NOTE: This DVD is coded for playback in Region 3. It will only work in DVD players that are region free or coded for Region 3 playback.

In 2000, Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku took the cult move world by storm with his nihilistic tale of Japanese students forced into combat against each other in Battle Royale. Despite the lack of a legitimate DVD release in North America, the film has been pretty much universally praised and it remains arguably the director's best known film on this side of the Pacific Ocean. This was one of those rare films that lived up to the hype, and it's influence is still rippling across genre films even now, four years later (just watch Chiaki Kuriyama's turn in Kill Bill if you don't believe me).

When it was announced in 2002 that Kinji was going to get back behind the camera to film a sequel with Takashi Kitano returning to his role and this time joined by Japanese V-Cinema star and Takashi Miike stalwart Riki Takeuchi in a prime part, my fingers tingled with anticipation. Add to that the fact that Sonny 'The Bad Man From Japan' Chiba was going to have a cameo, I figured there was no way that this couldn't be hands down the coolest movie of the year. With Kinji returning as director and a cast like that, how could it go wrong? It almost seemed like a no brainer.

When the movie hit, I was dying to see it. As soon as I saw a bootleg copy floating around on Ebay I foolishly plunked down for it and a few days later, sat down to take in what I knew had to be a great follow up to a great film. Sadly, the end result had me slapping myself not only to stay awake, but to keep from hitting the fast forward button on my remote control. I'd hoped rewatching it for this review might elevate my opinion of it, but sadly it just reinforced it even more.

Battle Royale II: Requiem is weak.

The basic plot behind the storyline is this. Set three years after the grisly events in the first film, BR Act survivor Shuya Nanahara (Tatsuya Fujiwara returning to his role) is now a world famous terrorist. His goal isn't too different from that of most terrorists operating below the radar – he wants to take down the Japanese government. How does the Japanese government respond to his actions? The create a second Battle Royale program to train and breed another group of high school kids to hunt down and kill him.

That's the story in a nutshell, and on the surface, given the current state of world affairs, it sounds like an interesting premise. Couple that with the ballsy move of showing two twin towers crumbling in what is obviously supposed to replicate the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001 and the sheer guts it would take to put a terrorist in the lead of an anti-hero, and again, it sounds like Battle Royale II really could have been an interesting film.

The movie does get a few things right – the action scenes play like a cross between those seen in Kinji Fukasaku's infamous Yakuza films of the 1970s, and Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. The camera work is chaotic and erratic and it does a good job of putting you in the moment. These scenes are intense and gripping and when the bodies start falling, and believe me, they do, you're almost waiting to get hit by a stray bullet yourself. The actions scenes are handled very well – sadly, this is more than just a nasty action movie. If it had been just that, I'd have been able to at least enjoy it, even if it lacked the symbolism, and nihilistic social commentary that the first movie so perfectly played upon.

Instead, and here's where the movie goes painfully wrong, it tries to up the ante in that department. Here the symbolism becomes so heavy handed that it ceases to be symbolism or a social critique of any kind and instead morphs into this bizarre sympathetic portrayal of terrorists fighting the good fight. When one character gives a speech about the glory of the AK-47 and the video in turn shows images of Afghani citizens, it's hard not to miss the anti-American sentiment of the film. It's about as subtle as a brick to the head, and rather than let the viewer draw his or her own conclusions about the morals of the film, it smacks you over the head with them until you start to numb to it all and desperately want it to stop.

And you know what? I'd have been able to deal with all of this if it were handled well. I'm well aware of some of the hypocrisies of American foreign policy and the current War On Terror. Some of the chinks in the armor do very much open themselves up for criticism and great art always seems to imitate life, doesn't it? But unfortunately the heavy handedness and fact that the speeches are so contrived, drawn out, and just plain boring mire the film in its own politics, taking away any entertainment value or artistic merit that it should have had.

It's a well known fact that Kinji Fukasaku died during the early stages of production on this film. What should have been his swansong was instead finished by his son, Kenta Fukasaku, who co-wrote both of the Battle Royale films, the first one an adaptation of the excellent novel by Koushun Takami (now available in an English language edition from VIZ). This has worked in a similar situation in the past, when Lamberto Bava did a great job of finishing up his late father Mario's final film, Rabid Dogs. Here, however, Kenta Fukasaku shows his inexperience as a director and while there are some great 'Fukasaku Sr. moments' in the film, it ultimately ends up a jumbled, drawn out mess of a film that really could have been a winner.

At least it's got a Sonny Chiba cameo and lots of explosions in it.

Video:

The black levels are slightly up and down on this transfer and there are some mild compression artifacts but aside from that and some very slight grain and print damage, this isn't a bad looking transfer. Kinji Fukasaku's trademark shakey cam action looks nice and detailed and the colors are distinct and natural looking in this 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen presentation. Some of the colors are intentionally muted looking in a couple of scenes but for the most part, the oranges and reds of the fires in the background of the battle scenes look nice and rich, black levels stay pretty consistent in tone aside from a couple of scenes where they do move around, and flesh tones look lifelike and natural. There's a decent level of clarity present in the film, and aside from the minor issues noted, Battle Royale II: Requiem doesn't look half bad.