Ask John: What’s John’s Reaction to an American Battle Royale Remake?

Question:
This is an outrage! Battle Royale, one of the best cult classics of all time, is getting an Americanized remake not based on the 15 manga books. If I where to make a “BR” movie, it would be based on the manga, and this is what it would sound like: Sin City meets black and white samurai films meets splatter films meets film-noir. Now there’s is your real film and this Neal Moritz dude needs to read the manga and not make one but three movies based on the manga. Now what about you, John? What do you think?

Answer:
In case you’re not aware, Kinji Fukasaku’s original live action Battle Royale movie was not based on the Battle Royale manga. The live action Battle Royale movie and the manga are both based on Koshun Takami’s original novel. Also, just in case you haven’t seen it, the original Battle Royale movie is actually not very graphically violent. While it is bloody, the movie isn’t remotely as explicit as the manga. I have a lot of respect for the tragic and dramatic original Battle Royale movie, but I dislike the Battle Royale manga because I think it relies so heavily on cartoonish, exaggerated characterizations and shocking graphic violence that it weakens its ability to present a compelling narrative or political message.

Considering that there seems to be no chance of the original Battle Royale movie being released in America, I can understand the motivation for an American re-make. Keep in mind that there’s been no word on whether the planned American re-make will be based on the original novel, the Japanese movies, or the manga. Considering on the success and effectiveness of the original film, I don’t think that a trilogy of American films or an extended adaptation of the manga series are really necessary. In fact, the awful Battle Royale 2 movie adequately proves that one film is plenty. The original Battle Royale movie, I think, isn’t perfect, but is an excellent film that conveys its intended message within two hours. The themes of Battle Royale are the irony of an orderly and enlightened society forcing its children to kill each other as a means of social rehabilitation, and the horror of people being forced into a no-win situation. The original film wisely kept its gore to a minimum because gratuitous, excessive splatter merely distracts attention from the principle, important themes of the story. I have serious doubts that an American re-make of Battle Royale will effectively concentrate on and convey these important dramatic themes. Gore Verbinski’s excellent American remake of Hideo Nakata’s Ring has proven that it’s possible for an American remake of a Japanese genre film to equal or arguably surpass the original, but somehow I have doubts that a Hollywood remake of Battle Royale would dare to be a tense, chilling, provocative political cautionary tale. However, I don’t want to pre-judge the film yet, considering that right now it’s nothing more than a plan which may never actually come to fruition.