The movie was made in 2000 by famed Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku and the plot goes something like this: It is the dawn of the new millennium and the Japanese economy has gone to shit. With 15% unemployment, the school age children have grown to distrust the government and adults in general. Approximately 800,000 have boycotted going to school altogether.
So the government passes a law that says one class per month (I think) (i.e. 9th grade in, say, Wheaton High School), chosen by a random lottery, is taken to an island where they will have three days to have a no holds barred fight to the death to see which student "wins" and gets to go back to society. I'm not really sure why this tactic is supposed to make the students want to go back to class, but who cares? Sound awesome? It gets better.
The movie follows some 9th grade class of about 40 students. They are told they are going on a field trip and while they are on the bus, they are gassed and taken to the island. Once they are there, they are greeted by their former teacher, played by the guy who plays Vic Romano on Most Extreme Elimination Challenge.
He shows them a video that outlines the rules of the game. First, only one person can leave. If there is more than one person left after 3 days, they all will be killed. How do they know who is left? All the kids are fitted with collars that monitor their pulse, movement, and will explode if they try and remove them. Every six hours, announcements are made with the names of the dead and the "danger zones" on the map. If the kids are caught lingering too long in a danger zone, their collar will explode. Each kid gets a pack of supplies with food, water, a map of the island, a compass, a flashlight, and a weapon. The weapons are completely random and range from a machine gun to binoculars. And finally, in addition to the normal class, two delinquents who volunteered to go to the island will also be participating. With that, the game begins.
I have to say that I enjoyed this movie, but I kept wondering if it could have been a lot better if it was made in the U.S. Although, if someone ever made a movie like this in the U.S. they would get castrated by the Christian Right. Being that it was a Japanese movie, I allowed for the weird music choices and sometimes cheesy dialogue. All in all, I have to give Battle Royale 4 Catheters Up. I highly recommend it if you like violence and Asians (who doesn't?).
