Director: Kenta Fukasaku, Kinji Fukasaku
Writer: Kenta Fukasaku, Norio Kida (Screenplay)
Starring: Tatsua Fukiwara, Ai Maeda, Shugo Oshinari, Ayana Sakai, Haruka Suenaga, Yuma Ishigaki, Yoko Maki, Aki Maeda
Plot: Three years after the failure of the last BR program, a second act is forged and a class of students are sent to an island with one objective: kill international terrorist Shuya Nanahara.
Runtime: 2 Hours 35 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Battle Royale 2 starts in the aftermath of the first Battle Royale, with the surviving teens led by Shuya Nanahara (Fujiwara) leading a fight back against the adults who want to continue using the twisted game against the teenagers.
A new group of teenagers are taken and prepared for the game, with them getting one mission, to hunt down Shuya and kill him on his hideout, where one of the students is taking this personally, after her father was killed by Shuya in the first game.
Thoughts on Battle Royale 2
Thoughts – Battle Royale 2 picks up where the last one finished, while taking everything into a new direction in the battle, showing the survives aren’t just going to sit back an accept what happened to them and will look to fight back. The idea that the new wave of teenagers are sent to kill the old wave is twisted and ends up making a more complex concept around the explosion and deaths we see, proving that the freedom fighters will always look to take down the authority figures that are causing the pain in life, while showing that the killing will only create soldiers for both sides. Somehow, this becomes a much more interesting battle to prove who is doing the right thing with the plan to stop it all together, but it is going to see innocent people killed along the way. Not just as loose as the original where it was last person standing, we will see more involved, connecting couple who will cost the partners life, showing the control the adults have on the teenagers’ lives.
Final Thoughts – Battle Royale 2 is bigger, bolder and deeper than the original.