"Look at this axe! It's SUPER LUCKY!"
Twenty years ago, we were given what seems to have become Japan's most influential cult flick. Hailed by Tarantino as one of his favorites, birthing a genre of games that all the kids seemed to be hooked on these days, it certainly made an imprint--chances are, it's the first association when someone mentions explosive collars and bloody school-themed violence. But does it hold up, or would you rather just let your neck be turned into a strawberry milkshake-flavored fountain?
Well, let's start with a glance at the source material--which has been more diversely adapted beyond just the film. Starting out as a novel by Koushon Takami, it was also turned into a manga comic series, which also made its own divergences (I have taken a brief look at the manga, and, well, it gets a fair bit more surreal and sexualized). The book was set in an alternate history deal where the Japanese fascist state apparently made it out of WW2, as opposed to the near-future dystopia of the film.
Ironically, director Kinji Fukasaku--who has made a fairly wide mark in Japanese cinema and even western projects like Tora Tora Tora--was inspired to make the film as the book stirred memories of the hypocrisy and brutality inflicted on his child self in the war. There are of course plenty of further interpretations viewers and critics have placed on it, be it about the Japanese education system, economics and society, and so on--which, if nothing else, highlight just how flexible the premise is.
And the film itself? Well, it's best to sort of view it as an almost Terry Gilliam style satire, because for all intents and purposes it is. There's plenty of very deadpan moments, and while other scenes are played fairly dead straight and serious, others are...sillier, but we'll get to that.
Off the bat, we get a class of kids, including the delinquents and the teachers' pets, get gassed on a supposed school trip and wake up on an abandoned island with the aforementioned explosive collars slapped on like so much expensive jewellery. Each one gets a name, and in some cases a cursory personality (there's a nerdy boy into numbers, some friendly girls, etc), but you'll soon catch on which ones you're meant to actually get attached to.
 |
| B and R...what? How is anyone supposed to solve the rest of that equation?! |
But the real star is quickly introduced in the form of the sadistic teacher overseeing the ensuing deathmatch--Takeshi Kitano, playing, well, Takeshi. You may have heard of him from Takeshi's Castle, but if not, he's quite the name in Japanese films--with many crime dramas under his belt, he's ventured into surrealism and somber drama, with a very deadpan style to both directing and, as becomes apparent here, his acting. It's darkly bemusing just to watch him explain to our poor classroom of victims precisely how screwed they are, complete with another highlight with a cutesey hyperactive presenter explaining the precise mechanics of spontaneous explosive death.
 |
| "But wait, there's more! Order this murder weapon, and get a free potato! Face it, it's a better offer than QVC'll ever give you!" |
And so begins the gory proceedings--which you can watch simply to see these youngsters stab, shoot, explode, poison, or just beat the hell out of each other, or view things on another level, with some trying to co-operate even amid misunderstandings and paranoia. There's always enough going on to draw your attention, enough hope put forward in some spots just long enough for it to feel when it gets yanked away. Still, those aforementioned more surreal moments do feel a tad jarring at times--like a moment where some of the kids manage to hack the whole system, or evil delinquent Kiriyama apparently possessing a magical Uzi with infinite ammunition. Things also get punctuated by excerpts from the novel, which sometimes provide a nice coda or can be a little distracting.
But when it's finally over, it does feel oh so satisfying for the characters that do make it to finally hit back at the system. There's one more Gilliam moment from Takeshi that gets me a chuckle, and even his character manages to get a little fleshing out even in the midst of the madness. For the more expendable, some are forgettable, but then you get the standouts like the take-no-shits ball-busting Chiaki Kuriyama, who you might also remember as Gogo from Kill Bill (since, as mentioned, Tarantino was a fan of this one, right down to apeing all the neck-mounted blood fountains!).
Battle Royale isn't completely even, but it's memorable and fun, with enough interpretation that you can have enough fun making your own political analogies with it (and I know some people who do). It stirred quite some controversy on its release, but since then, you can feel its influence across films from Kill Bill to Hunger Games. There was also a sequel that seems largely forgotten now, which I haven't managed to check out--but the other impact stemmed from the inevitable question on any viewer's mind, namely 'what would I do in a situation like this'? And it was that question that gave birth to the battle royale gaming genre, which now dominates the devices and free time of many a youngster these days with Fornite and PUBG.
And, with irony, the obsession over these rather saturated games might stir similar feelings among older codgers as Mr. Takeshi in the original BR itself. Either way--enjoy it for the free-roaming violence or for the satire, but give this 'un a watch if you haven't already!
Comments
Post a Comment