Battle Royale 2: Requiem

Bad sequels are especially painful when their predecessors were brilliant and mesmerizing films. Like in the case of "Battle Royale", which was the most controversial shocker in years and probably the only film of the recent Asia-mania that was worth the hype it caused. BR featured a simply absurd story and exploitative violence, yet it worked. The sequel, for some reason, wants to be more ambitious and turns the premise into a gigantic anti-war campaign. Sole survivor Shuya Nanahara of part one has become a feared terrorized who declared war to all adults but, instead of responding, the government sends a fresh shipment of adolescents with death-collars over to the hideout island of Shuya in order to annihilate him. The only really good sequences are almost exact copies of situations that already took place in part one (a giant amount of nasty collar-explosions) but the shock-effect is gone. I normally have sympathy for filmmakers that try something new instead of re-telling the original but in this case the director should have optioned for a screenplay that harped more on the same successful idea. Something's also pretty wrong with the regularity and structure of this film. The first 45 minutes are stuffed with hard-boiled action, featuring for example a Saving Private Ryan-like coast-storming. But then the boredom kicks in and the story begins to live up to its extra title: "Requiem". Endlessly irritating friendship speeches, tedious morality and unnecessary flashbacks completely ruin the tempo of the film and you literally have to struggle yourself through every remaining minute that's left. 134 minutes is way too long for a film like this, by the way. The whole BR2 project is an incompetent mess and not at all recommended. It's too idiotic too pass for a war epic and far too moralizing to become a controversial cult flick.

The enjoyably histrionic Lord Of The Flies-meets-The Running Man premise of Battle Royale is taken a film too far and far too seriously in this confused, confusing mess of a sequel.

Another class of errant schoolkids is abducted by the Japanese authorities, fitted with explosive collars, and despatched to a bleak island for a particularly harsh lesson in survival. But instead of killing one another, they must fight a band of young terrorists led by previous Battle Royale 'winner' Shuga. To the death. The very messy death.

The opening scene is identical to the first Battle, with a wacko 'teacher' (think Mr Blonde in a leather jacket) pairing up the kids and gleefully demonstrating that if one of the pair dies, so must the other. Then, from the chaotic Saving Private Ryan-like landing on the island to the dreadfully protracted denouement, it's an epilepsy-inducing procession of carnage and cod philosophy.

Had Fukasaku and Son stuck to pure action, BRII would have made for queasy fun. But their propensity for heavy-handed sermonising on the nature of war and society is not only unconvincing, it's boring. If the characters put as much effort into fighting as they do delivering 'profound' speeches, their chances of survival would be infinitely higher.

That's not to say that lots and lots of people don't get blown up, shot, eviscerated and decapitated. They certainly do. Unfortunately, BRII looks like a video game and sounds like a sociology lesson as given by someone who's had too much saké.

After loving the first battle royale, I was extremely disappointed in this and struggled to make it through the whole movie.

Most of the faults have already been pointed out. The acting (not really a feature of even the first film) is laughable. Fujiwara, who was well cast as the naive Shuya in the first film, looks totally out of place as a hard bitten terrorist/freedom fighter.

The rugby coach was one of the worst actors I have ever seen, hardly a suitable replacement for Kitano.

The direction is full of choppy cuts, meant to convey a sense of fast paced action but effectively just turns the movie into a bloody mess.

Obviously the movie wasn't helped by the untimely demise of the director. Avoid this one and watch the first instead.

I just finished watching BATTLE ROYALE II and was really impressed. A great sequel that lives up to the first, because it adds enough new stuff to keep things fresh. I loved the idea that the students are now forced to become a strike force, and that their collars are now tied together (one dies, so does their partner).

The battles are brutal, although I'm a little iffy on the politics. Anyway, it's a fun, beautifully shot movie that shouldn't disappoint fans of Battle Royale. Definitely adding this one to my collection.

This does build up well from the first film, even if it borrows heavily from Saving Private Ryan to start with. The initial set of unlucky volunteers are decimated in their first mission in the new game, leaving the old heroes, who are now terrorists, with a problem.

The whole thing is overblown, and could have done with tighter editing. As usual, there are some interesting characters, strange humour and stuff that just doesn't work.

There is a little too much sentimentality and not enough Beat Takashi.