I actually just watched this for the first time the other day ... and it's decent at best, but not something I would write home about. Most of the characters were pretty dull. Kawada(sp?) was the only really interesting character for me, mostly because he had the most back story out of any of the students, him being a former participant.
I've never read the book, but from what I've read online and have been told by a friend, the film more or less strips away just about all of the actual world state political context and it shows. The film ends up being about two hours of young teens killing each other for no real reason, and not much else. All in all it was an experience I found somewhat hollow. I felt more for the characters in Ichi the K1ller, which I also watched for the first time shortly before I watched Battle Royal.
Maybe that's part of the reason for my disappointment though ... it's pretty difficult to top Ichi. (And that statement has nothing to do with the level of violence in either film. The writing in Ichi is just that much better.)
