The original Battle Royale won the hearts of many moviegoers with its black humor and deft social commentary. The sequel isn't quite so deft with the humor, but rates as one of the most politically explosive films that will never play on American screens. From its opening aerial sequence = a Japanese version of the Twin Towers tragedy - to its brutal examination of terrorist vs. military violence, Battle Royale 2 explores a lot of incendiary territory.
Unlike the original, BR2 comes off like a vintage war film, albeit fought by teenage boys and girls in military fatigues. When a group of delinquent high-schoolers are exported to a deserted island, they have been charged with rooting out and killing a terrorist cell (who just happen to be the survivors of BR1).
Perhaps a bit too long (like many war movies), this film makes its major points with its sheer radicalism. BR2 takes great pains to suggest that there may not be any clear-cut answers when it comes to violence, sanctioned or not, and that the only way to progress is by at least trying to understand both sides.
Unlike the original, BR2 comes off like a vintage war film, albeit fought by teenage boys and girls in military fatigues. When a group of delinquent high-schoolers are exported to a deserted island, they have been charged with rooting out and killing a terrorist cell (who just happen to be the survivors of BR1).
Perhaps a bit too long (like many war movies), this film makes its major points with its sheer radicalism. BR2 takes great pains to suggest that there may not be any clear-cut answers when it comes to violence, sanctioned or not, and that the only way to progress is by at least trying to understand both sides.