@Vipros
I would say that I actually enjoyed both The Condemmed and Mean Guns more than Battle Royale.

When I was watching BR for the first time, I couldn't help thinking that I'd seen it all before and it was only when I saw Mean Guns again afterwards that I realised that they had a kinda similar plot. The Condemmed is pretty much a straight rip-off of BR, but I enjoyed the action sequences a lot more.

My big problem with Battle Royale is it reminds me of the stories I would write when I was a teenager, liked Steven King and had an unhealthy obssesion with guns. It struck me as a series of "cool" set-piece deaths, strung together by a tenuous plot, masquerading as satire. With Japanese schoolgirls.

I'm now tempted to keep an eye out for the book (it's a "book" book, right? Not a comic?), just to see if it's as good as you say, though a lot of my mates raved about the film and I was sorely disapointed.
(ScousersPet, Tue 22 Jul 2008, 13:24, Reply)