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Battle Royale

Play trailer Poster for Battle Royale Released Dec 16, 2000 1h 54m Mystery & Thriller Action Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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90% Tomatometer 50 Reviews 89% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
42 9th graders are sent to a deserted island. They are given a map, food, and various weapons. An explosive collar is fitted around their neck. If they break a rule, the collar explodes. Their mission: kill each other and be the last one standing. The last survivor is allowed to leave the island. If there is more than one survivor, the collars explode and kill them all.
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Battle Royale

Battle Royale

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Critics Consensus

Battle Royale is a controversial and violent parable of adolescence, heightening teenage melodrama with life-or-death stakes.

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Critics Reviews

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Sara Stewart New York Post Stylistically it's a beauty, with khaki-uniformed waifs fighting for their lives to a crashing classical score. Rated: 3/4 May 25, 2012 Full Review A.O. Scott New York Times Awful deaths (and hysterical reactions to them) punctuate declarations of love and friendship, revelations of treachery and heavily armed expressions of angst. Rated: 3.5/5 May 24, 2012 Full Review Joshua Rothkopf Time Out Forgive the film its small flaws of histrionic performances and cheap execution for the giddy rush of its banal, Verhoevenesque atmosphere... Rated: 4/5 May 22, 2012 Full Review Panos Kotzathanasis Asian Movie Pulse Battle Royale” stands as a definite cult movie, from Takeshi Kitano's presence to the way it inspired Tarantino, to the violent portrayal of youth and sociopolitical criticism unfolds against a backdrop of dark humor and an evocative soundtrack. Rated: 8 Mar 3, 2024 Full Review Javier G. Trigales Espinof The "groundbreaking" premise of Battle Royale remains a good black comedy diversion that's more conventional than some wanted it to be. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 3/5 Nov 27, 2023 Full Review Grant Watson Fiction Machine It is not simply satire, but social commentary; not simply a sensational over-the-top movie, but an important one as well. Rated: 9/10 Jun 29, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Erick V The film does has moments where it could be controversial Japanese dystopian thriller in which a class of students need to fight due to being forced because the government orders them to do it. The film shows to be governmental control survival skills and lots of intense and action but also shows the different tension it has on a persons thinking. The film was not bad nor great but just in the middle which the film tends to show a deeper message which the film may not be for everyone and some will find it unpleasing while other will find the film interesting and different from others. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/26/25 Full Review Audience Member I would not recommend this movie. To be honest, I did not really enjoy the plot. This film felt very cliche to me and some of the deaths were just over the top. People say not to take the film “seriously” so you can enjoy it. But, I feel like that does not make sense. It’s a thriller… I feel like it should be taken seriously to some extent. Teens and adolescents misbehaving so they started (Battle Royale) to teach them does not really make sense to me. the movie was cool and entertaining in some aspects but u definitely would not watch it again. The movie is very gory and violent so if you do not like that I would suggest you skip! I also did not really enjoy the love stories; it felt poorly done and out of place to me. The CGI is definitely not the greatest either. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 03/12/25 Full Review Jesus A I watched this film a couple yesrs ago but went I discovered this film called under the cult category I was surprised. Reasoning for this is cause the first cult film I belive I watched was El Topo which in my opinion was horroable as I didn't know what I was watching. Anyways I do recommend this film and as I said it been a while since I watched this and all I really remember is it does include a lot of gore and if I can recall the ending was a little weird other than that recommendplot of film is pretty crazy. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/11/25 Full Review Benjamin H Incredibly gory, unrelenting and tightly packaged, Battle Royale is such an exciting movie that keeps you engaged from scene one while also having some well handled moments of character depth. There are a couple of scenes that could have been changed slightly, but that is a nitpick, as i found this to be so much fun and it definitely falls under the category of an all killer, no filler type of movie. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/25 Full Review Cee S Battle Royale, directed by Kinji Fukasaku, was released in 2000. This is an educational movie to show adults how to make kids be more respectful. This movie takes place in Japen where the children have become delinquent and disrespectful. The government rounds up a random group of students to kill each other with-in three days. Battle Royale is very similar to the Hunger Games that was made in 2012. In one of the beginning scenes there is a student that whispers in class. This is very rude and disrespectful. The teacher had no other choice but to throw a knife at the child and kill them. To quote Lois C.K.’s YouTube Video, If Murder Was Legal, “Children would behave very differently if murder was legal.” Maybe Battle Royale has the right idea. Not only will adding a little more restrictions to children’s life make them more respectful, but it will also lower the population by the need to put certain unruly children down. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/29/25 Full Review Marija P Pointless, frustrating, not enjoyable by any metric and definitely not deserving of a higher rating. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/26/25 Full Review Read all reviews
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Movie Info

Synopsis 42 9th graders are sent to a deserted island. They are given a map, food, and various weapons. An explosive collar is fitted around their neck. If they break a rule, the collar explodes. Their mission: kill each other and be the last one standing. The last survivor is allowed to leave the island. If there is more than one survivor, the collars explode and kill them all.
Director
Kinji Fukasaku
Producer
Akio Kamatani, Tetsu Kayama, Masumi Okada, Masao Sato, Kenta Fukasaku, Kinji Fukasaku, Kimio Kataoka, Toshio Nabeshima, Chie Kobayashi
Screenwriter
Kenta Fukasaku
Production Co
GAGA, Battle Royale Prod. Committee, Kobi Co., Nippon Shuppan Hanbai (Nippan) K.K., WOWOW, MF Pictures, Toei Company, Toho Company, AM Associates
Genre
Mystery & Thriller, Action, Comedy
Original Language
Japanese
Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 16, 2000, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 30, 2016
Runtime
1h 54m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital
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