Battle Royale: So you liked The Hunger Games, eh?

Long before "The Hunger Games" but after "Lord from the Flies" there was "Battle Royale," a Japanese survivalist horror show in which middle school teenagers are required to murder each other. That's the first hint that "Battle Royale" is different from "The Hunger Games" ' "Battle Royale" begins like a nightmare, with children waking up coming from a field trip terrorized by their sadistic teacher Kitano (Takeshi Kitano). The little exposition provided at the beginning with the film explains how the Battle Royale (BR) Act was instituted after 800,000 students walked out of college. The precise details of the BR Act (combined with the society that generates it) is a little fuzzy, nevertheless the result is always that middle school classes are randomly chosen to use explosive collars and murder the other until just one remains. "Battle Royale" definitely has some cultural peculiarities that don't translate well to an American audience. I would think 800,000 students will have to do more than "walk from school" to merit a battle to death. One trouble with The Hunger Games is when you haven't look at books (similar to this Examiner), then lots of its story elements become confusing. It's as if the filmmakers didn't quite realize how to include all the juicy parts of the novel, so rather than explaining things in detail, plot devices are simply alluded to casually just as if all people have browse the source material. For example, on many occasion, major plot twists are created through the 'arena' the contestants are playing in, but it's never fully explained the salt water evaporates. Another example: it is explained ahead of time that a civil war developed a nation split into 13 districts, with one ruiling district/class that views the opposite 12 districts as simply a source at work and entertainment inside the Hunger Games, once a year spectacle where two young adults are chosen from each district to address to the death against the other "chosen" kids through the 12 districts. In the novel, this social structure and class seperation could have been starkly drawn and vividly captured, but inside the film it comes from nothing more than background noise for those audience members which may have not browse the book. They serve no purpose aside from to be the "audience" watching the Hunger games, thirsting for violence and bloodsport. Sales of the PS Vita happen to be lackluster since launch despite Sony proclaiming that they may be on track. During a recent NPD report, Sony combined the amount of PSP and PS Vita units purchased in order to disguise disappointing sale numbers. Even then, the combined sales in the PSP and PS Vita were below sales of the PSP alone throughout the same time period in the earlier year. By the synopsis alone, it's not hard to start to see the similarities between The Hunger Games and Battle Royale. When it depends on it, the stories are very similar, with small differences here and there. The biggest difference also comes in the tone and type of such films. The Hunger Games is a lot like Battle Royale-light. It's less violent, not as edgy, and will not concentrate on the games up to it does the socieity as a whole and the love story between two of the central characters. Battle Royale shows itself to become unflinching inside the first ten mins. For people who find themselves squeamish, Battle Royale could be too intense to suit your needs. There are many scenes of extremem violence as well as the emotional violence of kids killing other kids is also quite disturbing. However, it can be more intriguing than The Hunger Games sometimes as a result of situations these kids find themselves in. Faced making use of their inevitable death, many of the "children" react exactly as we would; they are going somewhat crazy and do what they are told, killing submissively. Others can't accept the idea and simply kill themselves. Then there are individuals that actually enter into it and enjoy the thought of killing (these are the dangerous ones). What makes Battle Royale be noticeable is always that it explores these differences and gives us characters that give us a variety of solutions to the issue. It is the fact that central problem that acts because the foundation to Battle Royale. That central issue is this: could you kill your best friend to save yourself? In Battle Royale now you ask , answered in several and creative ways. In The Hunger Games, these problems should never be explored as fully therefore it feels as though a narrative that could have been meaningful but never had the guts to go for it. The Hunger Games was designed to reach as wide bavarian motor works logo as possible, which resulted in it needed to be tamed down in the story's inherent brutality.