“Battle Royale” is essentially the Japanese version of “The Running Man” as it uses the same premise of a futuristic competition in which people must battle to the death. “Battle Royale” is over the top fun and it helped inspire films such as the “Kill Bill” movies.

“Battle Royale” takes place in a futuristic Japan where the country is suffering due to the lack of discipline among the country’s youth population. In response, the Japanese government has passed a law so that each year, a class of teens in randomly selected and taken to an uninhabited island. There the schoolkids must battle to the death over 3 days.

Takeshi Kitano (“Johnny Mnemonic”) plays the class’ teacher and he does a really good job. He is the one that explains the situation to the teens and he also gives updates every now and then of who has died and which areas of the island are going to be restricted. The teens themselves are not interesting but some of them are pretty amusing and generate laughs as they die in ridiculous but spectacular fashion. I also like how each pupil is given a different weapon with the weapons ranging from guns to a pan lid. There are clearly some scenes where we are meant to empathise with the characters but it becomes hard to do so when the rest of the film is so crazy.

The action sequences are absolutely hilarious and done rather well so I definitely recommend this for those looking for a cheesy action flick. My big problem with the film comes with the story (or lack of it) and I didn’t really care for the ending. I hear that the film is meant to be a satire of Japanese societal issues but most of that stuff didn’t really register with me. If you are not into crazy Japanese action then you will probably just find this loud, dumb and irritating. However, I recommend this film and I think it is just as good as “The Running Man”.