RANT: "Battle Royale" overrated?

CHUD.com is running a series called “You Got It All Wrong!” in which it takes a hard look at some of our most beloved cult favorites and asks the questions, “Is this film really that good? Has it been overhyped? Overrated?” Well, according to Chud’s Russ Fischer and Nick Nunziata it is. They say that, “Teen angst and violence are conjoined to push soap opera ennui instead of the thin line between society and savagery,” and, “…two hours of attractive Japanese kids killing each other induces sleep like a bottle of Tylenol PM dissolved in Kool-Aid.” Ouch! Countering the criticism Justin Waddell defends Fukasaku’s film by saying, “The movie manages to be a blast to watch, hard to stomach, and just plain heartbreaking all at the same time.”

Now, I have to admit that “Battle Royale” isn’t my favorite Japanese film. While Takeshi Kitano is entertaining every second he’s on screen I find the overall film kind of juvenile, sensational, and the Battle Royale Act is a bit of a heavy-handed metaphor for the suffocating academic and social pressure that Japanese teenagers go through (my money is on Shunji Iwai’s “All About Lily Chou-Chou” on this count); but before I have all of you coming after me with machetes and machine guns let me add a big BUT…

I can’t tell how many people in The Pow-Wow I’ve talked to and corresponded with who have said that “Battle Royale” was the first Japanese film that they saw, and it was through that that they began exploring other Japanese films. Now how can my personal opinion or the opinions of the folks at CHUD change that very important fact? Exactly, it can’t. Whether or not the film has been worthy of all the hype it has introduced teenagers and adults around the world to the name Kinji Fukasaku, one of the most important directors to come out of Japan in the past half century, as well as introducing them to a string of other directors and their films. I’m good with that any day.

You can read the original article at CHUD here: http://chud.com/articles/articles/14198/1/YOU-GOT-IT-ALL-WRONG-DAY-TWO/Page1.html

And you can let the slings and arrows fly in the comments.