Japan in the near future is a different place. A group of students on a field trip are gassed on the bus. They wake up on an island and they all are wearing electronic collars.

Apparently society has become fearful of the youth of today. In order to deal with the growing unrest the government has created a special program called Battle Royale. The way it works is a class is randomly selected and sent to an undisclosed island. The class has three days to kill each other until only person is left standing. If they don’t – the collars explode blowing their heads off. If they leave the island – the collars explode. The students have little choice but to play the game.

Based on a novel that was later turned into a comic book series – this 2000 Japanese movie was directed by the late great filmmaker Kinji Fukasaku (Tora! Tora! Tora!, Battles Without Honor and Humanity). It’s over the top action where friends become enemies and nobody trusts one another. In the middle of all this chaos is Shuya Nanahara (Tatsuya Fujiwara) and his girlfriend Noriko Nakagawa (Aki Maeda) who are desperate to survive. Their former teacher Kitano (Takeshi Kitano) is the evil bad guy over seeing this game.

Before the contestants are sent loose on the island – they are all given a bag. It contains supplies, food, a map and a mystery item. Just like a grab bag gift – nobody knows what they end up with. A gun or in the case of our hero – a pot lid.

Training Video Girl: “We have randomly selected weapons to put in your kits, so you might get lucky, and you might not.”
[Picks up axe]
Training Video Girl: “This one is SUPER lucky.”