[Japanese Film / Movie Review] Battle Royale

Battle Royale is a famous Japanese film which was released on 2000. It’s adapted from a novel with the same name by Koushun Takami.

The story is about a class of junior high school student which is claimed to be a rotten class that is chosen to be destroyed on a game called Battle Royale, an annual event to kill each other on an island until one remains. The main character is Nanahara Shuya (played by Fujiwara Tatsuya) who is trying to survive with his girlfriend Nakagawa Noriko (played by Maeda Aki). They tried to cooperate with the other classmate, but due to panic and fear, most of them tried to kill them.

This film has so many controversies, as expected since it’s a really cruel movie and claimed to harm the teenagers. I also felt this film is a little bit crazy, so cruel and psycho, as I don’t like this kind of movie genre, actually. However, this film can be entertaining for those who likes thrilling movie. I found that most of Japanese film, movie, and dorama always give us a good message. Even though this film is cruel, we can see what is a ‘true friends’ meaning from this film.

The idea itself is very great, however, I can explain this film with two word; Hunger Games. Why Hunger Games? It’s because maybe most of you would know Hunger Games more than Battle Royale, as Hunger Games is a Hollywood movie. However, Battle Royale came out first before Hunger Games, and the one who is criticized to copy the idea is the author of The Hunger Games. The author of The Hunger Games herself claimed that she never heard of Battle Royale before and it was mentioned to her that there were huge similarities between the two. The difference between the two is only the continuation of the story. I love Battle Royale more than Hunger Games (I don’t know if this is because I watch Battle Royale first before Hunger Games), but for the continuation story, I love Hunger Games series more. I start loving the Hunger Games series after watching the 2^nd movie, Catching Fire, and as for Battle Royale, I don’t quite like the Battle Royale II which was released on 2003, so I don’t want to talk about Battle Royale II: Requiem. 
The bad thing about this film is the quality of how the film is taken. I can't really explain it too much, but just when you watch the film, you will get the feeling "This is indeed an old film, a film from 2000".

As for the cast, I'm actually not a fan of Fujiwara Tatsuya, but I couldn't agree more that most of his film, movie, and dorama are the best; Death Note, Kaiji the Gambling Apocalypse, and many more.

This film is recommended only for those who likes thriller, bloody movie. I gave 9 out of 10 points for this fim.

*this review is a personal opinion and made by me who is a newbie reviewer, if there is any mistakes, please feel free to make a correction*