User reviews

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.

I watched Battle Royale a week before its sequel, and the effects the first had on me were still with me. I feel I tend to notice detail more than some people, but I know I look for it. While Battle Royale's premise was unusual, it was a great story. To imagine you and your friends dropped into a game where you had to kill each other...to see how the students were either so willing to kill, or else strive for union, or else just accept death-it was a wonderful story, with enough of all genres to keep me interested and also moved by it. Kitano was the perfect villain...human but vengeful. To see a sadistic person with so much depth, just walking around in a track suit. It was a beautiful movie with characters you cared about.

But, this is not a review of Battle Royale, but its inferior sequel. Now, once I read the premise, I knew it wouldn't be as good as its predecessor. But I wanted to see it nonetheless. First, its good to see the writer cares about recycling, because he certainly did that. We are treated a second time around to the students herded into a room and confronted by their ex-teacher. We get to see yet another trio of friends broken up when one is killed, and the others vow revenge. This time, instead of a bloody photograph to haunt the hero, it's a bloody football. From here, the story is different, but this is where it really loses its footing.

The movie makes no sense: why not just bomb the island if they're so worried about Shuya and his terrorist group? And, why make it impossible for the students to kill Shuya by keeping danger zones, and making so that when one person dies, their partner has to? Obviously the "teacher" did not care much about them accomplishing their mission, but did want to make the "game" move faster by having two people die at a time.

Then, we're treated to 45 minutes of bore, where the movie tries to get across a strong message concerning terrorism and peace. Now, I do not get bored easily. I love character development and scenes where the music just carries you along while you get to feel what the characters are feeling. But this was just falling flat in its message. And it was redundant. Every time they said something, it was a rehashing of some point already made. None of the characters were interesting. Even Shuya had become some kind of monk. And the teacher, Riki, was the stereotypical American villain. Donning a black cloak, evil laugh, and threatening one-liners. But, he was boring. Nothing like the human Kitano we got to see in the original.

Not much else to say. If they could just take the few sequences with Kitano out and insert them into Battle Royale, then we'd have no reason to watch this sequel. Maybe they should consider this...

The original Battle Royale is one of my favourite films of all time. It's fusion of extreme violence and a thought provoking, complex substance made for a very different and refreshing movie. The sequel, unfortunately, is merely a stale variation on the events of the first film. It's ironic that this sequel is a complete disaster as making a sequel to 'Battle Royale' should be one of the easiest tasks of all time. It's simple; another battle royale, with all the uncompromising violence of the first, and to continue the story; we'll have Nanahara, survivor of the first film, put back into the frey. Simple. But no; for some reason, the writers have opted for some drivel involving Nanahara becoming an internationally wanted terrorists and an act known as 'BR 2', whereby school children are 'hired' to fight terrorist threats...or something. Now, you might be thinking along the lines of "well, as long as there's school kids with weapons, I'm happy'; but it's no again. The film plays out more like a feature length version of the start of Saving Private Ryan. That's it; it's more or less a simple war film. Damn.

One of the things that made the first film work was the underlying theme that the violence is coming from children that know each other, killing each other. This gave the film a soul-searching horrific edge; "could you kill your best friend" was the tagline, and the film got it's depth from that. Here, that message is gone; and it's replacement is a dull 'anti-war' one. The film piles on the sentiment in an effort to get it's message across, but it never really succeeds. The film also seems keen to prioritise it's 'Requiem' subtitle. Far too keen, in fact. The requiem sequences were the worst thing about the first film; interrupting the adrenaline pumping action sequences all too regularly, I don't doubt that I'm the only person who feels this way. Battle Royale 2 is much like one long requiem sequence, with characters 'reflecting' left and right and the film on the whole suffers because of this. If the film had focused more on character development, the reflecting parts might have worked because we would have cared; but it doesn't, so we don't. Pretty stupid really.

Battle Royale 2 isn't completely devoid of positive aspects, however; the first half hour is definitely good. Going back to how it was in the first film, we see a group of unwitting school children kidnapped by the government and, of course, the hysteria that results in a couple of the kids ending up dead. Although this is almost a complete copy of the first film (we've got knives being thrown, necklaces exploding etc), it works because the first film worked, and fans of the original masterpiece will no doubt enjoy it. However; when I said that I'd have been happy with just 'another Battle Royale', I did mean one that's different from the first one, not just a remake of it. In fact, the sequel takes most of the ideas from the first film and reuses them; from the danger zones to the maniacal teacher who delights in seeing his kids maimed and killed. The only real new idea in the movie is the idea of the 'tag game', which involves the detonators being linked to each other, so if your partner dies; you go too. However, although this is a fairly good new idea, it doesn't make sense.... you see, the government want these kids to kill Nanahara, so why do they make it hard for them? Why not send them in with an army of tanks and just have done with it? Why not just bombard the island with napalm? On that note: I deem this movie ridiculous and pointless, and therefore not worth your time. Even if you like the original as I do; this film is one to miss.

It pains me to say that I "suffered" through BATTLE ROYALE 2, the sequel to one of my favorite films of all times.

What's missing from BR2 is Kinji Fukusaku, the legendary action director who helmed the first film and died one day of shooting into this. His son Kenta replaced him.

Everything that made BR1 so amazing is botched badly here. Kenta Fukusaku fails to keep forty-one characters spinning. He fails to bring power and aesthetic catharsis to the film's violence. He fails to marry social commentary to strong exploitation elements.

The first film is referenced plot-wise and musically. The BR rules are altered slightly. Danger Zones still exist. The corpses are counted on screen.

But it's boring. Yes, BR2 is a crashing bore. The SAVING PRIVATE RYAN sequence demonstrates its paucity of ideas. The special effects are cheesy and obvious and the film's efforts to wring emotions out of one-dimensional relationships are pathetic.

I had high hopes. After one hour I just wanted it to end.

Never underestimate the importance of a good director or the genius required to deliver a masterpiece.

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.

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.

Battle Royale 2 (2003) was a step down from the first film. There's something missing from this movie that I can't quite point out. The movie is very violent but that's not it. Direction and acting was up to snuff, but that's not it. Maybe the presence of a strong antagonist. Yeah, that's it! Although the movie is not as brilliant as the first one, it's still a whole lot better than anything Hollywood has put out.

The Japanese government is trying to crush a terrorist group called the Wild Seven. The leader of this militant group is being led by a survivor of the last Battle Royale. So a new class is forced to participate in another round of the Royale with different rules. Their mission is to go back to the island and ferret out the Wild Seven.

Not as great as the first film, but it's still better than anything Hollywood has cranked out. I have to recommend this movie. It's entertaining and a good watch. You wont be disappointed.

This movie was on Channel 4 last night (in U.K) and having really enjoyed Battle Royale, I decided to give the sequel a chance, even though I'd heard that Requiem wasn't anywhere near as good as the first movie. I have to say I actually quite enjoyed the movie.

Not to say that there weren't aspects of it that I didn't like. The attempt tocontinue the plot onwards from the first movie is what let it down. The first film was so great because in many ways it didn't rely on plot at all, it was simply taking an interesting, gritty look at human violence and survival, while giving plenty of great fighting scenes to keep the audience entertained. It's simplicity made it work. But with Requiem they tried to bring too much emotional investment into the mix along with a plot outline.

You almost expect them to take the mistake even further and make a third BR (thus the film trilogy that we see far too much of these days). It's a shame because if it wasn't for the silly plot then I would have been able to take the film a lot more seriously.

However looking at it as a stand alone movie in its own right that gives a dire warning about humanity's continuing lack of morality, it ain't half bad. The Saving Private Ryan style beach landing was really cool, and as mentioned earlier, the cinematography did the film a lot of justice.

In short the film would have been a lot better if it had had nothing to do with the plot of the original and taken its own storyline rather than a continuation of the original. But there you go, such is the way with so many sequels, and in the end, you can't deny that if you just want to watch a film with plenty of gore and entertaining battle scenes, then BR 2 fits the bill.

'Battle Royale II' is an uneven, but worthy follow-up. It's one of those sequels that tries something different, but is generally hated due to high expectations and the reputation of the mammoth original.

Here, the two Fukasakus take the story in the exact direction it needs to go. The survival game setting has been ditched...this time, it's about all-out war between the children and the adults. Naturally, there's less intimate moments here and only a few characters are well-defined...but seeing the world of 'Battle Royale' explode in your face (literally) is completely involving.

The few good character moments we get here are nice and match up with the poetry of the original. Shuya Nanahara is a much more interesting and complex person this time. Shiori Kitano is one of the best characters in either film. And the over-the-top Riki Takeuchi almost steals the film.

There are flaws, though... The children feel less like individuals and more like a collective, so there's less emotional involvement this time out...but that is perhaps inevitable, given the war setting. Plus, the resolution to the battle seems a tad anti-climactic.

Problems aside, this is a film well worth watching. The story is more complex, the battles are blistering, and the performances are great. It may not match the greatness of the original, but it's certainly one of the better directions a sequel has taken.

Note: Fans should avoid the theatrical version "Requiem" and seek out the newly re-edited Director's Cut - "Revenge." It restores a lot of missing character development and thematic elements and is a much better film overall.

The original Battle Royale won the hearts of many moviegoers with its black humor and deft social commentary. The sequel isn't quite so deft with the humor, but rates as one of the most politically explosive films that will never play on American screens. From its opening aerial sequence = a Japanese version of the Twin Towers tragedy - to its brutal examination of terrorist vs. military violence, Battle Royale 2 explores a lot of incendiary territory.

Unlike the original, BR2 comes off like a vintage war film, albeit fought by teenage boys and girls in military fatigues. When a group of delinquent high-schoolers are exported to a deserted island, they have been charged with rooting out and killing a terrorist cell (who just happen to be the survivors of BR1).

Perhaps a bit too long (like many war movies), this film makes its major points with its sheer radicalism. BR2 takes great pains to suggest that there may not be any clear-cut answers when it comes to violence, sanctioned or not, and that the only way to progress is by at least trying to understand both sides.

I genuinely cant believe this movie is as bad as it is. The first movie had an actual story line. Around half way through I may have lost my will to live, it was so horrible. With the first being such a classic to some I'am appalled and amazed how just BAD this was. If I could give it less than 1 star, I would. There is literally NO interesting content in the entire movie. The voice acting was much worse, I feel like none of the characters developed at all, and it was so obvious what was going to happen I really don't know why I finished watching it. Save yourself the headache and stop at movie 1, or never watch the series at all. I can honestly say this is in the top 5 of the worst movies I've ever seen.

I saw the first BR movie a while ago and I remember how quick the pace was. People would die one after the other and it was just about killing. There was barely any insight on the characters, making it a little dull, but i enjoyed it nonetheless because the special bond between Noriko and Kitano was added.

I expected the same with the second movie, but instead I got the opposite. The plot in this movie is really really lame. They go to the BR place, everyone's acting super crazy, and the main character's best friend dies, just like Nobu. Then everyone dies within the first 30 minutes or so. I also didn't like it how everyone had a partner and if your partner died, you'd die too. They had the important mission of killing a terrorist to complete here, but they just played around.

Though this movie lacked the plot, it made up for it in the meaning. For example,questions are raised. If teens and adults are so different, how do teens eventually become adults? Is it because they eventually realize they can't achieve their goal? And to prevent this disappointment, do the adults need to force this reality on them with violence? This is a very anti-communist movie so i can see why it's controvertial in countries.

Though i think the main message it's trying to send out is that life isn't just black and white. It's alright to be in-between.

So...this is an excellent movie that I would recommend seeing, you will get a lot out of it. And don't worry, the blood is so fake, it's funny. XD

Why, is the first thing I thought when I watched this movie, why the hell have they made this mess of a sequel to something that was so unique and shocking that it only works once. The initial shock value of kids kidnapped by the government has gone now if you've seen the first film and this is just one of this films many problems.

The plot doesn't make any real sense, while this is true of the original too it managed to suspend dis-belief with it's sheer over the top bravado, while this film is mired in pretentious philosophical musings and over the top 9/11 imagery. The anti-American sentiment running through this film is so over-played it really works against it to often using heavy handed metaphors and one image in particular referencing the twin towers is way beyond the limits of making a statement. America and the war in terror is an easy enough target to hit so why the film makers have consistently missed the mark in un-known.

The acting quality of the film is a severe let down gone is the fine performance of 'Beat' Takashi and in its place is an actor who wouldn't look out of place at Wrestlemania. The kids fare no better than the adults they just seem to be trying to out scream each other and the main 'star' seems to have only two facial expressions dumb shock and angry. The script is second rate, the action scenes seem like a low budget Saving Private Ryan, I could go on and on listing the faults of this film but by now you'll have got the point this is a bitterly disappointing sequel that leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

3/10 – Dumb where the original was smart, blunt and offensive where the original was laced with cutting satire, a dour nasty mess of a sequel that sours the memory of the original avoid!

I'm not going to go into great detail about this, but this is a terrible movie. Remove the intelligent satire and add a completely shoddy script, then make the movie drag past two hours so you get bored an hour into it. You'll wonder where they went with the references to America, and obviously gives an opinion on the Iraq war, it seemed a cheap remark. The original was smart, brutal and even had moments of humour. It was exciting to the end. BR2 has NOTHING remotely close - even the violence was predictable. Just forget this movie exists, it WILL pain you to watch it. What a waste. A real mess. You've been warned.

By the time you get 1 hour into this movie you'll be either turning it off or as in my case begging the guy with the DVD remote to fast forward through the rest of it and eventually getting so painfully bored you just stand up and walk out saying "I'm sorry but I just can't watch anymore of this" Enjoy hitting yourself repeatedly over the head with a hammer? Then you may enjoy the torture of watching this.

I enjoyed the first one but the general point of Battle Royale is that it has frantic intense emotion throughout and that there is some hope that a winner may emerge. This movie felt like it was a bunch of depressed self-absorbed idiots trying to appear emotional. It was like watching someone play Metal Gear Solid. Lots of action and shooting and once they clear a level you get a 40 minute cutscene except the cutscenes were diabolically boring and stupid and the shooting was just a load of seen it all before.

BR 2 never finds the errie tone of the first film or novels. I contribute a great deal of this to the "over the top" acting and lack of serious character development.

What Battle Rotaye 2 does manage to do is pack much more violence into it's running time, and slowly build a very politically incorrect message. I don't agree with the political philosophy here, but I must give Fukasaku credit for having some seriously big balls to make this. Then again, he was dying from cancer so he never had to personnaly face any responsibility. There are many pro Al Quida/ Anti U.S. things going on here, and he hits you over the head with it. From destroying 2 twin towers to living in the mountains of Afghanistan! There is a speech given twice about all the countries the U.S. has bombed (and I agree that America has opened it's self up to global hatred), and it's suggested that Japan goes along with the U.S. cause so many other countries do. The later being Japan's downfall. There is also some anti Israel jabs in a scene showing the children of what looks exactly like West Bank. There is mention of victims of terrorism, but even these characters are easily won over to the side of the terrorist.

This is strong stuff, and I commend Fukasaku for giving me pause to think a little harder about how I stand on global issues. No matter how silly I keep telling myself this film is.....it's one of the most subversive films ever directed toward capitalism.

I will get this out into the open, I watched the movie without English Subtitles, so dialog was out. However, upon reading the previous comment, I began to think, and, yes, I agree with all of it. But you have to keep in mind, not every movie has the Hollywood Billion Dollar Budget. So with this, special effects and things of the like will suffer. This aside it was a good movie, but perhaps the sequel visa-vis Battle Royale one, the first is better. This movie is much more of a Rambo whereas the first was more of a Splinter Cell one on one kind of thing. My only hope is that they put the second movie in book form as I find them more enjoyable. For those of you who have not READ the first one, DO SO!! There are slight changes and surprises which were not doable in movie form.

The first Battle Royale is one of my favorite movies of all time. That movie is a 10/10. The violence was great, and the movie had a social message about rebellious youths. The music was great in the first one, and it had some nice emotional moments in the movie towards the end.

This sequel just plain sucks. Remember in the first one where the students were briefed about the rules of the game. The scene was about 10-15 minutes, but this movie the briefing scene like 30+ minutes. It went on and on and on, and all that happen is that you see a bunch of kids screaming, then someone gets killed, then more screaming and cursing. When the students are finally sent to the island to start the killings, it is almost a whole hour.

The main character who has blonde hair is the most annoying thing ever. All he does is scream and shout in a very high pitch voice. The only good thing about this movie is that towards the end you see some of the characters from the first movie. Seeing the characters does make you a little emotional, but mostly because it just makes you want to go back and watch the original again.

I know that the director died and his son took over, so maybe that is why this movie is a huge mess. Not the worst thing ever, but up there in terms of being one of the worst sequels ever. This isn't Exorcist 2 bad in terms of being a sequel, but it is far from Terminator 2 good.