Title: Battlefield Baseball
Genre: Comedy
Director: Yamaguchi Yudai
Format: Movie; 87 minutes.
Dates: 19 Jul 2003

Synopsis: All Japanese high school baseball players dream of one day making it to the legendary Koshien stadium. The likelihood of going this year looks good for Seido High School for the first time in years. That is, until they find out their opponents for the first round in the preliminary tournament is the dreaded Gedo High School team, notorious for killing their opponents on the field. The Seido principle simply decides the team will sit the year out until he sees the new transfer student Jubeh in action, and believes that with the addition of this new player the Seido team may have a chance to win.

The Highlights
Cinematography: Bad… just plain bad.
Humor: Strange and a bit dark.
Plot: Bizarre and incoherent.
Ending: Stupid, predictable, hilarious.

Wow! This movie was… Wow! “Weird for the sake of weird” doesn’t even begin to explain it. First of all, despite the name, the movie has almost nothing to do with baseball. Next, the plot never makes any sense. I mean absolutely nothing in this movie makes any kind of sense! Nothing! And I love it!

The very first and very worst thing you notice about this movie is the terrible lighting and overall cinematography. It’s obvious the movie wasn’t made on a huge budget, but this was just unacceptable. It reminds me of a bad 1980s “made for TV” movie. It may have been done on purpose to give the movie more of a “cult hit” feel, but it just does not work well, and makes watching the movie a bit of a chore.

The movie saves itself with its hilarious comedy and bizarre story. Firstly the story makes absolutely no sense. People die and come back to life like Dragonball Z, and after every dramatic speech or heroic moment a crowd of applauding people randomly appear. The strange sense of humor the movie has is definitely love it or hate it, but I felt it worked pretty well most of the time. Some of the jokes fell flat, but throughout most of the movie the jokes hit pretty well.

The ending is a mixed bag, and will leave a lot of people disappointed. Personally, I found it hilarious in its predictability, but others may not see it that way.

If you decide to watch Battlefield Baseball, prepare yourself for the incredibly random and often stupid humor. Most of the major plot twists can be seen from about a mile away, the cinematography is terrible, and none of the cast really deliver anything close to a career defining performance, but all in all Battlefield Baseball is a fun ride.

The Rating: 6

Reviewed by: DarkKanti