To me, this movie is perfection.

Crappy film

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I think this movie is overrated at 7.7/10.Despite the fact that the original idea has no total logic (send kids to kill each other to evaluate life and ethics etc??), all the remaining issues have no sense as well.1) Why their school principal (their sensei) has so important role and even the military guys obey him? He is just a school principal after all. 2) Why on earth, the military left without checking for the last 2 bodies, in order to determine the winner. They got scare of the principal?? It makes no sense.I could count down for ever but lets stop here. The only good about this film is its main purpose, throw a bunch of people in an island and tell them to kill each other until is only one survivor. They could make a better film much easier.P.S. The sequel (BR2) is even worse

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.

A masterpiece. Seriously. The acting, story, pacing, tone, score, action, setting and everything about it. I just learned today that all the actors did their own stunts. Maybe that helped to play a role in creating this cinematic magic to life. Unfortunately most people know about those stupid Hunger Games copycat films but not this gem. Try as they may, Hollywood will never get close to replicating Battle Royale. Yeah, this film has tons of action and blood but it isn't about any of those things. It is about raw humanity. An unthinkable situation revivals the true natures hidden deep down in the darkest etc, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah this film is one of the greatest films ever made. I prefer the theatrical cut over the director's cut because it leaves a little more to the imagination when it comes to the origin stories but the director's cut is worth watching after you've seen the original version.

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.