Battle Royale 2

[bexley]

Hey, has anyone seen this yet? The first one was one of the best movies I have ever seen and part 2 looked a little 'iffy.

[STLFilmClub]

I've seen a few reviews on sites like AICN and thus far they are not coming out very positive. Here's hoping it's still worth seeing, though.

The first one would be awfully hard to top anyway, don't you think?

[bexley]

Yeah, it would be hard to beat the first one, but one can hope can't he. When they set out to make a Porky's 2, they knew they were running a risk of backlash, but they moved forward and gave us all even more boners than before.

So here's to BR2 being bonerific, but I doubt it. I'd see it even if Rip Taylor was in it.

[Eric Campos]

Shinya Tsukamoto directed, so it should at least look purty.

e

[Kuato]

i can no wait to see



m

[El Duderino Diablo]

Well, regardless of what is said about BR2 I'll probably still see it on principle alone. I checked out the preview and liked what I saw, good and over the top. And Riki Takeuchi appears to be doing some quality scenery chewing so it has to be worth the price of admission.

And on another note; I'm reading Koushun Takami's Battle Royale right now, not bad, different though.
:shrug:

[STLFilmClub]

Yeah, I'll see it either way, I guarantee. Hell, I'll probably buy a bootleg VCD like I did for the first one just so I don't have to wait for a R0 DVD to come out again. (I know, I know - I should just buy a region-free DVD player, but there are those of us in the world who can't afford them as easily as others)

[El Duderino Diablo]

Battle Royale II (http://shop.hkdvdstore.com/product_info.php?products_id=2138) on disc.

[Eric Campos]

Okay, so who's gonna be the first to buy that VCD and tell us all that the movie sucks?

[Rory L. Aronsky]

Looks like Dan Wible tells us about it:

Battle Royale II (http://www.filmthreat.com/Reviews.asp?Id=5637)

[AmaiStina]

and some more thoughts on it:

customer feedback from www.yesasia.com, specifically

BR2 thoughts (http://us.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/pid-1002861261/code-j/section-videos/)

the following was rated Best Review.


Flawed, but worth watching more than once.
Unfortunately, BRII doesn't live up to the legendary status of its predecessor, and many strongly dislike it upon first watching it. But BRII improves with multiple viewings as one starts to look past the flaws (the muddled politics, the bogged-down middle, Shugo Oshinari's irritating one-note performance) and sees what works in the film (subtle characterizations, relentless action, Ai Maeda's performance as Shiori Kitano, the daughter of the teacher from the first movie). My one piece of advice is to drop any preconceptions you have that this is BR all over again. Its structure is different (plot-driven instead of character-driven, which is why most of the multitude characters don't get developed), its theme is different (it is, at heart, a war movie), and its message is different (we need to take responsibility for our choices and actions). This movie assumes you've learned your lessons from the first BR; it's time to move on to something new, and not merely rehash what came before.
Reviewer: Anonymous
Submitted on: Monday, January 26, 2004


heres another one:

" To live earnestly is much more difficult than to die." – Battle Royale II Requiem

Why do people keep on killing each other? It probably is because, “being alive” itself is a lump of an egoism. The moment when one starts to cling to “life” is also the very moment when each ego starts to sever their relations with others, which equals the fall to an endless death. The previous "Battle Royale" revolved around the universal theme of the Karma that drives people to go on living. The sequel presents a junior-high-school student as hero but has been criticized for its cruel killing scenes. However, the message and the nature of the theme, which lie in the root of it are much purer than that of the previous part.

While the previous "Battle Royale" followed the meaning of each death from the psychological side, “Battle Royale II, Requiem” has totally improved its scale in every element.
The story development in the introduction, in which the students are locked up and urged to make decisions is very breath-taking as the battle scenes are even more dynamical than the ones shown before. The theme has also been changed—from " By what means can people cling to life? " to " What are people living for? "— Well, you can find the answer in the final scene.

Because of the sudden death of director, Fukasaku Kinji, the production team had to start filming without the final script, therefore some embarrassments as well as unbalanced parts can be seen here and there. The first part described the meaning of each life and death in detail while its sequel, although it refers to a fellowship, an opposition to adult society and then to world peace, offers a quite contrary effect. It gives you the impression that people just die one after another without describing the meaning of each life and death.

Takeuchi Riki played his role quite well just as Kitano Takeshi, who acted weirdly as a teacher in the previous chapter. However, the final scene was like out of a cheap ' youth drama '.
The highlight is the performance of Fujiwara Tatsuya who appears as the hero Nanahara. Other young actors might not have fared as well as he. His good performance also charged the whole movie with a lasting feeling of suspense.

The hero says; " To live earnestly is much more difficult than to die. " There should be a particular reason why people live and are allowed to live in the society, while each and every person's life also is very meaningful . " Battle Royale II –Requiem" follows the superb legacy of its predecessor and, at the same time, attracts us with both violent and delicate descriptions that cause us to look forward to seeing Fukasaku Kenta 's future work.

Reviewed by MIHO (Japan)
Translated by Shinri Ito

[El Duderino Diablo]

Whoa. Just finished watching BR II and man, I'm tellin' ya, I don't think I've ever seen anybody chew the scenerey the way Riki Takeuchi did in this movie. Literally. It was as if he was channelling every whack job character he's ever portrayed and playing them all at once. Still, it was fun to watch.

[Goldenwombat]

This movie pisses all over the original. I purchased a copy of this flick the day it was available, popped it in and was absolutely floored at how bad it was. Anything done right in the first movie is absolutely fucking terrible in this movie. I do not think Kenti Fusaka is the biological son of Kinji because no way could the genetic heir to the man who made Graveyard of Honor and Battle Royale be such a pathetic hack.