Battle Royale (2000, JAP) C-114m. *½ D: Kinji Fukasaku. Starring Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Taro Yamamoto, Masanobu Ando, Kou Shibasaki, Chiaki Kuriyama, Beat Takeshi (Kitano). Some thousand years in the future (which looks more like present day, however), a school class is chosen to be the contestants of a grueling competition. They are flown to a remote island, where they are supposed to kill each other within three days, as there can only be one survivor. Of course, the spectacle will be televised. Lots of shoot-outs and screaming teenagers, but plot and character development is practically non-existent. What's more, it's not fun at all. Kitano's dead-pan performance doesn't help, either. Uncut print runs 122m. Film's success prompted a sequel in 2003.