Review of Battle Royale 2: Requiem

Introduction

A few months ago, I finally got to see Battle Royale, and was quite frankly blown away. Kinji Fukasaku created a social satire that was witty, biting and darkly funny. A curious blend of The Running Man and Lord Of The Flies that brought into sharp focus the fear that the older generation have of the younger. When society breaks down, and teenage crime increases, the older generation react by forcing adolescents to fight each other to the death, killing each other in novel and innovative ways. It was one of the most original and refreshing films that I have seen in recent years, an utterly cynical tale that eschewed any dose of saccharine, which was a change from the usual Hollywood fare, finally a film that Hollywood wouldn`t dare remake. That doesn`t mean of course that a sequel was out of the question, and between 2000 and 2003, the world changed in such a way that Kinji Fukasaku was inspired to create a follow up. Terminally ill, he didn`t live to see the film completed, and his son, Kenta Fukasaku, finally finished Battle Royale II: Requiem.

Three years have passed since the events of Battle Royale, and the survivor Shuya Nanahara is now a wanted terrorist, who with his band of fellow teens has declared war on adults, and has been attacking the state at every opportunity. Shiori Kitano, daughter of the teacher from the first film has sworn to avenge her father and has enrolled in the Battle Royale programme. She ends up transferred to a school full of delinquents and is the only one unsurprised when a school coach trip ends up at military compound. Facing the terrorist threat of Nanahara, the government has now enacted the Battle Royale II act, and instead of facing each other, the children will be sent to hunt down the terrorist group, holed up on a distant island. There are a couple of other changes too. They are all armed with weaponry worth the name, and now the lethal collars are paired, step too far away from your partner and you die, and if your partner is killed, you will soon follow them into the afterlife.

Video

Battle Royale II gets a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer. The picture is nothing spectacular, although having seen the first film, I get the feeling that it isn`t a transfer issue so much as an artistic choice. The picture is grainy at times, clear throughout, though exhibiting a certain softness. Darker moments tend to be a little indistinct, and blacks could be a little stronger. All in all, the picture quality is adequate.

Audio

The sound on the other hand is certainly worth writing home about. You get a choice of DD 2.0 Surround, DD 5.1 and DTS Japanese soundtracks. This is an action packed film, with bullets flying and explosions galore, and the surround is more than effective in putting you in the midst of the mayhem. It`s a resounding track that gives this film a resonant aural punch. There are selectable English subtitles of course.

Features

Extras are light on the ground here, limited only to the Original trailer, Director Biographies, a Kinji Fukasaku filmography, and statements from the directors regarding the film. All of these last are in text. Additionally there are trailers for other Asia Extreme titles, including Gozu, Phone, The Eye, Audition, Battle Royale and A Tale Of Two Sisters.

Conclusion

Battle Royale was a social satire, a wryly-observed commentary on the battle between the generations. Battle Royale II: Requiem is nothing less than a political statement, and that fact is made all to clear in the opening shot of a city`s skyscrapers shattering and falling. Most evident are a pair of towers, obviously twinned and higher than all the rest. As a metaphor, it`s about as subtle as a nuclear warhead. The rest of the film is equally clumsy, lumbering to make a point and muddled about its message.

If you were expecting more of the same as Battle Royale, then you would be disappointed. While on the surface it promises the same kind of black humour and wit, it fails to deliver, indeed the Battle Royale premise is ditched very early, the students have to work as a team against the terrorists, and they are all given assault weaponry and body armour. There`s no room here for inventive homicidal tendencies. There`s no opportunity to get to know the various characters either, as they are for the most part faceless cannon fodder that drop like flies. Half of the kids are lost during an assault on the island`s beach, an obvious homage (I`m being polite) to Spielberg`s Saving Private Ryan, complete with hyper-sharp images, shaky camera work and plenty of faceless casualties.

The main characters are pretty faceless too, especially Tatsuya Fujiwara reprising his role as Nanahara, who is supposed to be a hardened terrorist leader, but just seems unduly stiff. Ai Maeda as Shiori Kitano barely registers, despite her supposed desire for vengeance. Indeed the only performance that really makes an impact is Riki Takeuchi as this class`s teacher. That isn`t in a good way either, as he overacts his way through the entire film, full of grand gestures and histrionics that make him seem more like a game show host. This is in stark contrast to Beat Takeshi who in the first film gave an understated performance layered with subtext, which was the lynchpin of Battle Royale.

But early on there is a scene, where the teacher inelegantly makes the point that underlies this film; he lists the countries that the United States has attacked, either in self-defence or pre-emptively. This is what Battle Royale II is all about, it has a point to make about the political inequity in the world, where one country has all the power and all the others worry if they are next on the hit list. Indeed it`s appeasing this nation and it`s war on terrorism that motivates the Battle Royale II act. With its inept message about the global situation, Battle Royale II is hardly Michael Moore. It seems to me more an inarticulate cry, the world isn`t fair because America is bigger than everyone and bullies its way through the world. Well, there`s a newsflash. It would have been more enlightening had this film had some kind of constructive criticism, an alternative worldview, or a potential solution, anything to justify stating the obvious. As it is, Battle Royale II is nothing more than a political viewpoint, clumsily veiled in garments of satire, violence and gore. Still, it avoids the trap of mindlessly aping the original and attempted to show something different. Not a patch on the original, but still worth a watch if you can stand the clumsy rhetoric and inelegant script.