In the near future Japan is trying to stop the problem with the youth, so they pass the Battle Royale Act.  The Battle Royale Act is where they select a random group of students with a lottery and they drug them and ship them onto a deserted island.  There they strap a collar around their neck which explodes if it is tampered with or if they go into a danger zone.  Each one of these ninth graders receive a backpack.  Inside the backpack is water, food, a map, a compass, and a weapon ranging from anything between a pot top to an oozy.  Now as each student is sent out onto the island one by one they have three days, and at the end of the three days there can only be one survivor.  If there are more than one survivor they kill them all by triggering the explosive collar.  Some choose to kill themselves so they don’t have to go through it, while others form alliances so they can try to get off the island together, while some get a taste for the killing and are determined to get off the island alive.  The time is narrowing down and once the children are set off on the island, the killing begins.

The movie opens with a group of reporters.  They are running up to an army truck screaming; “This year’s Battle Royale is over and the winner is…a girl!  The winner is a girl!”  We get a glimpse of the young girl who is the winner of this last Battle Royale.  She is holding a doll, and she is covered in blood.  As the camera angles on her she begins to smile.  Next we meet Shuya, who is one of our main characters.  We learn that his father hung himself the day before he started seventh grade.  Later we are introduced to the rest of the kids.  They are on a school bus on their way to a field trip.  They are on the bus acting like normal kids.  Soon they all fall asleep and one of them wakes up.  He notices the bus driver is wearing a gas mask.  When one of the adults wearing a gas mask notices he is awake they go over to the young boy and hit him over the head, knocking him out.  Later all the kids wake up in a room.  They have no idea where they are until they meet their teacher Kitano.  He explains they have been selected to participate in this year’s Battle Royale.  While in there he shows them a video, and when one is talking he throws a knife, killing them.  Soon a boy objects to playing the game and they trigger his collar and kill him.  Later they set the kids out on their way and the game of Battle Royale begins.

I had heard nothing but great things about this film and I have heard how amazing these Japanese horror films are, so I decided to try one of them out.  The one I chose was Battle Royale.  When I received this movie I couldn’t wait to check it out.  Sure enough this movie was more than I could have expected.  As soon as the movie starts we are introduced to the end of the last Battle Royale competition, and just seeing that little girl smiling after what had just taken place I knew I was in for something.  That just drew me right into the movie.  I knew that this movie was going to be bizarre, and sure enough it was.  There were certain times during the movie that I couldn’t really believe what I was watching.  It felt as if it truly were happening and I was wondering whether or not I really should be watching this movie.  This movie is incredibly disturbing and violent.  Soon you find yourself really cheering on the main characters and you want them to survive and stop the ones who have taken a pleasure in the killing.  So if you’re a fan of horror films, then I highly recommend you checking this movie out.  With this being my first experience in Japanese horror films, it has definitely made me want to see more.  The only bad thing about this movie is some of the cheesiness that takes place.  Still, this is a great movie and one of the best I’ve seen in recent years.  I give it a 10 out of 10.