81
Metascore
7 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Village VoiceVillage Voice[Fukasaku's] genius is finding the overlap between teenage dreams and nightmares, between the intensity of first love and the terror of extinction.
- 90The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottAmerican fans of "The Hunger Games" may not embrace - or even be permitted to see - Battle Royale, which is too bad. It is in many ways a better movie and in any case a fascinating companion, drawn from a parallel cultural universe. It is a lot uglier and also, perversely, a lot more fun.
- 90VarietyRobert KoehlerVarietyRobert KoehlerDeparting from two decades' worth of domestic and personal dramas and returning to his roots as Japan's maestro of mayhem, Kinji Fukasaku has delivered a brutal punch to the collective solar plexus with one of his most outrageous and timely films.
- 80Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfKinji Fukasaku's slick, sick nightmare is best left to the quasi-banned realm where it exists as a perfect satire; when brought into reality, it's a touch awkward.
- This one's a thoroughly campy exercise in teen melodrama and Grand Guignol gore (how gory? it's one of Quentin Tarantino's favorite movies), the other (The Hunger Games) a straight-faced action picture.
- Bloodhounds will lick their lips experiencing the re-launch of Kinji Fukasaku's trendsetting Battle Royale (2000) with 3D effects, which basically make the splatter scenes gorier and stickier.
- 38Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenMaybe Battle Royale's ultimate punchline is its inexplicable ability to fool some people into taking it seriously.