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[Prince of Space]

I remember when I first read through Vol. 1 of the manga. I thought it was one of the most drawn-out bloodfests I'd ever encountered. But the core story was intriguing enough for me to seek out the novel. For those of you who haven't read through the book, find it! It's damn good. Skip the manga; it's way too melodramtic, drawn out, and has one of the most inconsistent artstyles I've ever seen. Some characters look inspired by anime, others by Archie characters...

That said I had high hopes for the movie and, after picking up the Korean (it's not bootleg we SWEAR) Special Edition, I must say I'm impressed. It followed the overall plot pretty closely, and still managed to be quite shocking - even though the book is FAR more....depraved. A couple notes/complaints/questions:

Spoiler

1. I didn't like the way they tried to humanize Kitano. In the book and manga, he's a depraved, lecherous, inhuman pig of a man and you honestly can't wait for him to get killed off. In the film, he just seems pissed off that kids disrespect him and actually seems to like Noriko. Speaking of which...

2. WTF was that about? Either it wasn't explained, or the subtitles were so screwed up - which happened from time to time - that I missed the connection here. Did he help her because he thought she respected him? Or something else?

3. Kiriyama. The very definition of badass. I like how he was presented here, and the actor chosen played the part perfectly. I was kinda bummed that they never showed how truly cunning he was (the bathroom kill in the book/manga), and that they wiped out his gang story, but overall damn good stuff.

4. If Kiriyama is a true badass, then Mitsuko is a true tragic character. Another great character from the book fleshed out pretty admirably in the film. Her first kill.... Kinda bummed that they cut out her capture by those two boys, and her throwing away a kind of chance at redemption, but it's a two hour movie.

5. Battle Royale II. Worth checking out?

Again, damn good movie. Shame it'll probably never make it over here, but...
If you've not read the book or seen the movie, both are highly recommended.

 

[bjork]

From what customers tell me, BRII is ass. Skip it.

 

[fart]

BR2 is a piece of shit

 

[buck naked]

I know what your saying about Kitano. I don't think Takeshi Kitano playing the part helped either, because although he's the 'bad' guy you can't help but like him. He's good humored and has his own sorry story.

 

[Wario64]

BR2 = Worst movie of 2003 (for me)

 

[BuddyC]

After BR2, I felt like I deserved monetary compensation for sitting through it.

 

[Prince of Space]

Ok then. Anyone care to share why it suxx0rz?

 

[tree fiddy]

It's as if BR2's script was written by a 5-year old. Pure trash. I don't know why I watched the whole thing but I want my 2 hours back.

 

[fart]

terrible script, terrible direction, terrible everything. just imagine the most useless, nonsensical 2 hours you can think of. that's basically it. it's too self-absorbed to be entertaining and too shite to be intellectual

 

[Meier]

BR II is probably one of the worst movies of all time and certainly the worst I've seen this year. It's a travesty considering the original is one of my favorite movies.

 

[BuddyC]

Ok then. Anyone care to share why it suxx0rz?

Some will claim it's anti-American. While I don't care one way or another, the political scenes were complete trash regardless of their intention - horrible dialog, even worse delivery.

The entire premise is dumb. The government enlists another class and pits them up against survivors from BR1, who then

Spoiler

towards the end, realize all the fighting they've been doing is bullshit and go for the other team. Then the government sends in super-soldiers...but, why couldn't they do that the first go round? They bastardize the main character from the first, and just, ugh.

Once before, I made a much more well-crafted and sound argument against the sequel. As time has passed, my anger has lessened, and so have my memories of the film. See it if you must, but be forewarned.

When I saw it, everyone warned me. "How bad can it be?" I thought.

How naive I was.

 

[Meier]

The sad thing about BR II is the first like 35-40 mins or so are actually pretty good. The whole buddy system set-up and all is great and then out of nowhere it just goes to shit. I will never forget the scene with the guy dressed in the rugby uniform.. so mindblowing awful. :lol

 

[BuddyC]

The sad thing about BR II is the first like 35-40 mins or so are actually pretty good. The whole buddy system set-up and all is great and then out of nowhere it just goes to shit. I will never forget the scene with the guy dressed in the rugby uniform.. so mindblowing awful. :lol

You know, the odd part is, I thought that scene was the sole redeeming of the latter 75%.

 

[fart]

too many good movies out there (especially in asia right now. it's a fucking renaissance up in the hizzy) to waste your time on that trash. skip it.

 

[SolidSnakex]

too many good movies out there (especially in asia right now. it's a fucking renaissance up in the hizzy) to waste your time on that trash. skip it.

One of those is Oldboy. Watch it and love it. It might not have the violence level of BR2 (although it's there at times), but it's awesome.

 

[RiZ III]

I saw BR last week and loved it. Was really looking forward to a subbed version of BR2. Now u guys say it sucks. Thats too bad

 

[fart]

think my dad told me about oldboy. i'll check it out

oh shit, oldboy is the new park flick? AWESOME

 

[Dead]

Oldboy is excellent. See it.

 

[Mairu]

Battle Royale 2 is probably the worst movie I've ever seen.

House of the Dead was much more enjoyable than that piece of shit. DO NOT WATCH IT. EVER.

 

[ourumov]

I agree...
BR2 is the worst movie I have ever seen. And I have seen tons of cinema.

 

[Suerte]

THAT COUNTRY.

 

[Ghost]

TRY-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO *boom*

still cracks me up...WHY IS HE WEARING A RUGBY KIT?

 

[sprsk]

i want to blow you up so the children in iraq can smile again

 

[StrikerObi]

Getting back on track, Battle Royale is one of my favorite flicks of all time. I recently had a chance to watch my DVD (korean SE also) again on my parents' new widescreen TV surround sound setup. It blew my mind all over again. So fantastic. The movie has fantastic action, excellent characters and character development (which you wouldn't expect in a movie where almost everybody dies), and some excellent comedic moments (some like the instructional video are funny for real, and other parts due to shotty English subtitles).

 

[Coin Return]

I think going in to BR II a lot of people expected it to be like the first one. In some cases it is, but its almost a completely different movie. Riki Takeuchi was a bad choice for the teacher for one, and I felt no emotion for any of the characters. Shuya's mindless preaching over and over got old quick. It is also too long and drawn out, too much dialogue. The action scenes are well done though, and the only reason to watch this movie.

Edit: Its almost the same scenario as The Matrix Vs. The Matrix: Reloaded.

 

[AeroGod]

Ive never seen BR but damn Ive been wanting to for a long ass time. Any recommendatiosn of where i can pick up an all-regioned DVD with subtitles, preferably a reliable site or something.

 

[fart]

HOLY SHIT OLD BOY I SSOGOOD HEAD EXPLODING FUCK