inspiration. Additionally, a whole ‘Battle Royale’ sub-genre has grown in recent years in multiple types of media due to this film. Maybe with time I will grow to appreciate it more, but for now I will just have to admire it from afar.