7. Tension
In both Battle Royale and The Hunger Games, each contestant is fitted with a tracking device, and herein lies another example of how the two films will take the same idea and execute it differently. In The Hunger Games, the children are implanted with a tracking device under their skin. Installed around the neck of every child in Battle Royale is a collar. From the offset, this is cinematically stronger because it is visible to the audience at all times, not to mention the symbolism. One of these devices is more effective that the other in that it creates a greater sense of tension. The invisible implant in The Hunger Games monitors the contestants locations so that they cannot escape, and so they can be given presents (pretty scary stuff). However, Battle Royales location-tracking collars are also capable of killing their wearers; Doing so not by sending an artificial forest fires their way, but instead by beeping a few times, then exploding and spraying the contents of their neck onto any bystanders. Did you just put your hand to your throat reading that? Thats why its a better device. The film remembers to kills off one of its main characters 10 minutes into the film to show us it means business. We spend the entire film uneasy, knowing any character can be killed off at any time. An implant under the skin may be a sufficient a device in a book, but for remembering that film is a visual medium, another point goes to Battle Royale.