The setting is the future, the backdrop is government control. The problem: rebellious teenagers. Japan’s latest work of science fiction takes place only one year after the film was made, in 2002, a time when the stock market has plummeted and unemployment runs rampant. Japan has all but fallen into a terrible chaos, and as for the youth, well, they don’t see much of a future for themselves anymore. They’re response is to get violent, and fast. Never before has the country seen such a mass of teens become so derelict, and so lacking in respect for the authorities. And so the Reform School Act is born, and several junior high students are chosen randomly to be sent to a remote island, where they are coerced into playing a war game with the highest stakes they’ve ever known: life itself. Kitano (Beat Takeshi) is the hardened school instructor who leads these students into “Battle Royale”, for better … or for much, much worse.