Club Columbia DVD is back after a little break.  Do you remember Battle Royale?  Japan’s teenagers are running out of control- the only option to curb the madness is to randomly select a high-school class, deposit them on a deserted island and force them to fight for their lives… against each other… oh yeah, they also have exploding straps around their necks.  Only in Japan.

Being bored last Thursday I was in the mood to see some violence Japanese style.  Only in Japanese film have I seen the most horrific violence alongside the weirdest humour.  Love it.

Anyway saw Battle Royale II Requiem and it’s taken a more serious tone.  All the meaningless violence of the last film has become meaningful.  It opens with a scene mirroring the attacks of 9/11.  Japanese teenage terrorists are at war with the adults.  Under this bizarre premise the film explores the current political turmoil- who are terrorists?  how are they made?  how do you deal with them?  are we the real terrorists?

The first film was fun, pointless violence.  Kind of like a one-night stand with Japanese gunplay and grotesque humour.  Battle Royale II Requiem still has that, but it also has a strong strain of political insight and even activism.  You may hate it for that.  It’s long.  It is trying to teach you something.  But all the things that made Battle Royale are carried into the sequel.  The battle sequences, like a mock-D-Day are even better, with even bigger budgets (and that means explosions).

See Battle Royale II Requiem if you have a few hours to sit back and watch.  The film has the gratuitous amazing violence that you’d want out of any respectable Japanese film- but it also has more depth (or pretension depending on how you look at it).  Let me know what you think, just leave a comment in the Club Columbia DVD comment box!

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