Many spoilers lie here in.

I was a big fan of Battle Royale - so much so that i read the book it was based on and it is now my favorite book of all time, anybody who hasn't read it should. It goes into much more detail on virtually every kid on the island, and the whole point of the story - why Battle Royale takes place - is completely different and incredibly more profound. It is 1984 meets Lord of the Flies - it is amazing.

So with that said - i went into watching Battle Royale 2 with high hopes and was severely let down. I didn't dislike this movie because it was so different than the first - I knew in the onset it would be. I really liked the concept of taking a class and sending them after Shuya just to screw with him. The sort of government portrayed in the first movie would do something just like that. I really enjoyed the scene with the white line - i liked the concept of them getting to chose - added a whole new level on vileness to Battle Royale. I had no problem with how quickly the kids got wasted, the way the story was set up it made perfect sense. And i liked that the daughter of the teacher from the first movie was out for blood - because she had hated her father and that was really an interesting side plot in this one. In fact i was enjoying this movie up until one point. That is when they were captured by Shuya's crew.

At this point the movie completely lost all focus - to the point of making almost no sense at all.

Before i get into the problems with the ploy i have one film making complaint. The whole storming the beach scene was far too reminiscent of Saving Private Ryan, from the camera angels, to the washed out color, to the jerky camera. It felt way to derived. I wouldn't have had a problem with it had that not been the only place in the movie it was done. As a result it stuck out like a sore thumb. I'm sure this could have been done in a much more original way.

now the plot

First of all - why would they hold up on an island where they would just be sitting ducks? The logic is just not there at all.

Second, I'm sorry I know this isn't Battle Royale 1, but the character of Shuya as portrayed in the movie and book would NEVER have taken thousands of innocent lives. That is not fighting for what you believe at any cost - that is just genocidal. The Shuya in the first movie and in this one were two very different characters. I know that what happened to him would have changed him - but it wouldn't have changed him into a homicidal lunatic. I found myself feeling no sympathy for him at all. It wasn't the adults who let this happen, it was a corrupt government. This whole kids vs. adults theme just became silly and contrived and after awhile didn't even make much sense.

Third - the teacher this time was INCREDIBLY overacted. That was one of the worst performances i have ever seen. And again, the scene where he shows up in the end in a rugby uniform, made absolutely no sense, and just came off as comical. And the whole bit with him having a collar? What? Who else missed something there?

Fourth - i found the digs at the US didn't fit into the plot at all. i know that many countries around the world don't have high opinions of us Americans, and i have no problem with that - from their perspective it is very justified. In the beginning when the teacher made that list of countries at first i thought that this could turn out to be a really interesting plot. But it went no where. They never explained its relevance to Battle Royale or what was going on in Japan. And in the end when they were going to attack Japan just because of what Shuya said - it made even less sense, and had even less to do with the plot. They further went on to suggest that somehow Battle Royale was in part the fault of the US because Japan sat by and let the US do whatever they wanted - this again made no sense.

Fifth and final - even though there are many more complaints ill leave it here. Already i said why would they go to and island and corner themselves, but why would they then refuse to leave? If they really want to make a difference what good are they all going to dead? This follows no logic at all.

This movie had a lot of potential, but out of no where it was like the movie forgot what it was about.

Now i know that in Japanese cinema there is a lot placed on the subtext of a movie and to the symbolism as well, maybe being American i just don't get it, I'm willing to concede that as a possibility. Like the movie Suicide club, i didn't get it at all, but i couldn't say its a bad movie, i just realize that i cant fully understand a lot of its symbolism and imagery, the societal translation is just lacking. But BR2 is a bit different. I felt i understood exactly what it was trying to get at - but it just lost all its balance.

Well that's that. Sorry i through around "made no sense" a lot - but i cant really think of any other way to really put most of the problems in this movie.

I watched Battle Royale a week before its sequel, and the effects the first had on me were still with me. I feel I tend to notice detail more than some people, but I know I look for it. While Battle Royale's premise was unusual, it was a great story. To imagine you and your friends dropped into a game where you had to kill each other...to see how the students were either so willing to kill, or else strive for union, or else just accept death-it was a wonderful story, with enough of all genres to keep me interested and also moved by it. Kitano was the perfect villain...human but vengeful. To see a sadistic person with so much depth, just walking around in a track suit. It was a beautiful movie with characters you cared about.

But, this is not a review of Battle Royale, but its inferior sequel. Now, once I read the premise, I knew it wouldn't be as good as its predecessor. But I wanted to see it nonetheless. First, its good to see the writer cares about recycling, because he certainly did that. We are treated a second time around to the students herded into a room and confronted by their ex-teacher. We get to see yet another trio of friends broken up when one is killed, and the others vow revenge. This time, instead of a bloody photograph to haunt the hero, it's a bloody football. From here, the story is different, but this is where it really loses its footing.

The movie makes no sense: why not just bomb the island if they're so worried about Shuya and his terrorist group? And, why make it impossible for the students to kill Shuya by keeping danger zones, and making so that when one person dies, their partner has to? Obviously the "teacher" did not care much about them accomplishing their mission, but did want to make the "game" move faster by having two people die at a time.

Then, we're treated to 45 minutes of bore, where the movie tries to get across a strong message concerning terrorism and peace. Now, I do not get bored easily. I love character development and scenes where the music just carries you along while you get to feel what the characters are feeling. But this was just falling flat in its message. And it was redundant. Every time they said something, it was a rehashing of some point already made. None of the characters were interesting. Even Shuya had become some kind of monk. And the teacher, Riki, was the stereotypical American villain. Donning a black cloak, evil laugh, and threatening one-liners. But, he was boring. Nothing like the human Kitano we got to see in the original.

Not much else to say. If they could just take the few sequences with Kitano out and insert them into Battle Royale, then we'd have no reason to watch this sequel. Maybe they should consider this...

The enjoyably histrionic Lord Of The Flies-meets-The Running Man premise of Battle Royale is taken a film too far and far too seriously in this confused, confusing mess of a sequel.

Another class of errant schoolkids is abducted by the Japanese authorities, fitted with explosive collars, and despatched to a bleak island for a particularly harsh lesson in survival. But instead of killing one another, they must fight a band of young terrorists led by previous Battle Royale 'winner' Shuga. To the death. The very messy death.

The opening scene is identical to the first Battle, with a wacko 'teacher' (think Mr Blonde in a leather jacket) pairing up the kids and gleefully demonstrating that if one of the pair dies, so must the other. Then, from the chaotic Saving Private Ryan-like landing on the island to the dreadfully protracted denouement, it's an epilepsy-inducing procession of carnage and cod philosophy.

Had Fukasaku and Son stuck to pure action, BRII would have made for queasy fun. But their propensity for heavy-handed sermonising on the nature of war and society is not only unconvincing, it's boring. If the characters put as much effort into fighting as they do delivering 'profound' speeches, their chances of survival would be infinitely higher.

That's not to say that lots and lots of people don't get blown up, shot, eviscerated and decapitated. They certainly do. Unfortunately, BRII looks like a video game and sounds like a sociology lesson as given by someone who's had too much saké.