This was probably the wrong weekend for me to watch Battle Royale. Usually I don't mind a spot of the old ultra-violence, but perhaps because this movie is supposed to have some sort of societal comment I was paying close attention and trying to derive that meaning, well, I think it frustrated me more than shocked or horrified me. Also, of course, I have to take into account that I'm not really familiar with the Japanese society that Fukasaku would have been commenting on. So I just found the whole thing rather nihilist. As a straight survival-adventure film, it wasn't that bad, albeit gory.