The One With Battle Royale

My Bluey watching so far in 2011 has consisted of classics.

I watched Apocalypse Now, and reviewed it HERE.

But on a particularly chilled out Bank Holiday Monday it was the turn of Battle Royale.

A Christmas pressie, and one of the coolest box sets ever.

There were only 10,000 made, so that meant I had to buy it immediately.

Then Ethan spilt tea on it, and I cried a bit. (True story).

The box set itself is why I would try and get hold of this. It oozes class. And it's quirky as you like.

I watched the Directors Cut, because I'm unhealthily obsessed with other versions of films, (see HERE). The start tells you the film is a 15 (!!) in Japan. Then the music booms in. I've no idea what it's called but it's the same music as PES2011 if you let the intro play out. Straight away you realise the film is a classic. The music and visuals straight away make you realise the film has its tongue firmly in cheek. And, with the subject matter, I guess it has too.

40 odd students sent to an island. Told to grab a bag, (containing supplies, and crucially a weapon), and be the last boy/girl standing.

Simple.

What would you do? Try and get off the island? Camp like Mike Cheese? ("I'm not camping everyone" being my fave quote of 2011, as The Ledgers played Black Ops... even though we were all watching MC camp!).

You can't do either of those things, because of that there neck brace. If you leave it blows up. (Demonstrated in stunning clarity here, as a girl loses her head).

You can't camp as the island is a map for the teacher, who can trigger the neck braces at any time.

So... you know... you're better off fighting.

The film is a satire, as we are told unemployment is at an all time high, and in a flashback see a teacher get stabbed by a unruly classroom.

So, this was the solution.

Now, @Sean_Boon tells me it's on for a remake, and I think the timing of that is perfect.

Imagine they focus on the hoody culture in todays schools. About how street violence is so bad, this is seen as a solution.

I think it would work brilliantly.

I had read that the picture on the DC was a bit disappointed for the scenes that had been integrated, but I thought it was fine.

This isn't one of those films, (like Apocalypse, that needs to look amazing), so much so that I watched it in the bedroom.

It is certainly a lot sharper than my old DVD copy.

I remember the day I got that. I fell in love with this film, and will always love it.

When I was doing Media at A-Level I wrote a story about how a school got taken over by rioting students, and it played out a lot like BR. I based the whole idea around best friends having to fight at the end, and the final shot was two people lying on the floor, with the gun in the middle. The camera (when it was made into a Hollywood Block Buster, obviously), panned out through the roof of the school, and the gun went off.

You never knew who fired the shot.

Hmmm... That may be due a remake rewrite too, you know...

Get hold of Battle Royale. Its a phenomenal reason as to why a lot of people continually chastise Hollywood. They just don't make 'em like they used too...

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