3/5
Written by Luke Barnes
Summary
A disgruntled teacher and family man, Takeshi Kitano, takes a class of high schoolers out to a remote island to have them fight to the death, with the backing of the Japanese government.
To begin, yes I know this is a contrived and often pointed out view but watching this for the first time I see just how badly Suzanne Collin’s ripped this off with her Hunger Games books that later became films. The similarities go way beyond skin deep, and it gets to a point where you can’t help but stare at the unoriginality of Hollywood.
This film was a lot lighter than I was expecting it to be or had been led to believe it was going to be. There is a tongue-in cheek element to it all that makes the incredibly dark dystopian subject matter feel almost silly in a gallows humour sort of way.
I enjoyed the plot and appreciated the fact that it felt true to life, rather than idealised to a point of being nonsensical, I am talking about you Hunger Games. In reality people would be selfish and self-centred to survive, people would do terrible things to their friends if it meant they could save their own skin. The idea of some kind of chosen one who saves everyone she meets and inspires them to their own greatness is just silly, and again I feel it says a lot about the western liberal image of how a person should be.
Overall, certainly a fun watch.
Pros.
Fun to watch
A few funny moments
Enjoyable characters
Cons.
There were a few tonal clashes
Pacing issues
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Another Millennial Reviewer 