In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
3D conversion of a classic teen massacre thriller raises the gore level.
– Maggie Lee,
Hollywood Reporter,
22 May 2012
fresh:
It may suit a certain worldview, but Battle Royale's cynicism is still a form fantasy-a balm as well as a bomb.
– Eric Hynes,
Village Voice,
22 May 2012
fresh:
Forgive the film its small flaws of histrionic performances and cheap execution for the giddy rush of its banal, Verhoevenesque atmosphere...
– Joshua Rothkopf,
Time Out New York,
22 May 2012
fresh:
Awful deaths (and hysterical reactions to them) punctuate declarations of love and friendship, revelations of treachery and heavily armed expressions of angst.
– A.O. Scott,
New York Times,
24 May 2012
fresh:
Stylistically it's a beauty, with khaki-uniformed waifs fighting for their lives to a crashing classical score.