Before the Hunger Games There Was Battle Royale

Imagine there was a novel that told the story of a nation at the millennium whose economy had collapsed. At 15% unemployment, 10 million were out of work, 800,000 students boycotted school and juvenile crime rates soared. Adults had lost all confidence in their nation’s future. and now fearing the youth of the nation they eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act, AKA, the BR Act. The Act requires randomly chosen schoolchildren to be taken to an isolated island where they are forced to fight each other to the death until there is only one survivor.

If you think that plot sounds somewhat familiar, well, you’re not alone.  But it’s not from Suzanne Collins’ 2008 The Hunger Games. Rather, it’s from the 1999 novel, Battle Royale, by Koushun Takami.  The novel was made into a movie in 2000 and this review, as short as it is, is about the movie version.

My review?  This is a darn good film, but make no mistake, it is bloody, violent and not subtle with either. Yet, it contains a surprising love story as it tells the tale of 42 fifteen-year olds who have 3 days to kill each other until only one student remains.  Unlike the Hunger Games, Battle Royale is not child friendly or child watchable. The movie opens with a suicide and ramps up the violence level from there. In short, this is not a film that your mother or father would approve.

So why would I recommend it? Because the acting is very smart, the special effects are good and the teens form a realistic group dynamic. You know early on who will probably make it to the climax, but you’re not sure that they will survive to the ending credits. To me, that’s a good indicator.

The bottom line is that Battle Royale is Hunger Games not diluted for young audiences. Watch it and draw your own conclusions. It is streaming on Netflix and is available for purchase at Amazon.