Arm yourself.

The Movie: Battle Royale, directed by Kinji Fukasaku
Recommendation: Me!
Reason: I'd heard about the movie, read the book, and then got really hyped to see the movie.

I think all I need to hear is the word 'dystopia', and I'm sold on a plot. I might just be that kind of gullible, but I like to think it pays off. Battle Royale is set in a futuristic dystopian world where a broken-headed government has decreed that every year a Grade 9 class will be taken to a remote island and forced to murder one another. Last man standing gets to live. Though the book goes into more detail than the movie, the film stands up well.

I was really impressed-as soon as I turned on the preview, fresh out of reading the book, it was easy to identify most of the characters. Good casting is usually a sign of some really good potential in a movie. Once the film actually got underway, all signs pointed towards awesome. There were some differences, and I couldn't really see the reason for some of the changes that were made (in particular the 'if no one has died in 24 hours...' clause). Unusual for a movie based on a book, but the bits that were excised were appropriate and well chosen.

There were a few rough patches where the film turned unever, and there was some commentary that wasn't very clear. However, overall, Battle Royale stands up quite nicely to its literary counterpart. If I hadn't been warned away from the sequel, I'd definitely be looking to pick it up.

-108/365 down, 257/365 to go