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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Battle Royale: Director's Cut (2000)

Battle Royale: Director's Cut (2000)

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Released 15-Feb-2012

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Action Featurette-Making Of
Featurette-Battle Royale Documentary
Featurette-Instructional Video: Birthday Version
Featurette-Audition and Rehearsal Footage
Featurette-Special Effects Comparison
Featurette-Tokyo International Film Festival 2000
Featurette-Basketball Scene Rehearsals
Featurette-Behind The Scenes
Featurette-Filming on Set
TV Spots-Director's Edition x 2
Theatrical Trailer
Trailer-Eastern Eye Trailers x 4
Rating Rated R
Year Of Production 2000
Running Time 116:16 (Case: 122)
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Kinji Fukasaku
Studio
Distributor
Toei Company
Madman Entertainment
Starring Tatsuya Fujiwara
Aki Maeda
Taro Yamamoto
Masanobu Ando
Kou Shibasaki
Chiaki Kuriyama
Case Alpha-Transparent
RPI $29.95 Music Masamichi Amano


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     In the near future Japanese society is in chaos. Unemployment is soaring, and the youth are out of control. The response from the government is to pass the BR Act; each year one grade 9 high school class is selected at random, transported to an abandoned island, provided with food, water and a weapon, fitted with tracking collars and instructed to kill each other until only one remains. They have three days; if after that time more than one student survives, all will be killed.

     Battle Royale was apparently director Kinji Fukasaku’s 60th film (he had directed some of the Japanese segments of Tora. Tora. Tora. (1970) after Kurosawa was fired, and he died in 2003) and he clearly knows a few things about making films. Battle Royale is by no means a video nasty or a splatter film; although there is certainly plenty of blood (more so in this special edition) it is not excessive or particularly gory. Instead Battle Royale builds tension well with varied and interesting characters, excellent pacing and explosive action sequences.

     With a class of 42 students on the island waiting to be killed, not all can be individualised. The film centres on the duo of Shuya (Tatsuya Fujiwara) and Noriko (Aki Maeda) as they try to avoid killing anyone and look for a way out. Others, such as Mitsuko (Kou Shibasaki) or the silent, psychotic Kiriyama (Nasanoku Ando) become cunning killers, but others like Shinji (Takashi Tsukamoto) show leadership and band together with others to fight back at those who control the game, while others simply want to hide away. Others to stand out are Kawada (Taro Yamamoto), who has a totally separate agenda, and the teacher Kitano (played by legend Beat Takeshi) whose character has more depth than it seems at first.

     Based on the novel by Koshun Takami (both the book and the film caused concern in Japan), Battle Royale is a well-made, interesting and exciting film, with good performances, assured direction and intense action sequences that do not dwell upon the gore. I had not seen the film before and though it as a bit of a video nasty. I could not have been more wrong!

     The theatrical cut of Battle Royale was released in Australia by Shock and was reviewed on this site here. The extras included on that release are almost identical to the current release; the real difference is that this is the Director’s Cut which adds about 8 minutes as well as making some other changes. For a detailed outline of the differences follow the link here. Technical differences include a 5.1 audio track, instead of the previous non-surround 2.0, better video and subtitles (see sections below). Fans who already have the the film need to decide for themselves if a repurchase is warranted. For those who do not have the film, this DVD is an excellent purchase.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     Battle Royale – Director’s Cut is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The IMDb gives the original theatrical ratio as 1.85:1. It is 16x9 enhanced.

     The video is functional. It is not a particular sharp print, and some detail is lacking although brightness and contrast are consistent. Colours are generally dull and flat, with the exception of a couple of outside scenes, such as views of the lighthouse. Skin tones are natural, blacks good and shadow detail acceptable. I saw some slight evidence of edge enhancement, but nothing serious, while marks and other artefacts were absent.

     The previous release of the theatrical version of the film was a single layer disc and the reviewer noted some problems with the low bitrate. This current release has a dual layer, with the layer change at 108:40 resulting in a slight pause and seems an improvement.

     The English subtitles are in a yellow font and are easy to read. They are not burnt in as was the case with the previous release. I did not notice any spelling or grammatical errors.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is a Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps. Dialogue is clean and from the front centre, and the surrounds come into play with gunfire and explosions. I did not really notice any obvious sub-woofer use but some bass was added to explosions. While not really vibrant, there is a nice enveloping feel.

     Lip synchronisation is fine.

     The original music by Masamichi Amano supported the film well, but it was the added selections from Bach, Verdi, Strauss (Snr. And Jnr.) and Schubert that provided depth and an epic feel to the soundtrack.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    There are a wealth of extras included on the DVD although all were available on the previous theatrical version DVD release.

Making of Battle Royale (50:24)

    A combination of unstructured on set, behind the scenes and film footage, loosely linked by some captions. Includes interview snippets with various cast and crew members. Some of this is quite interesting and it is certainly not an “I love everyone” piece. But it is rather too long for what it is.

Battle Royale Documentary (12:09)

    A combination of EPK, extended trailer and some snappy cutting.

Instructional Video: Birthday Message (3:02)

    Video made for the director’s 70th birthday on set.

Audition and Rehearsal Footage (7:11)

    Unstructed and raw footage of auditions and rehearsals with some linking text.

Special Effects Comparison (4:16)

    Shows the final shots and the composites that went into a number of special effects shots such as multiple gunshots, exploding necklaces and explosions.

Tokyo International Film Festival (4:26)

    Cast and director present the film at the 13th Tokyo International Film Festival.

Basketball Scene Rehearsals (8:38)

    Six months after photography concluded the cast and crew reunited to rehearse and film a basketball game scene that was not in the theatrical version but is in this director’s cut (or special edition as they call it).

Behind the Scenes (10:08)

    More like an on-set video diary but concentrating on footage of the director working with his young cast.

Filming on Set (11:00)

    Unlinked behind the scenes footage with some quick sound bites from various cast members.

Special Edition TV Spot (0:31)

    

Special Edition TV Spot: Tarantino Version (0:31)

     TV spot with Tarantino voice-over.

Theatrical Trailer (1:39)

Eastern Eye Trailers

     Trailers for other films: The Chasing World (1:49), Bedevilled (2:09), Outrage (2:05) and Haunters (1:38).

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     There are quite a few versions of the Director’s Cut available in different regions. The cuts of the film seem the same, the differences are in the extras; our Region 4 release is identical to the Region 2 UK release, the Region 0 and 3 Korean versions being different. A comparison from DVDBeaver can be found here. There does not appear to be a current Region 1 US release of the film. Too close to call, I think, but we do have something Region 1 does not.

Summary

     From the novel by Koshun Takami comes the director’s cut of Battle Royale which adds about 8 minutes to the previously released theatrical cut. While the extras are the same, this director’s cut adds the 8 minutes and tweaks other areas, and has improved picture and sound. Fans who already have the film need to decide for themselves if a repurchase is warranted. For those who do not yet have the film, this DVD is an excellent purchase of a well-made, entertaining film.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Monday, May 07, 2012
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE