movie coverI'd rather be watching TV![IMDB link] [Netflix link]

LIMERICK REVIEW: There once were some Japanese schoolchildren
who were punished without committing a sin.
Forced to fight to the death–
until each one’s last breath.
Individual chances of survival were quite thin.

HAIKU REVIEW: Social cliques are death.
Government interference
demands this be true.

UNCOMFORTABLE PLOT SUMMARY (inspired by this): Government policy for allocation of child resources leads to complications.

PEOPLE: Japanese.

QUIRKS: Weapons. A game for survival. Almost like Lord Of The Flies meets Saw, but with a political angle. A class is randomly selected each year, and much fight each other to the death. Who will win?

Based on a book. Members of the Japanese parliament tried to get the novel this was based on banned.

One of the top 10 highest grossing films in Japan.

MORALS: If there can be only 0 or 1 survivors, then you really can’t trust anyone. Not your love interest; Not your classmates… And certainly not the popular girl!

Also: Never underestimate the power of a taser.

POLITICS: Perhaps this isn’t the best way to deal with the political ramifications of an unruly youth that causes condemnation by the older generation. Gee, you think?

BAD STUFF: Actually, this movie is pretty solid throughout. There’s really nothing bad that I can think of. No plot holes. No painful scenes. The game begins, and it goes until it ends.

CONCLUSION: Way better than Lord Of The Flies, which was still good. This was actually a great movie showing what lengths people will go through to survive, and how Japanese highschoolers act when trying to kill each other :) And there are some crazy death scenes. Not so much in terms of violence, but in terms of what is going on in the character’s heads. (Imagine the self-sacrifice of being glad your love interest killed you!)

RATINGS: IMDB: 4/5 stars. Netflix: 8/10.

RECOMMENDATION: Like action? Like a movie where there can be only one survivor? Like Japanese horror/action flicks? Check this out. It’s pretty renowned, even among us Gaijin. Check it out.

I’d definitely like to see the Special Version of this movie.

SIMILAR MOVIES: Lord Of The Flies.

MOVIE QUOTE: Teacher Kitano: Here’s your list of friends in the order they died.

FRIENDS’ RATINGS: Ian really liked it. A lot of people really liked it, actually. An 8.0/10 global IMDB rating is quite high — the lowest 50 out of the Top 250 (that is, #200-#250) Highest Movies Ever Rated are also 8.0, so this movie almost made it to the top 200.

Mood: annoyed at neocons
Music: KMFDM – Urban Monkey Warfare