The first time I saw Battle Royale I was blown away. Like Kubrick’s 1971 opus to the contradictions of society from a youth’s perspective, so was Battle Royale. When Japan began to fall into ruin and countless adults lost their jobs, grew detached from the responsibilities of parenthood by offing themselves or leaving all together, an inevitable uprising of neglected youth’s was bound to happen. The band aid fix, The Millennium Education Reform Act or Battle Royale. A random class would be subjected to the BR act, have collars placed around their necks, and sent out onto a deserted island to kill one another off. The last student standing was proclaimed the victor and allowed to return home.

Following Battle Royale a few years later was Battle Royale 2. In this story a character from the last BR film has now become the head of a resistance called Wild Seven. They have holed up on a deserted island and have been keeping the government troops at bay for some time. The government on the other hand has implemented a second Battle Royale act, in retaliation against Wild Seven for a terrorist bombing, which selects a random class to don military uniforms and storm the island where the resistance can be found. This time the kids are paired up. If your partner is more then 50 feet away your collars start to sound a warning. If your partner dies your collar goes off. With the collars to worry about there is the added pressure of the Wild Seven picking off the invading students at an alarming rate. Can they complete their mission or die trying?

Unlike the first BR film, Battle Royale 2 just doesn’t have that certain panache, that quality that makes it a film that will stand the test of time. In Battle Royale there was that universal appeal in that if you were a teenager you were already feeling (or forcing yourself to feel) that the adult world is loaded with hypocrites doing all of the things you were warned not to do, and were punished for doing. If you were an adult you could reflect on those gone by feelings and invest yourself in the characters, the underlying fable about society, and catch small glimpses of even the adult story between Kitano-sensei (“Beat” Takashi Kitano) and his absent daughter who we only hear over the phone. Battle Royale II ends up just being another allegory for the horrors of war. To make matters worse the acting is very wooden offering up a lot of soap opera type reaction, unbelievable sequences of war, and a pretty horrible ending. The only thing that really holds any value, at least for me, is the back scene in which we see Kitano-Sensei and his daughter in a flashback that ties in well with the first film. That being the first true sign that society has become so screwed up that even when an adult is attempting to be responsible the mass hysteria of direction for both children and adults is simply to strong for either to find a common ground due to societal expectation, even if they are screwy. There was just too much wrong with BRII then I can list here so let me move on to what you can expect from the Battle Royal: Complete Collection 4 Disc BD set.

The first thing that is both cool but also kind of not thought out very well is the case in which your four disc collection comes in. A plastic sleeve covers the case which is made to emulate a school book. The book is very nice, sturdy, and contains high gloss pictures on each page that correlate with elements of the film. Really it’s extremely awesome to look at and makes for a great shelf display for your BR BD’s and DVD, but some of the pages have pockets right down the outside seam that open slightly to allow you to slide your discs in and out. I’m extremely careful when removing and replacing these discs, but if your not careful you can end up damaging the discs from repeated removal and replacement, especially the bonus supplement disc which is a DVD and does not have that protective covering like BD’s have. Other then that the case is awesome.

PICTURE AND AUDIO QUALITY:
Right off the bat let me tell you that if your expecting Battle Royal I or II to look like it was filmed yesterday with high definition camera’s your going to be disappointed. Don’ get me wrong, the films have never looked better, but they aren’t immaculate. In a lot of the archive looking scenes; shots of the ocean, shots of the military base in BR II or headquarters in BR I, or just random shots of locations, they look gritty, semi-unfocused, and colors are bland looking. In Battle Royal (either the DC or TC) colors never really pop, clarity is an issue, and definition, though greatly improved, is still lacking. In one brutal kill scene the screen even turns a horrid yellowish color before the scene cuts out. Battle Royale, at least this release, hasn’t yet been given the royal treatment (pun intended). It’s 7.1 True HD Japanese Language track and it’s 5.1 True HD English track do sound fantastic though. I went with the Japanese track and thought the film never sounded better.

Battle Royal II, though inferior in story, is at least superior in picture quality. Colors, for the most part, have their chance to pop, clarity and definition get a big boost, and the film looks cleaner for a higher majority of time then the first film. Battle scenes look particularly sharp as you watch the students jumping from spot to spot to avoid the zipping bullets that fly across your screen. This film only comes in a 5.1 Japanese Language Track with English subtitles but when the bullets begin flying you really appreciate the intense amount of immersion as bullets come at you from all sides of the room. Not that great of a film but picture and sound are outmatched in the set.

BONUS FEATURES:
~The Making of Battle Royale: This feature is just shy by 8 or 9 minutes of being a complete hour long feature. Worth every second though if you ask me. You get interviews with just about anyone who worked on the film plus tons of behind the scenes footage. If you watch one bonus feature at all, make sure its this one.
~Battle Royale Press Conference: Director and cast answering questions about the film.
~Instructional Video: Birthday Version
~Audition and Rehearsal Footage: Another very cool little feature. Remember how awesome it was when they released the audition tapes for the cast of Star Wars? It’s kind of something like that.
~Special Effects Comparison Featurette
~Tokyo International Film Festival 2000
~Battle Royale Documentary
~Basketball Scene Rehearsal: Come on. You know every time you see this scene you want to see it going forward just because.
~Behind-The-Scenes Featurette
~Filming On Set
~Original Theatrical Trailer: The best way to see how far the film have come picture and sound-wise.
~Special Edition TV Spot
~TV Spot - Tarantino Version: Tarantino talks about his love for BR. If you know Tarantino he’ll eventually get around to making an homage to BR. With his knack for blood and violence that could actually end up being pretty awesome. That Americanized remake idea will never die.