Battle Royale (2000)

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Ninth grade students are taken to a small isolated island with a map, food and various arms. They have to fight each other three days long until the last one remains and are forced to wear a special collar which will explode when they break a rule (imdb)

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Directed By: Kinji Fukasaku

Written By: Kenta Fukasaku, Koushun Takami

Starring: Takeshi Kitano, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Yûko Miyamura, Masanobu Andô, Chiaki Kuriyama, Kou Shibasaki, Tarô Yamamoto, Aki Maeda, Sayaka Kamiya, Yukihiro Kotani, Eri Ishikawa, Aki Inoue

Genres: Drama, Sci-fi, Action, Adventure

Franchise: Battle Royale

AKA: Batoru rowaiaru

Country: Japan

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Battle Royale belongs to 65 collections

1. Empire's 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time (public: Ross - 36 stars)

2. The Guardian's 1000 films to see before you die (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 30 stars)

3. Onion AV Club: The New Cult Canon (collaborative: moderated by theficionado - 28 stars)

4. Based on a Book (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 21 stars)

5. List: Empire's 100 Best Films of World Cinema (collaborative: moderated by KasperL - 17 stars)

6. Edgar Wright 1000 Favorite Movies (Aug 2016) (collaborative: moderated by Aron Ericson - 17 stars)

7. Films available in HD (collaborative: moderated by kubricksucks - 13 stars)

8. Doubling The Canon (collaborative - 13 stars)

9. Cinema Discusso Yearly Consensus (2008) (public: PeaceAnarchy - 10 stars)

10. Based On Novel (collaborative: moderated by tathiel - 7 stars)

11. Asian Horror (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 6 stars)

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13. Cult Classics (collaborative: moderated by Jellysauce - 5 stars)

14. Times Online: The 100 Best Films of the Decade (collaborative: moderated by hristos - 5 stars)

15. Cinemag's 100 Greatest Movies of the '00s (collaborative: moderated by hristos - 5 stars)

16. Doubling The Canon (2010 update) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 5 stars)

17. Psychotic women (collaborative: moderated by mattburgess - 5 stars)

18. List: Empire's 301 Greatest Movies of All Time (collaborative: moderated by KasperL - 5 stars)

19. Top 3000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (public: fanfic - 5 stars)

20. Capsules, guest reviews, list candidates... (366weirdmovies) (collaborative: moderated by sesito71 - 4 stars)

21. Wikipedia's list of dystopian films (collaborative: moderated by ND Geek - 4 stars)

22. Dark films (public: Hadleyreis - 4 stars)

23. Blood Sport (collaborative: moderated by Sunsplitter - 3 stars)

24. 501 Movie Directors (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 3 stars)

25. Islands (collaborative: moderated by Hadleyreis - 3 stars)

26. Reddit Horror Club (collaborative: moderated by RoyalB - 3 stars)

27. someone kills people 1 by 1 (slasher film) (collaborative: moderated by livelove - 2 stars)

28. The Next Picture Show Podcast (collaborative: moderated by trippingly - 2 stars)

29. Cinema Sins (collaborative: moderated by Phantom Nook - 2 stars)

30. /r/Cyberpunk/wiki/movies (collaborative - 2 stars)

31. death game (collaborative: moderated by livelove - 2 stars)

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33. The Mammoth Book of Slasher Movies (book) (public: Ag0stoMesmer - 2 stars)

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35. Evil children (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 1 star)

36. Doubling the Canon (2011 update) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 1 star)

37. Toei (collaborative: moderated by edkrak - 1 star)

38. Doubling the Canon (2012 update) (collaborative: moderated by Cinephile - 1 star)

39. 4k Ultra HD discs owned (collaborative: moderated by dumbjaw - 1 star)

40. NME's 100 Greatest Rock 'N' Roll Films (collaborative)

41. Japanese Middle/High School Movies (collaborative)

42. Midnites @ The Coolidge (collaborative: moderated by TrixRabbi)

43. Arrow Video (collaborative: moderated by mattburgess)

44. Play Instant (collaborative: moderated by ForrestQ)

45. The Canon podcast (all films) (collaborative: moderated by psim)

46. The Canon podcast (only the Canon) (collaborative: moderated by psim)

47. simon (collaborative: moderated by f_ranzen)

48. tarantinobest (public: sonique)

49. Foreign - Japanese (public: NhanLa)

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60. The best films ever made in terms of sheer quality (public: JSchlansky)

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63. 2019 (public: cash)

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65. BI - Juven (public: Jobs-Bronson)

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All Ratings | With Reviews

Order by:

TCI | Percentile | Date Rated | # Stars (Reviews)

Stars	User	Rating
9	Luna6ix	79 _69th
You can see an impression of "Starship Troopers" in the political and sociological examination (even if it's superficially explained) and a clear influence from "The Running Man." This one is a pretty fun movie that will be forever compared to "The Hunger Games" only this one is good, it pulls no punches, and doesn't cater to twelve-year-old girls.
8	Anomaly	67 _43rd
The part that undeniably works is the beginning, where the students are introduced to the rules of the game, a scene that bleeds tension. The rest of the film can't decide what it wants to be, jumping between scenes of over-the-top violence and scenes of character building and flashbacks that rarely work. An uneven ride, and not strong enough in any one area to compensate for that.
8	Quicky	55 _30th
The main flaw in this movie, I think, is the way we watch the movie from an outsider's perspective. It would have been so much more powerful if we had been watching more often from the perspective of the two main characters. We see too much of the killing. I never really felt scared and it was never really that exciting. It all went too mechanically, too casually... I expected more from this movie.
7	Pickpocket	1 _12th
A cheesy and ridiculous fetishized killing spree that blatantly rips off Lord of the Flies and accomplishes nothing. When an action movie is boring you are left with almost nothing, and man is this boring.
4	saucyjack	70 _49th
Don't really understand the hype. Mediocrity personified with abrupt, distracting tonal shifts.
4	Shmendrek	2 _33rd
Nihilistic death pornography. If there is social commentary here, I don't want to watch a bunch of kids being murdered in order to find it.
4	Boobjuice	70 _66th
My friend brought this film directly from Japan and showed it to a bunch of people at a party. It had no subtitles, and she tried to translate the dialogue as best as she could... but she really didn't even need to. A bomb exploding on a kid's neck is worth a thousand words.
4	Philip	75 _75th
The acting is horrible, as is the script. It also summarizes everything that is wrong with Japanese culture. Still, it's good entertainment if you see it for what it is: mindless action. Any claim of social commentary is a joke.
4	chemtrails	75 _82nd
I've changed my mind, I like this movie now
3	BillyShears	80 _77th
Japanese schoolgirls sound like seagulls dying.
3	janus	70 _51st
Decent exploitation, nothing more. It's too enthusiastic to be considered brutal or gritty, and the characters are one-note and unlikable. It boggles the mind that even the most avid Japanophile would defend it as good commentary on whatever the hell it's supposed to evoke.
3	brandt64	50 _23rd
This isn't so much an "action movie" as it is a series of executions. Anybody who says that there's some deep, profound meaning to all the carnage is just being a douchebag.
2	Olympichero	65 _29th
A nice idea but the execution wasn't too great, let down by a bad script and terrible acting.
2	doctor7	57 _35th
While it's certainingly an interesting movie, if for the shock value alone, it just feels like Lord of the Flies but with far more emphasis on violence rather than story and characters.
2	semsen	79 _50th
Battle Royale is quite effective on the action-horror front, but it ultimately suffers under its thin plot and veers dangerously close on the verge of painfulness when trying to convey drama, or worse, give social commentary. One to watch with your brain off.
2	rob	13 _66th
Cheesy, shallow, clichéd, but relatively fun nevertheless.
2	Antikroppar	67 _55th
Summary: A bunch of Japanese kids kill each other. It's bloody and fairly interesting. But mainly bloody.
2	spookey	68 _30th
Not as much cool as it is annoying
2	lupister	25 _24th
I can't see what the fuzz is all about. Story is shallow as hell. There is no real reasoning behind the game, nor any payoff to it. The action is laughable. Blood is everywhere, anything causes their clothes to become drenched in it. Bullet and cut holes are almost nonexistent, so it seems like they had an accident eating a hamburger, not been shot or stabbed. The professional kid they put in is ridiculous: typical anime guy with colored hair. Oh yeah, and he misses people with an UZI at 3 feet.
2	oldgoat	52 _20th
Overrated garbage shit. Barely get to know anyone, now everyone start fighting. Spend too long on learning about someone to watch them die and not really care. No emotional impact of really anything.
2	jdienerb	75 _29th
Both it's best and worst feature is the twisted, immoral reality it portrays.
2	DavidBlast	80 _80th
Groundbreaking satirical masterpiece, yes. Killer kawaii awesomeness, sure. But let me just tell you that kids today have it too easy. This is NOTHING compared to what I went through, back when I was in school. They didn't even have to eat each other!
2	QuickyAPI	52 _26th
The main flaw in this movie, I think, is the way we watch the movie from an outsider's perspective. It would have been so much more powerful if we had been watching more often from the perspective of the two main characters. We see too much of the killing. I never really felt scared and it was never really that exciting. It all went too mechanically, too casually... I expected more from this movie.
2	AndreasThau	50 _30th
Too much and incapable of attaching me to the characters. But maybe I was just too tired to remember all those japanese names. Interesting and I certainly don't regret watching it, but don't fill me with some crap about me not understanding it because of cultural difference. It's alright, but I won't rate it higher just because it's fun that kids kill each other. Yawn.
2	Trash Puppet	9 _88th
Who needs the Hunger Games?
2	Paxton	80 _87th
The Japanese seem like the only culture that hates teenagers as much as me.
1	mrbeck	90 _97th
This is a really bizzare Japanese film, but sit through it. Poor acting, fake-as-all-get-out death scenes, but for some reason I loved watching it. Great premise I suppose.
1	clockworkjoe	92 _94th
A brilliant dystopian movie.
1	Malignant	95 _96th
The movie is all kinds of awesomeness, ands pulls of taking itself seriously as well.
1	dere	84 _71st
If only there was philosophy behind the movie that made any sense. Take it as a straight up splatter and the evening goes by easily
1	TheDiceman	60 _62nd
As cult films go this is quality.
1	tails32x	60 _41st
Great concept that suffers from shitty everything else.
1	gogokain	95 _98th
This movie... is awesome.
1	Derekstar	60 _36th
Apparently nobody ever runs out of bullets except for when it's required by the plot. Also, for the life of me I don't understand why a movie like this with such shallow characters would choose to focus on the two people undeniably the lamest weapons on the island, which they never even use. Isn't the joy of the movie seeing them use the weapons? Even if it's a garbage can lid, I want to see how that kid survives. This movie is silly, but I'll re watch it someday.
1	Alex Watkins	3 _38th
Everybody Dies: The Movie.
1	parcaliham	65 _33rd
17 Temmuz 08, 00:30am. & kotu bir film. ne vahset sahneleri vahsetli, ne de mesaj icerikli sahnelerin mesajları düzgun. birbirlerini olduren -gayet de kotu rol yapan- neredeyse istisnasiz olmeden once yaninda kim varsa "aslinda ben seni seviyordum ama..ihh iiihih..(kafa yana duser, olur)" seklinde ilani ask eden bir suru japon genci izlemek zevkliyse hakikaten zevkli, ama bir de bu anlattigimin zevkli olmadigi gercegi var.(eksisozluk, yazar: sereg) & normal bi gise filminden bir artisi yok.
1	MonsterGear	75 _42nd
Woo, so disturbing. Also: wildly controversial. But not a bad story underneath.
1	frederic_g54	6 _35th
An interesting premise which the films fails to scrutinize (can't speak for the book). Screaming and crying is what passes for acting in this film, but damn it, is it one of the most fun you'll have watching a film. A guilty pleasure. Mmmmmm Asians...
1	mistersplice	75 _77th
+ recommended :: What a great premise. It's a little difficult to believe that this could happen, but maybe it's explained better in the book. I liked the concept a lot, but the execution was a little clunky in places. Even more so at the end. I can't help but wonder if the translation was leaving out some key information.
1	emtilt	50 _25th
Doesn't live up to the hype. Ultimately, it is mildly entertaining, mindless action that at times pretends to be some sort of ill-thought-out social commentary. Poor execution ruins a good concept.
1	Drewlephant	100 _99th
Ostensibly my favorite movie of all time. I could watch this forever and never get sick of it.
1	Barthalen	71 _59th
Pretty decent, though not as twisted as I had always imagined it to be. Maybe that says more about me, though.
1	NPerez	86 _63rd
Storyline in general is pretty far below average, but regardless, the scenes are well executed & that makes it fun to watch.
1	paulofilmo	68 _38th
This film was made with an admirable lack of inhibition. It's the sort of film your darkest fantasies dream of seeing, but don't expect ever to get made. I remember the tentative feeling when I started watching it for the first time; having an idea of its premise made it all the more intense.
1	Melvin Smif	70 _79th
A little mindless, and not a new concept but it was fun nonetheless. I feel sorry for those who can't just sit back and enjoy a movie like this, not everything is Godfather II people.
1	Beer94	72 _78th
Brutal, mindless fun. It can get a bit tedious and confusing, and a few attempts to add dimension to characters fall flat, but still enjoyable nonetheless.
1	nauru	12 _8th
Even for a bloodsport film, this is just bizarre. Nothing is explained, none of the characters are interesting, and all the back-stories are just shoe-horned into the film at convenient times to try to make you care whether people live or die. Needless to say, rose-tinted flashbacks aren't a very effective way to make viewers care about your characters; and if that's the only development your characters have, a successful film is unlikely.
1	Piglet	75 _79th
Harrowing look into just how far you will go to survive, and how easily manipulated the human race is.
1	johnshaft	75 _56th
It has problems, but it is still a better caution tale than anything that the U.S. has been pumping out in recent years.
1	SirStuckey	85 _87th
In honor of Takeshi Kitano I wish the guys who did the voices on the old mXc show would do a dub of this movie as some unseen announcers.
1	Judo Koala	85 _90th
It bothers me to think people see this movie as nothing more than a shockfest of violence and gore. The thing I most admire about the film is its ability to capture the social frustrations of contemporary Japan through two generations. When a film like this is released, don't assume it's just exploitative spectacle--think about the cultural context in which it was released. I feel it speaks quite strongly to an alienated and repressed Japan of the last half-century. Great stuff.
1	Foom	80 _27th
Points just for being so ridiculous too violent for my taste....I mean come on there are such a thing as limits
1	GordonBombay	90 _89th
Ugh... I hate how they ripped off Hunger Games... Okay,that should've grabbed your attention. I love this movie. Come on, let's be honesty now. Haven't we all at some time wanted to kill a teen or two?
1	Hattori	88 _42nd
I really love this movie because of the message that transmites. The high taxes of unemployment in Japan took the japanese youth to rebel against the government, which made that the government applied a drastic law. What is the government capable of doing? It's a question that we often ask while watching this movie. Alot of good actors, now known in the Japanese movie industry. Alot of blood and a good Soundtrack. Overall 88.
1	Noblet	73 _52nd
I sympathized most with the fat kid who dies immediately.
1	SlantMag	15 _21st
"Maybe Battle Royale's ultimate punchline is its inexplicable ability to fool some people into taking it seriously." - Chuck Bowen
1	glumpy_99	63 _22nd
As a splatter movie, it's passable entertainment (though perhaps not as out and out gory as its reputation), but attempts at a deeper poignancy, and even satiric elements, fail because none of the characters are clearly defined or focussed. The material screams for the Verhoeven touch (and I'd see that for a dollar!) -- the killings themselves are not especially creative or imaginatively executed. Only Kitano as the sinister Sensei makes an impression amongst the cast.
1	CMonster	72 _52nd
The biggest complaints I had were that the reason for the "Battle Royale Act" was pretty poorly explained because the stated reason it was for was pretty illogical and some of the deaths were pretty melodramatic. It did have a very gritty and dark feel to it, and not the kind people rave over with superhero movies. It got it through real locations and not really any big CGI bits to mention. Also there is no real depth here, it was fun and engaging, but ascribing a deeper meaning to this is dumb.
1	fuzzleshnops	78 _56th
I would have preferred if they just dropped the sentimental, backstory BS. It was cool enough just watching Japanese kids try to kill themselves. The film's "philosophy" made it annoying.
1	SpikyCactus	80 _78th
Top badass moment? Japanese school kids are either very conscientious or very optimistic; even when they’re being sent out to almost certain death, they still take their school bags. With acting more uneven than the surface of the M20, the world’s most inaccurate Uzi (that also never runs out of bullets) and a back-story that makes no sense, plus way too much boyfriend chat and cooking, this ought to be crap. Strangely it’s not, I wanted Mitsuko to win. No cats, chainsaws or decapitations.
1	ytmn	92 _95th
I think Noriko Nakagawa says it best, "It's beautiful... even though it's where everyone died." This film did a good job of exploring themes like young love, loneliness, friendship, and the strained relationship between teenagers and adults. I went in expecting a no-brainer carnage fest, but this film is just so much more. You actually care for and feel sorry for the characters. The film score is very good too and complement the scenes very well. Bloody and disturbing, but hauntingly beautiful.
1	SirSass	60 _45th
That teacher sure is a dick.
1	adouble	70 _44th
Once the inital shock of the brutality wears off, the movie loses a lot of what makes it interesting. The premise itself is thoroughly illogical, and the habit many characters have of needing last words before dying gets old fast. Still, it's a fun movie that kept me engaged all the way though.
1	QtheAlmighty	90 _95th
"This is real!!!"
1	LookJabba...	9 _91st
Battle Royale is one of the most violent, brutal and shocking films I've ever seen. And its hard to believe that kids killing each other could be so much fun. Kinji Fukasaku succeeds in making a truly shocking film that gets under your skin. The concept is interesting yet simple and in places illogical. But for mindless entertainment this film delivers. And prior to this film I'd never seen anything quite like it. And for all the carbon copies this concept had spawned, this remains the best.
1	mooper	50 _21st
This movie really needs to decide on the main character. Also it would be nice if there were less anime-styled reveals of love every 5 minutes.
1	igormachete	66 _29th
Fun. I wish there was less shitty drama and more cheesy ass kicking
1	tuerda	96 _96th
The ending is sub-par and doesn't fit the rest of the movie but this is pretty much the only really big flaw. It is one of very few movies to do well as an action flick, a horror flick, and also a drama. While the premise seems extremely unlikely, the characters react in ways that are often very plausible, thus selling the premise just hard enough to be truly chilling.
1	metalhank	85 _98th
Definitely the best of the sub-genre! Certainly has a Japan feel of film making from the camera cuts and crazy blood gushing scenes. If you like violence in your films and a little humour thrown in as well this is the film for you. Easy to see why it has now become a cult classic.

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Average Percentile 59.92% from 7166 Ratings