Over the weekend I finally watched this film. Being a fan of the first one it's a shame the sequel turned out so bad. Unlike the first film, BR2 tackles the large cast like a meat packing plant. Both films have 40+ students that are forced to battle each other to the death for a reality television show (also part of a new government amended Act). The first film, even though students are picked off from the get-go you still had some sense of who these characters were. The second one has none of that: people just start dying and you have no sympathy for any of them.
The second film also has two actors that are so over the top it is laughable. Sensai (played by Riki Takeuchi) is like a clown walking on a tightrope while trying to be as menacing as an angry poodle. Sensai in the first movie (played by Takeshi Kitano) was much more menacing by his subtilty.
The first movie had a good political message which seems to be lost in the second one (or maybe just thrown out). During filming of BR2 the director (Kinji Fukasaku, who also directed the first movie) died.
If you have the opportunity to see the first movie do so. Skip the second one. It's a waste.
The second film also has two actors that are so over the top it is laughable. Sensai (played by Riki Takeuchi) is like a clown walking on a tightrope while trying to be as menacing as an angry poodle. Sensai in the first movie (played by Takeshi Kitano) was much more menacing by his subtilty.
The first movie had a good political message which seems to be lost in the second one (or maybe just thrown out). During filming of BR2 the director (Kinji Fukasaku, who also directed the first movie) died.
If you have the opportunity to see the first movie do so. Skip the second one. It's a waste.
Marc B. Wrote:Over the weekend I finally watched this film. Being a fan of the first one it's a shame the sequel turned out so bad. Unlike the first film, BR2 tackles the large cast like a meat packing plant. Both films have 40+ students that are forced to battle each other to the death for a reality television show (also part of a new government amended Act). The first film, even though students are picked off from the get-go you still had some sense of who these characters were. The second one has none of that: people just start dying and you have no sympathy for any of them.
The second film also has two actors that are so over the top it is laughable. Sensai (played by Riki Takeuchi) is like a clown walking on a tightrope while trying to be as menacing as an angry poodle. Sensai in the first movie (played by Takeshi Kitano) was much more menacing by his subtilty.
The first movie had a good political message which seems to be lost in the second one (or maybe just thrown out). During filming of BR2 the director (Kinji Fukasaku, who also directed the first movie) died.
If you have the opportunity to see the first movie do so. Skip the second one. It's a waste.
Ditto.
Dave
Marc B. Wrote:Over the weekend I finally watched this film. Being a fan of the first one it's a shame the sequel turned out so bad. Unlike the first film, BR2 tackles the large cast like a meat packing plant. Both films have 40+ students that are forced to battle each other to the death for a reality television show (also part of a new government amended Act). The first film, even though students are picked off from the get-go you still had some sense of who these characters were. The second one has none of that: people just start dying and you have no sympathy for any of them.
The second film also has two actors that are so over the top it is laughable. Sensai (played by Riki Takeuchi) is like a clown walking on a tightrope while trying to be as menacing as an angry poodle. Sensai in the first movie (played by Takeshi Kitano) was much more menacing by his subtilty.
The first movie had a good political message which seems to be lost in the second one (or maybe just thrown out). During filming of BR2 the director (Kinji Fukasaku, who also directed the first movie) died.
If you have the opportunity to see the first movie do so. Skip the second one. It's a waste.
Yeah, I do understand your impression about BR2. Actually, I don't like this series. Young boys and girls kill each other? :eek:
I know...I know this is fiction, but this is too terrible.
If Akira Kurosawa saw this movie, he will say.... 『 いったい、なんだこりゃ！！』.
Recently, shocking incident happened in Japan.
An 11-year-old girl taken into custody for allegedly killing a female classmate with a box cutter was quoted by police sources Friday as saying she did so because the classmate wrote on an Internet bulletin board that the girl was "prissy."
According to the police, Satomi Mitarai wrote on a bulletin board on her Web site late last month that the girl was prissy. The girl deleted the message, but Mitarai posted a similar one soon later.
To make changes to messages on a Web site, the girl would have needed a password. The girl told investigators that she did not like the messages so she decided to kill Mitarai.
The two girls registered with a service that enables users to create a Web site easily, and they both had their own sites on which each set up a bulletin board.
===
Admirer of 'Battle Royale'
The girl wrote and published on her Web site a story similar to "Battle Royale," a novel by Koshun Takami about middle school students who battle and kill each other.
She launched the Web site in January and started posting in late February sections from her story, which she completed this month.
"Battle Royale" is about 42 middle school students taken to an uninhabited island by the government to battle against each other for their own survival.
The girl's story was titled "Battle Royale--Sasayaki" and is similar to the original, although characters' names are different. The main character is a third-grade middle school student named Maya, who battles with 15 classmates with Japanese swords and machine guns. In the end, Maya wins to become the only student who survives the battle.
On Feb. 24, she announced on her Web site that she was going to write her own version of "Battle Royale." She also asked those who visited her site to post comments on it.
She also posted poems and messages about her classmates.
In one such post, she said she was annoyed with her class and that her classmates were "vulgar, rude, arrogant and selfish losers."
===
Rehabilitation planned
The Nagasaki prefectural child consultation center in Sasebo has requested that the girl be sent to a child rehabilitation facility that can keep her isolated from other children, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Friday.
The center made the request when the girl, who had been held by Nagasaki prefectural police, was referred to Nagasaki Family Court's Sasebo branch, saying being admitted to such a facility would be an "appropriate" action.
The child consultation center in Nagasaki received a report Tuesday from prefectural police containing details of the case and convened a meeting Wednesday to discuss what rehabilitation the girl should receive.
Based on the police report and talks with the girl and her parents, the center decided to refer the case to the Sasebo branch. If it is decided in family court that she should be sent to a facility, the center will choose the facility.
"Bearing in mind the seriousness of this case, we decided that she needed individual attention rather than social interaction at this point," said Masanori Nakamura, head of the center.
There are 58 so-called self-reliance facilities for children nationwide. Two of the state-run facilities are equipped with secured private rooms, but the only one that accommodates girls is located in Ujiiemachi, Tochigi Prefecture.
A Nagasaki child consultation center requested similar treatment when it referred a 12-year-old boy who abducted and killed a 4-year-old child in Nagasaki in July to the family court.
===
Ministry establishes project team
Education, Science and Technology Minister Takeo Kawamura announced Friday that the ministry had set up a project team to investigate the problematic behavior of young students.
The team will analyze the details and possible causes behind the Sasebo case and draw up a series of measures by the beginning of the school summer holidays to prevent similar incidents from occurring.
The team is expected to discuss how to educate children on the preciousness of human life, create a secure school environment and teach morals and manners in the information society, among other measures.
Early next week, the team will dispatch officials to Sasebo to gather information on the case.
"Primary school students are surrounded by so many influences, including the Internet and movies," Kawamura said at a press conference Friday. "We must ensure that children understand at a more profound level the importance of human life."
"I hope each school will discuss how this sort of terrible crime could have happened," he added.
An 11-year-old girl taken into custody for allegedly killing a female classmate with a box cutter was quoted by police sources Friday as saying she did so because the classmate wrote on an Internet bulletin board that the girl was "prissy."
According to the police, Satomi Mitarai wrote on a bulletin board on her Web site late last month that the girl was prissy. The girl deleted the message, but Mitarai posted a similar one soon later.
To make changes to messages on a Web site, the girl would have needed a password. The girl told investigators that she did not like the messages so she decided to kill Mitarai.
The two girls registered with a service that enables users to create a Web site easily, and they both had their own sites on which each set up a bulletin board.
===
Admirer of 'Battle Royale'
The girl wrote and published on her Web site a story similar to "Battle Royale," a novel by Koshun Takami about middle school students who battle and kill each other.
She launched the Web site in January and started posting in late February sections from her story, which she completed this month.
"Battle Royale" is about 42 middle school students taken to an uninhabited island by the government to battle against each other for their own survival.
The girl's story was titled "Battle Royale--Sasayaki" and is similar to the original, although characters' names are different. The main character is a third-grade middle school student named Maya, who battles with 15 classmates with Japanese swords and machine guns. In the end, Maya wins to become the only student who survives the battle.
On Feb. 24, she announced on her Web site that she was going to write her own version of "Battle Royale." She also asked those who visited her site to post comments on it.
She also posted poems and messages about her classmates.
In one such post, she said she was annoyed with her class and that her classmates were "vulgar, rude, arrogant and selfish losers."
===
Rehabilitation planned
The Nagasaki prefectural child consultation center in Sasebo has requested that the girl be sent to a child rehabilitation facility that can keep her isolated from other children, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Friday.
The center made the request when the girl, who had been held by Nagasaki prefectural police, was referred to Nagasaki Family Court's Sasebo branch, saying being admitted to such a facility would be an "appropriate" action.
The child consultation center in Nagasaki received a report Tuesday from prefectural police containing details of the case and convened a meeting Wednesday to discuss what rehabilitation the girl should receive.
Based on the police report and talks with the girl and her parents, the center decided to refer the case to the Sasebo branch. If it is decided in family court that she should be sent to a facility, the center will choose the facility.
"Bearing in mind the seriousness of this case, we decided that she needed individual attention rather than social interaction at this point," said Masanori Nakamura, head of the center.
There are 58 so-called self-reliance facilities for children nationwide. Two of the state-run facilities are equipped with secured private rooms, but the only one that accommodates girls is located in Ujiiemachi, Tochigi Prefecture.
A Nagasaki child consultation center requested similar treatment when it referred a 12-year-old boy who abducted and killed a 4-year-old child in Nagasaki in July to the family court.
===
Ministry establishes project team
Education, Science and Technology Minister Takeo Kawamura announced Friday that the ministry had set up a project team to investigate the problematic behavior of young students.
The team will analyze the details and possible causes behind the Sasebo case and draw up a series of measures by the beginning of the school summer holidays to prevent similar incidents from occurring.
The team is expected to discuss how to educate children on the preciousness of human life, create a secure school environment and teach morals and manners in the information society, among other measures.
Early next week, the team will dispatch officials to Sasebo to gather information on the case.
"Primary school students are surrounded by so many influences, including the Internet and movies," Kawamura said at a press conference Friday. "We must ensure that children understand at a more profound level the importance of human life."
"I hope each school will discuss how this sort of terrible crime could have happened," he added.
I wonder if the writers/producers/directors of both movies were in any way influenced by the excellent novel/novelette THE LONG WALK by Stephen King (AKA Richard Bachman).
I hear that story has been in Development Hell in Los Angeles for decades now.
For those unfamiliar with The Long Walk, it is a chilling dystopian tale set in the not too distant future where dissatisfied male american teenagers are allowed, if they so desire, to join a walking-marathon. If they win the event, they win a million dollars. The catch is, only the last person walking wins...anybody who stops walking during the event, is instantly killed (shot) by one of the several dozen National Guardsmen who accompany the walkers. Once you join this walk-a-thon, you can't quit. King admitted that this story was heavily influenced by accounts he read of WW II soldiers who had survived the Bataan Death March.
Also makes me think these movies might have been influenced by the novel LORD OF THE FLIES.
I hear that story has been in Development Hell in Los Angeles for decades now.
For those unfamiliar with The Long Walk, it is a chilling dystopian tale set in the not too distant future where dissatisfied male american teenagers are allowed, if they so desire, to join a walking-marathon. If they win the event, they win a million dollars. The catch is, only the last person walking wins...anybody who stops walking during the event, is instantly killed (shot) by one of the several dozen National Guardsmen who accompany the walkers. Once you join this walk-a-thon, you can't quit. King admitted that this story was heavily influenced by accounts he read of WW II soldiers who had survived the Bataan Death March.
Also makes me think these movies might have been influenced by the novel LORD OF THE FLIES.
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