About this deal
The kids of Third Year Class-B Shiroiwa Junior High School are back, in a brand new 4K restoration of the classic cult shocker adapted from the controversial novel by Koushun Takami. It’s like night and day when compared to the previous Blu-ray release, which looked more like a DVD upscale. Try as I might, I couldn’t find a track listing in the booklet or the packaging, but the Internet is your friend if you want to know what is what. Overseeing the carnage is ‘Beat' Takeshi Kitano (Sonatine, Hana-bi, Zatoichi) as the teacher pushed to the edge by his unruly charges. A good portion of this film takes place at night or in the shadows, yet in those moments blacks are inky but still offer remarkable detail.
When you know a story and its characters that well, you start seeking the screen for trivialities and background curiosities. Apologies for a question that’s probably easy to answer, but because Arrow took down the Battle Royale page, my last thought was to ask here. Half of the kids are lost during an assault on the island’s beach, an obvious homage (I’m being polite) to Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, complete with hyper-sharp images, shaky camera work and plenty of faceless casualties. The other three sleeves contain the Blu-Ray discs and the fronts feature stylised artwork of Kiriyama (Theatrical Release), Kawada (Director's Cut), and Mitsuko (Additional Extras), along with their weapons of choice. Arrow video è sinonimo di qualità assoluta, edizione che merita di essere acquistata nonostante il prezzo possa sfiduciare.
For its inclusion in this box set, both Requiem (the Original Theatrical Version, which runs 132:49) and the longer Revenge Cut (the Special Edition Director’s Cut, which runs about 19 minutes longer at 151:50) were remastered digitally from the original DI and are available here in 1080p HD on separate Blu-rays ( Requiem on Disc Three and Revenge on Disc Four). But for most of the 42 students on the island, it boils down to a simple question, “Could you kill your best friend? The Original Theatrical Version on Disc 1 gets a 4k restoration of the original camera negative which you can read more about in the booklet with the first disc.
It’s a great soundtrack, and an excellent addition to the collection, although the end theme by Dragon Ash is notable by its absence.When I reviewed the DVD Limited Edition of Battle Royale, I was really impressed with the quality of the presentation, especially given the improvement over the first UK DVD releases. Arrow Films, also known as Arrow Video, is an independent UK distributor for Asian Cinema, Spaghetti Westerns, Italian Cinema, Horror, Cult Classics and Action. In response, the government has adapted the BR ACT, forcing those chosen to compete to fight together as a strike force against the rebels on their island fortress, pitting innocent children against desperate freedom fighters in a battle to the death. When his son Kenta discovered Koushun Takami’s controversial Battle Royale in 1999—which was nearly banned by the Japanese government upon its release—Fukasaku read the novel and became engrossed by its story, which brought back his memories of the war. It is worth noting that Battle Royale II: Requiem remains exclusive to this limited edition release.