BATTLE ROYALE II: REQUIEM

Director: Kenji Fukasaku & Kenta Fukasaku

Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Ai Maeda, Shugo Oshinari, Riki Takeuchi

Year: 2003

Rating: NR

(in Japanese w/English subtitles)

Wow, has this film garnered a lot of anger from fans. But then, any follow-up to the intense, outstanding, and jaw-dropping Battle Royale was bound to come under some pretty harsh scrutiny; the original, a well-deserved monster hit in Asia and around the world, is nothing short of a brilliant, bloody film that knocked you on your behind with its story, characters, violence ... and social commentary.

(NOTE: one spoiler here, for those who haven't seen the first film - a review of which, by the way, can be found on this blog. Sorry, can't be helped.)

Tatsuya Fujiwara (the Death Note films) reprises his role as Shuya Nanahara. It's been three years since he survived the massacre from the first film, and in that time Shuya has formed a band of terrorists, called the Wild Seven, who have "declared war on all adults" in retaliation of the "Battle Royale Act" that has seen many teens in Japan murdering each other in the name of "discipline". Shuya's small army has been responsible for some major destruction in the country, and to fight back the government has now mandated "Battle Royale II" - and, as the film opens, the first middle-school class of kids is (as in the first film) again drugged, fitted with explosive dog collars, and taken to a military base for disbursement.

The rules are basically the same ... only this time, with no training, the teens are told they must go to war (in fact, the class chosen is a group of rebellious troublemakers thrown into school together for this reason, so the implication is that society loses nothing if they all die). In full fatigues and battle gear, armed with guns, the kids are sent to the island where the Wild Seven are known to be hiding in a well-protected fortress. Their mission? Kill Shuya Nanahara within three days - or die.

The rules of the dog collars are the same as in the first film - and indeed, we see some of the "explosive" results, as in the first film, of those who refuse to go. As an extra bonus, the kids are partnered up against their will, and if one teen goes more than fifty feet from his/her partner, both their collars explode. Further, when one student is killed - say, a boy - the girl with the corresponding student's number's collar will also go off. Evidently this is to encourage the kids to watch out for each other this time - an interesting twist on the first film, where their only goals was to murder each other to stay alive. Add to this that another transfer student, Shiori (Ai Maeda), is added to the group of forty-one kids - and you have another potential plot twist, as Shiori is the daughter of the teacher who started the slaughter in the first film, and she has her own score to settle with Shuya Nanahara.

The students are sent in inflatable boats to the island - and even before they've beached, the slaughter begins. Here, the movie turns into a genuine war film, with jittering cinematography and lots of action, as the kids make their way to the Wild Seven compound, even as their numbers are already starting to decrease dramatically.

To say anything more might be giving the story away - and yes, this is a flawed film compared to the near-perfect original. Shuya Nanahara's character is more complex here, and Fujiwara gives an excellent performance. Ai Maeda is also great as Shiori, and Shugo Oshinari really chews up the screen whenever he's on it, as one of the rebellious teen soldiers who is sort of the equivalent of Shuya's character in the first film. But because, I think, of the war theme here, plus the film's concentration of the kids as a group, the film takes a lot less time on character development; you're only given insight into a few of the forty-two students' lives, so it's a bit harder this time around to buy into the teens emotionally (except for the few lead characters). That said, the performances this time around are all still good, and if anything the film's major weakness is a too-pat ending that's a bit unrealistic ... and a bit of a wet blanket compared to the huge, climactic bang the film leads up to all along.

But I still liked it. Quite a lot, actually. The war idea is a natural follow-up, plotwise, to the original idea - at least, if you wanted to do a sequel, and do it bigger and better than the first. And while Battle Royale II: Requiem (there's also a re-edited "Director's Cut" version out - Battle Royale II: Revenge - but I've yet to find it) is bigger than the first, it's definitely not better. And even if a sequel wasn't needed, this is still more than worth seeing - if for no other reason than because it was the director's last film; sadly, Kenji Fukasaku died during the making of the movie, and it had to be finished by his son Kenta. I think all the anger tossed at this movie is undeserved - though not unexpected, when holding it up to the must-see original. ***1/2 - Reel Cool-Reel Awesome