To me the Hunger Games was sort of like Lord of the Flies meets Mad Max. Has anyone read Lord of the Flies or seen Mad Max with Mel Gibson? There was also a Japanese movie called Battle Royale that came out a few years ago but was never released in the US.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Having read the books numerous times, the movie is lacking is so many ways. Scenes were redacted which I understand you have to keep the film lengthen under consideration but do not add scenes that have no mention or relevance into the movie. Also, the time lines are important in this film. You are building up to something. When you leave so much out how do you have that reference for later films. You do not get to connect with Katniss and Peeta in the film like you do in the books. I blame the SIGNIFICANT shortening of the cave scenes. The whole last 30 minutes of the film was horrible. Adding the extra fighting in the last scene did not add any value but took away from the film. Had the last Cornucopia scene been left as originally written, it would have made for a much more dramatic conclusion and wrap of the film.… Expand

I haven't read the books yet but I certainly will now that I have had the pleasure of seeing one of the best films in recent memory. The screenplay is tight and fast paced but the story keeps its integrity throughout the film. The acting is first class and Jennifer Lawrence will have a long and prosperous career unless she does something really stupid. (see Lohan, Lindsay). The only criticism I have is that they "dumbed down" the graphic violence to get a PG13 rating. The killings are done so quickly and cleanly that the camera barely gives you time to realize what has happened. The "anti- CSI effect" sanitizes the brutality of the contest and in a way it hides the evil of the adults who have orchestrated these "games." I look forward to the sequels with same anticipation of the Harry Potter movies.… Expand

The premise is excellent. An Orwellian future where children are offered to the state as entertainment. There was so much promise. Not having read the books, it's like being invited to a party but not knowing anyone. There was very little character development. Further, the casting of Peta seemed poorly done. Lenny Kravitz does an excellent job in the background. The "Rue" racial thing, I don't get and can't imagine it makes a difference. But my real question is, in a dystopian future, why are all the children so beautiful? Shouldn't there be some level of emaciation if the outer sectors struggle just to be fed? Despite these problems, the first half of the movie is well pace and knitted together. Something happens in the first "combat" sequence. The combat fog falls and the pacing changes. The whole experience is uninspired. The action sequences themselves are far too close. Take your dramamine if you're in the theater and be prepare to have no idea what's happening. The movie is interesting. But a good premise and interesting plot don't necessarily make a quality movie.… Expand

I don't blame the books. I haven't read them but just looking at wikipedia the overarching story as a lot of rich material to draw from. This movie just will have none of it. It was poorly written. Poorly acted (the lead girl was good but that was pretty much it). None of the backstory was explored. Just a bad movie plane and simple. The movie is really about a 3/10 but I'm giving it a 0 because of others voting it up. Basically the movie is totally overhyped. It really isn't good at all. Characters have no back story besides the 2 leads and they expect us to connect to other characters when something happens to them? Literally characters are introduced for 5 minutes and we are supposed to feel sad when they die? Ha. If the point of the games is to kill everyone else then why would these people form teams? Why would they sleep all at the same time? Why did one not wake up to betray the others silently. Just far far too many plot holes.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Based on Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy, in a futuristic time where a nation had fallen apart after a horrific war two tributes from each district are chosen to fight to the death until one victor remains in what you would call a reality television show that is broad cast live to audiences. To those who are familiar with The Hunger Games trilogy, prepared to be impressed with this sensational adaptation and to those who aren't, prepare to witness an incredible journey filled with suspense and originality.




Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), a citizen of District 12 volunteers to tribute for The Hunger Games to save her little sister Prim from being tribute. Against a fellow citizen Peeta (Josh Hitcherson) who she develops a relationship with, has to fight to the death and although we don't see much of Gale (Liam Hemsworth), there is a clear understanding of their relationship and how he feels for her. Katniss must fight for her life on this suspenseful and emotional must see journey.




Filled with convincing performances by all the cast, The Hunger Games is a winner! Staying true to the book, director Gary Ross does a flawless job of introducing the first of the trilogy. It's an emotional fight to the victory that instantly captures you. A fearless adaptation where every minute keeps you enthralled. With its inventive story and strong cast, The Hunger Games works on screen and ends on top .… Expand

I do not get the negative reviews? The movie followed the book quite closely which I had hoped for and was not disappointed! Yes some of the richness of the book was left out but still for 2.5 hr long as is. I forgive some trimming. The acting was excellent loved Jennifer in Winters Bone and she did Katniss perfectly! I will rave and recommend friends see it!

This movie was absolutely horrible. No story, plot, character depth or development. Most of the actors looked as though they already knew the movie was bad and just phoned in their performances. Gary Ross should never be allowed to direct anything ever again. The camera work was so horrible I suffered dizziness and nausea through the entire film. Barely anything was explained in the movie, so if you never read the book, you were kept completely in the dark about what was supposed to be going on. Gary Ross only knows how to do 2 shots. Extreme unfocused closeup, and extreme focused closeup. All of the backdrops and costumes were completely wasted since you could never see a whole person. You were only allowed to see someone's eye here, or mouth there. The most baffling thing about this movie are all of the good reviews I see from the critics. But that just goes to show you that they are never right when it comes to judging a movie. This was the second movie I have ever walked out on (the first being Battlefield Earth) and demanded my money back. As long as teenage girls dominate the box office, we will be forced to see shallow, superficial, emotionless drivel.… Expand

This is a movie about a brutal gladator like event for people who don't like violence and like sparkly vampires. This is book i simply a short story called "the lottery" merged with a far supiorior Movie called battle royale. The lead actor "whos a hunter" does inane things like sit in a sunny clearing and run around in a blue blazer in the forest while shes supposed to be in a life and death game. Totally unrealistic and the combat was poor.… Expand

The Hunger Games = Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome with Teenagers. I'm not saying it is a bad film but much of the premise was clearly borrowed from the Mel Gibson apocalyptic trilogy of Mad Max/ The Road Warrior.

Not worth seeing at all. I only saw it because while planning to see 21 Jump Street (which is rated R) and having already been standing at the ticket booth, I found out my friend was still 16, and The Hunger Games was the only other interesting looking movie playing. I was with 2 friends, and none of us enjoyed it, mostly because it was painfully long, the plot was dull and slow-paced, and the character development was horrible, with useless characters and unnatural character relationships, that would have only made sense if you've read the book. On top of that, the cinematography was awful. The camera was constantly shaking, which made it look very unprofessional as a film. And the fight scenes were painful to watch because they were so poorly done. Bad camera work + bad fight scene choreography = severe motion sickness. And to add to that, the music never fit, especially during the fight scenes. In fact, the music was lazily written, with more focus on ridiculous audio effects rather than the actual musical aspect of it. And one more thing: Editors have no reason to tone the color down throughout the entire movie just to give it a slightly darker feeling. Be more creative. In conclusion, we would have had a much better experience had we seen 21 Jump Street instead of this over-hyped, lazily put together piece of crap.… Expand

This was a very average movie. Too much drawn out story and not enough action. I also kept comparing it in my head to battle royale which made it seem even worse despite the age of battle royale. I was also left in no state of worry for the main character who i didn't care about and i never felt she was in any danger.

The movie was very superficial. Glossed over the backstory and pretty much all of the relationships in a rush to get to the games. Then much of the tension of the games was missing, too. Not sure I would have been able to follow if I hadn't read the book. Add the "Blair Witch" camera work, and the whole experience was disappointing.

This movie sucked. Most overrated film of the year. it is du;; and boring, there is no back story. The games it self its repetitive and dull and the shaky hand filming made me vomit. What a waste of 2.3 hours. I only gave it a one because Stanley Tucci was good in it.

I waited eagerly for this movie to come out for months, bought tickets in advance, and showed up to the midnight premier trembling with excitement, and I was not disappointed. The cinematography at the very beginning was stunning. I was reminded of footage from the Great Depression, with the ragged children and old people, the downtrodden workers. The poverty in the districts was apparent. The movie was very tensely shot, the audience felt physically nervous when the characters did, and several of the key moments were heart-wrenching. (When Gale carries Prim away and Katniss is marched to the stage was just terrible to watch.) Cinna was absolutely masterfully done- he was a quiet, graceful, honest presence. Rue was PERFECT. They way Rue and Katniss' alliance was formed was quite masterful as well, though a bit truncated. Rue was such a lovable character though, that her death was 'toned down', probably because people don't want to see a sweet little curly headed girl be rent in half with a spear. It seemed almost too quick and they cut out most of the song. I enjoyed how they showed the uprising of district 11 ( I like to think the man who started it was Rue's father) but was disappointed that they didn't include District 11's gift. The violence over all was toned down considerably, which I expected since they wanted to keep it PG13. Mostly you saw a lot of scuffling a la "cloverfield" and then a body fell. There were a few exceptions, but mostly we just saw brief ( and I mean, a second) shots of the aftermath.

The Capitol was fairly well done- attention to detail was excellent. It appeared very ominous, with all the bright colors seeming off, the people looking frightening in their candy-colored costumes. Seneca Crane easily makes himself hated, and President Snow is like an evil Santa Claus. There is a foolish blood lust in the capitol, accentuated by Effie Trinket and her horrible comments like "You're only here for a short time but you get to enjoy yourself!" (Read: we feed you well before we kill you) Effie lacked some dimension in my opinion, though. She seemed to be soley comedic relief. Haymitch did a great job. His drunkenness was minimized, and he displayed genuine caring that wasn't seen originally in the books, but it played out well. This movie inserted lots of excellent sensory techniques to suck in the viewer. There was a high pitched buzzing after an explosion, and the familiar sound of "far away" that most people are familiar with when they are nervous. There was flashes of light and sudden swoops to indicate pain and dizziness. These little additions made the film more believable. You felt like you were there. Overall, the movie met my expectations, though, honestly, they should have just made it rated R and served into the violence like it should have been. This story isn't about violence for violence's sake, its about corruption and moral latitude. You have to see the horror to understand. It is definitely worth seeing, in fact, I saw it twice.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This movie is just awful. There are many terrible aspects and you SHOULD NOT waste your time if you have or have not read the books.

1. Camera work is awful. Everything is shaking so bad in every action scene and every partially moving scene (anything that is not a static conversation) you see random blurs of faces and quickly and poorly cut sections of the movie. 2. Music: Very often, there is no music when there really should be and it just ruins the whole atmosphere. The music at the beginning of the Cornucopia scene is nill and the atmosphere is wrong. You would expect fast paced drumbeats with screams and punches and such... Instead, you get a stupid buzzing noise as the camera shakes to death as you hear no screams and this goes for like 2 minutes... -_-

3. Story: Extremely shallow character development and tons of things completely uncomprehendable by non-book readers.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I saw the movie as two distinct parts - the introduction and every thing leading up to the actual hunger game, and the game itself with the resolution. The first part is very interesting, and the the tension leading up to Katniss's "insertion" into the game is palpable. I was almost jumping out of my seat with anticipation. However, the second part of the film is a complete let-down. Perhaps we've seen too many Survivor & Challenge seasons, but the action is flat and borderline boring. Even though everything is at stake, it doesn't feel that way. The PG-13 rating takes much of the grittiness away from the story. I would have liked to have seen Katniss take part in more than a single killing. She essentially backs into the win.â… Expand

The Hunger Games was really better than what I'd expect. Awesome fast-paced action entertainment laced with moral dilemmas and a satire on the entertainment industry of our generation all wrapped up in a compelling story with a strong emotional core. Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen is convincing and is pitch-perfect as a strong independent protagonist with an air of vulnerability. And unlike a certain Ms Swan, she doesn't need a guy to sweep her off her feet. The ensemble cast is perfectly casted, from Woody Harrelson to Stanley Tucci. Don't worry about whether this'll turn out like Twilight because it's not. There's no sappy love story here. When the games begin, her only concern is to stay alive and even when she does show affection it's all part of the game.

Can't speak for the readers who'd want every single detail from the book done right but keep in mind that the screenplay was co-written by Suzanne Collins. If The Hunger Games is just a little taste or preview for what's to come in the cinemas this year than it'll be a good 2012. It's definitely worth the money to watch and will watch it again in another preferred format.… Expand

In the least surprising cash-in in the history of anything ever, The Hunger Games took its already film-ready premise which had already borrowed from Battle Royale, glossed it up pretty, removed any and all significance from the original novels to satisfy the teen crowd, deconstructed every single character and made new ones to fit a film that was supposed to be horrifying more than anything else, naturally made Katniss attractive instead of being the poverty-stricken malnourished slum-girl she was in the novel, made all the guys beefcakes, gave everyone unspeakable combat skills when they should have next-to-none, when the entire point was to throw random kids into an arena and told to kill each other, and basically turned it into exactly what it was supposed to be: A cash-in, without exception. All significance is gone, and respecting the origins of the novel isn't even considered here. Disappointing beyond words? Definitely. But an obvious way to market it as an arena battle to the death involving children? Checkmate. Anyone who read the first novel knew quickly that this was going to be turned into a film, and it was going to be a sure-fire cashflow frenzy with the right style and marketing. Done and done. For anyone who doesn't care for anything the book stood for or even knows to begin with, here you go: A generic action flick with a few twists that are comically predictable, all done in perfect PG-13 format--ironically still being about desperate kids picked out of a raffle murdering each other with sharp objects. But if you've read the novels, you knew exactly what they were doing the instant you saw the official movie poster, and you can at least avoid some of the despair because you knew it had been coming all along.… Expand

Severely over rated. Acting was horrible, the heart of the book was not there, emotional aspects were not emotional because they were rushed and forced, and full of really bad acting. They emphasized the people fighting against the government part of the story, but they gave us a sappy ending that had nothing to do with the people or the oppressive government. This film simply had no soul, despite having more than enough inspiration from the book they some how destroyed it for the typical short attention span of American viewers. And for people saying the lead actress did a good job of acting, just ask your self how many facial expressions she actually used. She did them well, but she only had like 4. Just like that actress in the twilight series, once you watch another movie from the series you will see how incredible low her range is. The same 4 expressions over and over again will get pretty boring.… Expand

Not since the Harry Potter franchise has a book been brought to life as a movie as well as this. Just as I imagined. I can't wait for the rest of the franchise to come to the big screen!

I was quite disappointed by the Hunger games. There is nothing wrong with using such a heavily recycled idea, but the entire purpose of the idea of an inescapable death-match scenario is to have incredibly gripping psychological drama that leaves the viewer/reader (in the case of the better form of battle royale) anguished at the tragedy of the event. This did not occur in the slightest, and there are a few reasons why. The acting was bland, the main contenders felt more like human masks than the deep and complex beings that they need to be to make this idea actually work. Their individual deaths or suffering left absolutely no impact on the viewer. Linked to this is the fact that the actual character development was sorely lacking. The pacing of the movie was problematic, the idea seemed interesting at first but it wasn't until around 1hr 30mins that the goal it was building towards actually happened. On a different note, the action itself (an important component of the idea) was limited and confusing, with so much fancy camera work going on it was hard to tell what was actually happening. In saying that though the futuristic element, was a refreshing take and the cinematography re its futuristic nature was very impressive. For me the highlight of the film was Stanley Tucci, he was as fantastic as ever.… Expand

If you are a teenage girl, you will love this movie. Everyone else over 25 you might as well wait for the 3rd installment to see if they make it better. The main actress is great but the plot is so thin and predictabile. I can't believe I was taken in by all the hype. A big disappointment.

I expected a ripoff of Battle Royale to at least be almost slightly 1% as interesting as Battle Royale, but instead I got into the theater and watched this boring piece of crap garbage for two hours. What a waste of time. People who liked this movie are either stupid or lying. Transformers 2 was a better movie because, in spite of horrible writing (which The Hunger Games is 100% full of), there was still a lot of action (which The Hunger Games has 0% of). With a bad plot and bad dialogue and bad everything story-wise and then two hours of boring non-action on top of that, what is even the point of this movie? Do not watch this. Obviously you will anyway and you will pretend you liked it because everyone told you to.… Expand

As a stand alone movie it's fine, as a copy of the book it's terrible- as a loosely based off the book video it's... decent at best. Take the wonderful story from the book, shred it down to the barest parts and turn it into a copy of Twilight- you now have 'The hunger games' "movie"

There's nothing, no survival in the woods, no horrible mental wrestling of survival vs. humanity no insight, the barest of character development, a incredibly shortened timeline and complete disregard for the book's story about half way through the movie.

I'm glad to see The Hunger Games put into a visual medium, I'm dissapointed to see it so gutted, I consider this a failure for the first movie.… Expand

One of the worst movies I have ever seen.. The only reason I watched it was because we got to the movie theater late and it was the only thing playing.. Out-dated special effects, a story that left a lot to be desired and a weak ending.. Don't waste your money on this garbage

They missed a few few key points of the book, but otherwise did O.K. in adapting it. Other than that, The Hunger Games was well acted (especially by Jennifer Lawrence) and just helps create the atmosphere of The Hunger Games universe well.

It was just as I had imagined. There were details left out for time purposes, maybe they will be more detailed oriented in the next two movies. Fast paced, amazing adventure. Capitol was amazing.

I can't believe it was that good! I came out of the theater generally surprised and a little guilt-stricken for not having read any of the books. That was a choice, mind you. I will read the first book this week. I'm reading them in sequential order, after I see the film based on that specific book. Anyway... It was an amazing film! The acting was impressive, all-around...including Peta. Peeta? Pita? P.E.T.A.? Yeah. That kid. He's usually is such bad movies that I have always disliked him. I don't have a gripe with any of the cast, to be honest with you. My only real problem with the film would be the camera work. It was fairly shaky at parts, especially in the first ten minutes or so. I understand using that technique for the action shots, due to budget restrictions. It's a bit odd to use them for other parts. Then again, they were trying to give District 12 (Where the main protagonists are from) a gritty/poor feeling. Without spoiling any major plot points, I'll tell you that I LOVE that feeling of heartache I got from this film, specifically toward the end. Everything else can be summed up fairly simply. The music was phenomenal; both the score and the soundtrack. James Newton Howard is a genius, as always. It's not as memorable as some of his other "hits", but still...it definitely added a lot to the film, like a score should. The script was brilliant, the pacing was perfect, and it seems like Gary Ross knows what he's doing. I cannot WAIT for the next two movies!… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The movie was OKAY at best. The cinematography was so terrible that I was having motion sickness. Some of the scenes made me flat out go: â… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Unfortunately, this movie didn't cut it for me. The characters were bland and two-dimensional, the cinematography left something to be desired, and the plot moved by so quickly that nothing was given adequate time. Like Katniss's relationships with Peeta and Gale. Or her time spent with Rue. Quite honestly, I needed these relationships to be formed and dwelt upon at length in the film in order to give the Games the meaning that they needed. Unless the characters (and the viewer) have something to lose, a movie can never achieve true emotional involvement and suspense. All in all, this was an unfortunate disappointment.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The movie is a very hasty and premature summary of the book. It lags a lot of the memorable highlights of the book, and adding to it, is the stupid re-writing of the scene where Katniss gets the Mockinjay-pendant. The acting was very sleazy too, and amateurish. As a movie on it's own, it was shot beautifully. But as a interpretation of the book, it just doesn't cut it.… Expand

Thiis is a fab film, the performances are great, Stanley Tucci in particular is excellent (but when is he not?) Jennifre Lawrence showed again that she is going to be the actress to watch from now on, it's just really good, very un-hollywood, no cheesy background music when its not called for like a lot of films, visually brilliant without being over the top. Go and see it!

Dear reviewers and review readers,
I come bearing great news about a tale that will exhilarate your body and soul. It's name is The Hunger Games. Though I did not read the trilogy, I felt that this movie topped many other movies that I have seen in the past few years and maybe more if I thought deep enough. I am sure that I missed some information but if you understand movies like a mature professional, then it is very easy to catch onto. Don't be one of those people who obsess over making movies seem very terrible because they don't want to be hipsters. If you can withstand two and a half hours of every emotion that you can see in a movie, then you will absolutely love the Hunger Games.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The story: brutal story about teens killing each other. This was not the problem I had with the movie. The problem I had with the movie was the cinematography, or lack of it. I could not stand the very poor camera work. The director was constantly zooming in, panning up, zooming out, it became annoying. The "fight" scenes were a blur. You could not tell who was fighting what. They even had to resort to a cannon sounding to make sense of who died and who lived. Then there is the whole problem with the arena itself. The way the movie ended involved a Deus Ex Machina that ruined the entire premise. I will not go into detail beyond saying that if the cities had this technology available to them, why are they resorting to killing kids to keep the peace. I would avoid this movie, the plot is predictable, and the cinemtography is terrible. While I sat watching the film, I wondered how the director, or maybe its the author, would handle "good" kids killing "bad" kids, and it ended up turning out how I thought it would. As far as racist viewers worried about casting, I do not know why people complain about that crap. The issue I had is that the author, or director, chose the black community to be the ones rioting. That seems very racist to me, but I guess people are somehow comforted over that.… Expand

In no way was it a masterpiece, but the Hunger Games proved itself an excitingly intense movie, led by the powerful performances from Lawrence and Hutcherson. The action was at best decent, sticking true to the book, yet not nearly as epic it could be, and the cinematography was obviously purposeful, yet at times disorienting. My biggest disappointment was soundtrack. At times I felt the movie stumbled along, lacking the addicting fast pace of the book, and I feel like that may be due to the ho-hum soundtrack. There was no driving force, no beat to the film to carry the film forward, and because of that, the film suffered. Overall, I enjoyed the movie and found it worth the twelve dollars. However, I would not see it again.… Expand

Fantastic adaptation of the book. Jennifer Lawrence is again wonderful and the film made me laugh and cry. Dont worry about the 12A rating it is all implied and in most cases shows the deaths anyway. DIRECTORS cut will be FAB! a*****************

Hunger Games is THE must-see-movie of the year! Everything fits together perfectly - the cast, their acting, the directing...wow
Especially Jennifer Lawrence's acting is reason enough to watch, but there is so much more.
Believe me - this movie won't disappoint anyone who loves the books. Everyone in the cinema praised this amazing masterpiece and you will be the next:)

Just as great as I expected. It was perfectly paced, the acting was incredible, and it actually stays (mostly) true to the book. There were some details from the book that were left out of the movie, but they would've been really hard to explain and the movie would've been way too long. But just like the book, the movie offers lots of action; emotion; tear-jerking moments; and well-developed, likable characters. I give this movie a fully enthusiastic 10/10. It definitely does the book justice and I highly recommend it.… Expand

The movie was not as expected.Too Long Too Boring Too Predictable.The character or Peeta is not clear as for the feeling of Gale and Katniss.It's far too long and much inferior to the ferocious Japanese Battle Royale.The books were aimed at young women, I think the filmmakers have been terrified at making anything too violent.

Hands down the best movie in recent memory. Everything about it was exquisite. A wickedly horrid but interesting story told magnificently. Compelling on every level. The tone and aura of the film were perfection.

i was so looking forward to watching this movie. I seen all of the amazing reviews and i hoped for the best... but i was so wrong... the book was soo much better the movie its scary.... i really dont know how people think the movie was so good.... i sat there wathing and thinking, wheres the part where haymitch fell of the stage... or where haymitch sent katniss the sleeping medicine so she could go to the cornucopia... and the red head avox girl and thats just a few parts they were missing... the book has soo much detail... in the book... you get to read how katniss is feeling about everything and how the events that just happened... decide her next decision.... im not a personal lover of romance in films... but in the book the "romance" between katniss and petta makes the plot soo much better... but in the film its all broken up and i cant make sence of what has happened.... i hate the fact that the directors have made this into a movie for kids... the book is for adults...there is a lot of viloence and scenes that are for older viewers but the DIRECTOR wants everyone to love this movie... but in my opinion he got it soo wrong... i just hope they dont make the same mistakes if they are ALLOWED to make the second book... which is also a great read
i recommened to everyone who thinks that this movie is the best thing since slice bread... to read the book and you will instantly see the flaws and how bad the the movie truely is… Expand

Based on the book by Suzanne Collins, the hunger games movie is a good tribute that will probably leave fans delighted. Though not as exciting as the book, it is still worth seeing.

An absolute thrill of a film. I didn't read any of the books, and that could help with my perception of the movie. But taken as a film (and that's how a movie should be judged, ultimately), The Hunger Games is a great experience that follows a young heroine in a society which thrives off of the murder of young, underpriveledged children as a form of entertainment. Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss) delivers a wonderful performance, while supporting cast members such as Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, and Donald Sutherland bring this movie to life. The execution of the movie's direction and post-production give it the feel that Riddley Scott's "Gladiator" and Kurt Wimer's "Equilibrium" had a silver screen child, and named it "The Hunger Games". While not as gorey or adult-themed as the previous films, it still finds all the right places to be violent without forcing audiences to endure grissley violence (which certainly could have ensued). If you're looking for a great package in one film, The Hunger Games might be your ticket. But then again, there's probably a small group of people who won't find it as entertaining. Most of those people have already decided not to partake in this adventure. Here's to looking forward to the potential of a strong trilogy in the making!… Expand

I saw this movie at midnight like the many others around the country and left the theater feeling pretty good. The movie presents itself as a great compliment to the first book of the trilogy. The movie used a good mix of fast paced action, emotions, moral dilemmas, and satire and the camera work was mildly creative giving the film a more edgy feel. Though the shaky camera style doesn't sit well with others I felt it suited the atmosphere of the movie very well. The camera work deviates from mainstream films and gives us a different perspective.

The movie does a good job following the book with minimal deviations. The deviations that did occur did seem to hamper the movie. It was some of the finer details the film passed by that hurt it.

Unfortunately, because of the limits of length, the movie did not flesh out the characters as well as hoped nor was the back story laid out very well. I fear that those seeing the movie without reading the books will not appreciate everything the movie has to offer or understand it. I will say that one of the best aspects of this movie was the attention to detail in costumes, character design, and settings. The movie is great and is definitely a tribute to those who read the books first.… Expand

The movie was overall fairly good but when you read the books, you always heard what she was thinking and in the movie you could just see the look on her face but never understand what she was thinking off. The movie left out a lot of important details and was definitely not as good as the book, but it was still good and I'll probably buy the DVD version when it comes out.

The Hunger Games is a fantastic movie, and the reason? The cast, the books, the story, all is amazing in the Hunger Games. The best is Jennifer Lawrence at Katniss Everdeen. I love The Hunger Games, is an amzing movie.

The movie was very entertaining. I didn't know anything about the books, and so going in as a complete noob I found the movie easily understood. A great book-movie tie in. Loved in, not a dull moment. A lot of great moments!

I'm not really sure if i should compared the movie to the book. Because usually the movie is NEVER as good as the books are. What i really loved about the books was the "Katniss-Perspective" which the movie didn't have a ruined it quite a bit. A lot of the books are about Katniss thoughts about everything and everyone around here. And the movie didn't give away that feeling at all.

And like another person wrote about the movie that i fully agree with: "The cinematography was so terrible."

The movie also skipped a lot of the book too. And i understand that it's quite hard to fit in everything.
That's why i think it would better if it was made into a TV Show like Game of Thrones instead of a movie.… Expand

The film is beautifully imagined and shot and is in keeping with the essence of the book. In one sense fans of the literary franchise will be pleased that the overall story has be preserved and allowed to adapt organically during the conversion. But as is often found in literary to cinematic adaptations, timing and relationships to characters (and between characters on screen) may have a different impact than would be the case in the process of reading. The sentimental and nostalgic moments do certainly tug at ones heartstrings but rather differently than is the case with the novel. The film is a stand-alone piece and so to say that it fails in some way in light of the literary genre would be both untrue and unfair. What could be said is that the deep impact the story is created to embed in the mind may take longer than if one weaved the world themselves as we do when we read. This film is probably one of the better examples of the difference between the film and literary genres in terms of impact on imagination. In all, it's well shot, well scripted and certainly well acted. I have a feeling that this franchise, more-so than other popular young-adult phenomena will be more about the complete story rather than individual pieces. For superfans of the book it might take two viewings, as for all else it should by all rights make for entertaining viewing.… Expand

Having read the book, I can say that this movie was a relatively loyal adaptation, andI was reasonably surprised byit.Itis true that not everything fromthe bookis captured here. But to expectthe filmmakers to translate every single page fromthe book ontothe screen would be unfair (it's not possible). With that being said, judged onit's own terms (asintelligent, blockbuster entertainment),the film succeeds.It's fast-paced, suspenseful, emotional, and brutal whereit needs to be. Jennifer Lawrence gives a great performance as Katniss Everdeen (if any ofthe other rumored casting choices were chosen for Katniss,they would have paledin comparison to Lawrence's work here). Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks and Lenny Kravitz also give standout performances.The production designis great (futuristicinthe capitol, primalinthe arena), andthe actionis well-choreographed.The 2 hour and 20 minute running time flew by, and bythe endI was already anticipatingthe next two films.… Expand

I'm rounding up from 7.5. It about matched my expectations (which were pretty high after reading some of the reviews). And for someone who didn't read the books it left minimal questions and kept things smooth and rather exciting.

I think the goal was to translate the Hunger Games series into films that would still get it a PG-13 rating so that it's primary audience could actually go see the movies. It could have been much darker and more violent, but I think it was faithful to the book - and a thoughtful treatment of the various dystopian themes. There's so much more to the books than the violence of the games. Had the movie focused only on that it would have shortchanged the story. Instead, this film reaches for higher-hanging fruit. Jennifer Lawrence is a terrific actress who brought depth to the role of Katniss, but I thought Amandla Stenberg's portrayal of Rue was wonderful. I look forward to the next installment!… Expand

I submitted a review but not a rating, so my 2 and a half star review has a rating of 10. I'd actually rate this a 6.5. The movie disappointed me by lacking the urgency of the book, being too shallow (not that the book was really deep), failing to convey Katniss' and other characters' inner selves, and not carrying sufficient weight for the subject matter. I don't want more actual gore, but they failed to convey the disturbing, horrific nature of the Games. I've been more disturbed at TV dramas. The audience in my theater barely reacted, and walked out as soon as the credits started as if they were no more affected than the people in the Capitol. Basically, what was good about the book was missing. Maybe I'd have thought it was better if I hadn't known what was coming, but if a movie has to rely just on suspense for its value, it's pretty shallow. And if I hadn't read the book, I would have misread many character motivations, which were largely glossed over and simplified. I would have misconstrued the climax for sure. This seemed like a sure-fire book-to-film transfer, but the book is so much better. Jennifer Lawrence is the best thing about the movie; I just wish her role has been written better.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A lot of hype for a very lazy Hollywood movie. It falls especially flat once the Hunger Games begin. It seems that the director and all the actors didn't take the premise very seriously: that these are young children being forced to fight to the death with only one victor allowed. At times it felt more like revenge of the nerds where the dumb jocks band together to pick on the weaker kids. The stronger, Aryan-looking kids, go around seeking out Katniss with a joyous, kind of partying attitude. Have these teenagers somehow forgotten that only one person can survive? That at any moment the people they are next to have every reason to murder them in order to save themselves? One of them has no problems taking a nap while the others wait for Katniss to come down off the tree. And they laugh and flirt and play like school just got let out. And time after time the kids let others escape, sometimes for no reason at all. One large Black teen kills a young girl, as she is fighting with Katniss, then looks at Katniss and says something to the effect of "I'll let you go this time", for no reason. Has he forgotten that one way or another he will have to kill her to survive? Why wait to kill her too? Especially in the midst of bloodlust after killing someone else? This is his own life which is at stake, but you'd never guess from how he behaves. They just didn't take the premise seriously enough for me to take it seriously as an audience member. For a movie with this kind of budget and marketing machine, there is no excuse for such laziness. This made me want to watch Blade Runner, a Sci-Fi movie in which the director took care of the details.… Expand

I love this movie!
The part when the tributes ran at the beginning to get the weapons etc. was pretty brutal. I loved Katniss :D
I would reccomend this movie to anyone, I loved it.

The Hunger Games is off to a much better start than the Twilight films. The action was exciting, the story was engaging, and all the actors know what they are doing.

The Hunger Games is highly successful at delivering a substantial emotional investment. The premise of a Most Dangerous Game alternate society has been done before, but the story has a far greater humanity and depth than the genre has ever delivered. It has the neon of the The Running Man, and some similar B-movie characteristics. However, the lack of slickness and advanced technology filmmaking allows for some young actors to do some very good work. It's an emotionally engaging movie. Jennifer Lawrence is a real movie star. She is a very good actress and has electricity on screen. The action sequences and final act aren't spectacular, but these are characters I want to follow for their next adventure.… Expand

First of all, you people comparing the movie to the book is stupid! The movie isn't suppose to be just like the book, that's how almost all of the movies are, they leave out some detail and change it up a bit to the director's desire. If you read the book, be prepared for that.

Also, the movie is very clear on some aspects to someone who didn't read the book. This movie was very stunning and impressive; some part of you would want to go on the adventure of the hunger games but you know you'd die for a fact, ahaha! But some flaws are that the details move to fast, and some questions go unanswered. Otherwise, this movie was well put together.… Expand

Being a huge fan of the book, I had high expectations for such a big-budget adaptation. Collins did an excellent job adapting her novel to a different media, and with exception of a few changes, held true to the original source material. The few changes that were made in foresight will enhance future film adaptations by removing confusing details or adding new plot devices that, while exceptional in the original novel, do not translate as well to the film.

The characters, with a few exceptions, were superbly acted and well developed. I applaud the director for limiting the amount of romance in the film (which becomes almost sickeningly annoying in the sequel novels), which allowed for good character development but did not leave me feeling like I was watching characters from twilight in a different movie.

Plot wise the film follows the novel fairly consistently; a few plot holes exist which take away slightly from the overall feel. Otherwise, it is an excellent movie and an enjoyable experience.… Expand

First of, I would give this movie a 9.5 out of 10. Had to round. 2nd this is a great film. Book pretty good, movie great. Acting good, visuals good, and score is good. You need to see this film. This is a great start to a hopefully successful series.

It was excellent. I've read the books and I enjoyed the movie. No 10 rating for some of the acting and the changes to the script but none the less I enjoyed it.

The Hunger Games is a very good movie. Did it very well from the book. They didn't make it a lot like the book but still a great film. The Hunger Games 7.9/10

I'm wondering: how original is the premise? An post-apocalyptic world where live televised fights-to-the-death keep the populous' blood lust satisfied? Eh. Series 7: The Contenders did it way before, but not with Hunger Games' budget. Plus there's Running Man, the Road Warrior, and earlier, 1984. If the world ever becomes a world like the Hunger Games, I'd protest in the streets and risk dying in a Tiananmen square movement. Orwell wrote a better satire on society's need for bloodlust and authoritarianism, because he details a lot of what happened in the world before it got fragmented into superstates. There's no such luck with Suzanne Collins. I don't think Suzanne Collins or the film-makers have enough imagination or storytelling skills to give us the big picture of Panem or the characters should have. They're just waving their fingers at us tsk-tsking us for watching too much reality TV, that one day will lead to televised murder. Does Collins give her characters enough depth that they rebel against an insane society that has degraded to televised murder? Why do they go along with it? Like I said, I'd stand my ground and risk my life for freedom and autonomy before I'd let what happened in Pan Em happen to us.… Expand

A refreshingly grim and realistic premise for an American film meant for teens. Disney it ain't and that's a strength. The weakness? Way, way too much fidelity to the source material. The first hour and a half is ponderous and keeps repeating plot and character points that may have been useful in the novel, but really drag the movie down at least when it pertains to the villainous characters. They are portrayed without an ounce of balance or empathy! As an artistic choice, it's fine, but then someone should have taken some liberties with the script to assure that we weren't treated to endless scenes of Tucci and company being wretched and evil. It got old very quickly. Casting was mostly well done. Rue worked for me and I believe was a true artistic choice especially in Katniss' final acts for her. Lawrence was much, much better in this role than in anything she has done before. It's the first time I've seen her reveal herself in her acting. She worked for me and the nuances of the premise made me feel like I was not watching something put out there to make the kids "feel empowered" which is 90% of teen film. To be commended.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. "It all makes sense if you read the book". Well, I guess it's time to put a warning label on the DVD cover about that, because this movie makes no sense. At all. I really hope the books are better thought and better written than this movie, that can be described only as garbage on garbage on garbage that the viewer is forced to swallow. Plot holes, unanswered questions, non-sense, "The Hunger Games" has them all. During the movie you'll find yourself simply asking two kind of questions: "Are they really that stupid?" and "What the hell?". Some examples? Here we go, but I doubt I'll have enough typing space. --The participants make teams. Yes, you read that correctly: they make TEAMS. For like an hour you're told only one of them can survive but, yeah, they make teams. You could understand that behaviour from the kind-hearted Katniss, but, wait, it gets better: the BAD GUYS make teams. And they sleep together. Of course, no one of them thinks about slaughtering all of his teammates during the night to win the games, because, yes, they are that stupid. --You managed to get all the food supplies? It would be a good idea to surround them with two dozens land mines, just in case the good girl wants to blow them and starve you to death. Yes, they are that stupid. --The good girl climbs a tree while chased by a bunch of bad guys? No problem, since no one of that uber-skilled teen assassins is able to climb a tree aswell. Again, it gets better: she kills one by throwing an hive full of killer bees on them while they're sleeping (somehow the bees can tell the good guys from the bad ones). --At one point she's about to be killed, but the bad guy is kind enough to wait, go close and confess all of his murders, so the not-so-good-but-not-that-bad girl can get revenge. Oh, it gets even better: she kills only the bad guy and spares Katniss, since she somehow forgot (again) only one of them can win.--On the "What the hell?" category: when short on participants, they "summon" two giant rabid dogs through a computer. No explanation whatsoever, they just click a couple of times, make a 3D drawing and...here we go, giant dogs. Also, these dogs are like 6 feet high, but can't jump over a 4 1/2 feet high roof, otherwise the good girl would've died. --The baker-guy manages to disguise himself as a rock. And he's damn good at it, but...wait. What tools did he use? And when? No explanation. --The end would have been a great comedy moment if I hadn't payed real money to see it. It goes like this: "We changed the rules of the game, you both win. No, wait, it was a joke, the rules stay the same, one of you have to die. Wait... What? Are you killing yourselves? For real? Nononono! Wait! Wait! We change the rules, ok, we change the rules. You both win, long life to the Hunger Games!". I mean, are you serious? Are you f***ing serious? These games go on for like a century and no one, never ever thought you can simply cheat by threatening to kill yourselves as the last survivors? Again: are they really *that stupid*? And these overpowered, totalitarian organizers never ever thought about this *little flaw*? They have to be tricked by a couple of teenagers to realize their idiocy? --These are just some of the pearls you'll find in this movie, let alone the poor acting of everyone, including Woody Harrelson that was probably *really* drunk during all the shoots. If "The Hunger Games" was a movie from Mel Brooks, it would've been a round 10 in comedy. Don't waste your money on this rubbish.… Expand

Completely faithful to the book, 'The Hunger Games' is thought provoking, action packed, and features a particular spotlight performance from Jennifer Lawrence. Certainly the film is intense and violent, but not bloody not gory, making the controversial killings easier for audiences to digest. Even so I would not recommend this film to audiences younger than 13, but as a credit to the film-makers, it will appeal to all age groups above this.… Expand

The only reason I'm not giving this movie a 10 (even though I was totally planning on voting a 10) is because I watched the movie before I read the book. Overall, The Hunger Games is a unique and refreshing film. However, towards the last few minutes of the movie I started experiencing confusion between Katniss and Peeta's relationship. Keep in mind I did not know there was a Hunger Games book series at all before stepping into the theater. It was obvious towards the last few minutes a cliffhanger was coming and left me hoping for a sequel. I had many unanswered questions though about the characters relationships with each other and a few even on the technical aspects of the Games. The questions were not answered in the book Catching Fire. They were answered in the book Hunger Games. Because of my unanswered questions being answered within the book the movie was written about and the lack of details that I considered to be important in the book that were not shown in the movie I cannot give a 10.… Expand

Shameful ripoff of "Battle Royale," and much lower in quality. It's Battle Royale for "the Twilight crowd." The acting was stale, the action was bland, and there wasn't any reason given to me to really care about anything going on. The author of the books claims to have never heard of Battle Royale, and that's a laugh!

I did NOT read the books. With that being said, I liked this film! The performances are all great and the story, as you can imagine, is strong. It drags here and there but nothing that sucks the life out of what's going on on-screen. Harrelson does a fine job and he provides a likeable character here. Of course, the gorgeous pitch-perfect Lawrence is stunning as ever. There is some strong potential here and I believe with time and a couple sequels that are equally as good, this will be another franchise powerhouse.… Expand

I wish i could have given this movie an eleven! This movie not only showed the brutality of humans, but the inhumane treatment of "slave-like" districts. This movie was amazing, short and simple.

The hunger games' largest problem is that it chooses to emphacize on it's dramatic material between the lovebirds over it's thematic material. Does the film do the book justice? kind of I guess. Will all the teen girls that go see this film be happy they sure will. This does not meen i did not enjoy it, it just meens it could have been a lot better by taking a few more risks as the critics like to say.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Overall, it felt like those late afternoon teen shows (Spellbinder etc). They're okay, but not really meaty enough for the seriousness of the idea, and a little too bland. I was reminded a lot of "Tomorrow When the War Began". I also haven't read the books.

The cons:
TERRIBLE cinematography, like really bad. Shaky, handheld camera only works if a) it's done very sparingly and b) the camera focuses on the same thing (allowing the eye to compensate). Luckily it seemed to disappear about 15mins into the film. Oddly, the shakiest camera work was when nothing much was happening, rather than using it for dramatic effect.

Shallow story. The characters didn't really seem to feel the emotion of what was happening to them. Jennifer Lawrence, despite being somewhat of a cutie, has very limited facial expressions. The other guy was no better. There's no examination of what's coming up (ie: a kill-or-be-killed death match). Sure, the story presents this as happening for the last 73 years, but surely there was some space for the leads to at least object to the idea.
It's also worth pointing out that during the arena scenes, there was a *complete* lack of tension. There is an initial bloodbath, where half the "tributes" die, and then nothing. None of the other teen killer/victims get any significant screentime, which means that there's no care when they die. Without any emotional connection, it's just empty. The author claims to have come up with the idea while "channel-surfing the TV where she saw people competing for some prize and then saw footage of the Iraq war. She describes how the two combined in an unsettling way". Unfortunately, all that the author has done is create a story where we watch brutality for enjoyment. Maybe the rest of the series will discover some form of theme that contradicts this idea, but at the moment its a continuation of what it thinks it's parodying.

Overall, it's okay, and I assume the excitement is because the books were better. It's very bland, shallow, and leaves me wanting more. Not more violence and blood, but more depth and feeling. I'll have forgotten most of it in a day or so.… Expand

The Hunger Games is a half-decent albeit illogical science-fiction action movie. The plot revolves around 24 teenagers being forced into taking part in a fight to the death. The movie is 2 hours and 21 minutes long and yet they still manage to not properly introduce all of the contestants to us which makes their inevitable deaths meaningless and although this detracts from the serious atmosphere they're trying to create, it does make for an entertaining action movie. The story seems puzzled together from several other movies/books and put together as a mostly coherent and entertaining whole despite some logical fallacies. The writers must be highly conformist creatures for them to believe people would sit idly by when you force their children to fight to the death year after year. The Hunger Games has a happy ending but it leaves much to be desired. Like his holiness Snake Plissken said "The more things change, the more they stay the same" and I couldn't find think of a more fitting vote to describe the ending of this movie. However, f you manage to look beyond these flaws, you'll have quite an entertaining film if you watch it in two or three parts. The beautiful Jennifer Lawrence, as usual, manages to put on a show and if it wasn't for her, this movie probably wouldn't be rated as high as it currently is.… Expand

Admittedly, I was already tired to begin with when I started watching this movie (which resulted in me falling asleep halfway and missing around 60% of the awful movie). Either way, I don't understand the hype about this movie. It wasn't good at all, it was terrible. Terrible actors, terrible everything. I don't recommend this for anyone to watch. The only reason I'm rating it 3, is to be fair. But seriously though, it was awful.… Expand

The Hunger Games is an unforgettable film experience. It features an incredible performance from Jennifer Lawrence and amazing supporting performances from everyone. Gary Ross's direction may be criticized but he really manages to bring you into the story. You feel for the character, you feel pure emotion. The film manages to scare you, manages to make you cry. It never drags and should be recognized as one of the best films of 2012. I give this movie 98%.… Expand

Have I missed something, or is 'Hunger Games' in essence the same film as 'Battle Royale'.

The Battle Royale. metacritic summary says 'Summary: Battle Royale is a violent epic about an innocent group of Junior High students forced by the government to hunt and kill their classmates for sport.'. And for 'Hunger Games' summary 'the evil Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete'.

Is it a remake, or just a rip off?… Expand

The Hunger Games was everything I expected, but not more than that. I am a huge fan of the series, having read all the books months ago, but I've avoided the movie until all the hype died down, so that I could give an honest opinion, and here it is. The film was terrific, one of the best adaptation of a book I've read. Jennifer Lawrence was absolutely perfect as Katniss and if she doesn't get a ton of awards for the role, there is no justice in Hollywood. That's the good news, however the movie was far from perfect. Friends who went with me and had never read the books, found it to be slow, and didn't understand certain things. At times, I could see their point. Several major things were rushed or just left out of the film. This led to some confusion, and then there's Peeta. I love Josh Hutcherson and thought he was terrific, but the portrayal of Peeta wasn't accurate. He was nowhere near as likeable as he is in the books and he comes off looking like kind of a The end of the games was also problematic, as they changed a key point that I thought was pivotal going into Catching Fire. It will be interesting to see what they do to fix that before the next film. Overall I loved the movie and thought it was awesome, but if you didn't read the books, you might be a little confused by parts of it and see it as slow. Parts of the film that dragged on were explained through thoughts in Katniss's head during the book. Without knowing what was going on at those points, I could see how some audience members may have been bored with it. The movie and especially the books live up to all the hype and are well worth your time, The Hunger Games is something you are not going to want to miss.… Expand

It's like watching an episode of Buffy. Just corny, predictable and constant wtfs. I just found myself in awe of how often I was laughing and wondering why they didn't opt to use realism over Twilightish teenism.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Well I have read the book and I suppose that makes me the target audience. I was so bored towards the middle, I started picking on the scenes that seemed to me heavy handed and just sloppy. SPOILER: the wasps scene was VERY heavy handed in my opinion, as well as the land mines. Every time the presenters appeared on the screen, they only explained the stuff that the audience didn't know from the book. It could've been done in a more subtle way in the beginning of the movie. Why not show the boy laying down land mines during the training? If you want to use the presenters the make them appear frequently to mask the sloppy explanations.. I don't know.. Also baffling is the scene just before the start of the Games when the kids are on their starting positions. It's a horrible and at the same time mesmerising moment but the close-up camera and lack of musical score suck out the feeling from the scene. There's actually NO sound at all when the action begins. And yes I know it's supposed to be a tragic and a brutal situation, but this is exactly why the sound is so important.

It's just my opinion but I wouldn't make this movie in such a realistic way, without a musical score (or at least any memorable musical theme), all based on close ups and grit. I didn't feel any emotional attachment to anything and anyone (we're supposed to root for the oppressed districts, remember?) But so little time is spent on developing that story line, and so much time wasted on the filler scenes before and during the actual games that the movie appears overly long and at the same time, nothing major is happening. District 11 is rebelling after the little girl, Rue dies, but her death is so muted, and so devoid of emotion that I personally felt little, and not just because I knew she was going to die.This is where a good musical score can underline the emotions in a character who is strong willed on the outside but very confused on the inside. By the way it's the 74th Games ( means it's been 74 years since the beginning of the regime) and NOW everyone is rebelling? Why nobody took a minute to explain why the situation is so tense nowadays?

I could go on saying how Jennifer Lawrence and the rest of the kids don't look even remotely like they are 17. I could say that there are scenes that I liked with Haymitch and the lady from the Capitol stealing the scenes they're in and Cinna's presence being so muted it's almost a disgrace to an important character of the book. And here lies the problem. The book is about Catniss and not just kids killing each other and the horror that it represents. It's about emotions, her emotions, emotions of the people who surround her. The movie is about actions, and horror and realism. Cinna was important to Catniss because of how he inspired and awed her, in the movie there's nothing to it. Instead we have the void. No music, barely any emotion. The color palette is somehow muted, and the contrast between the capitol and the districts is conveyed only through the ridiculous makeup. Scenes that are supposed to be big and awesome look "meh" (that goes for the parade, capitol reveal, arena reveal, final denouement).

I can't say it was a bad movie, but it's a deeply flawed one. It's just not the movie I'd want to watch again. And that's below expectations.… Expand

I enjoyed The Hunger Games a lot, but there are definitely some problems with the movie that prevented it from being truly amazing in my opinion. For starters the movie has some very interesting themes and ideas (like using terror to subdue the masses, etc...) but sadly they're very underused, which is understandable as you don't have as much time in a film. But if the movie is going to lose in depth I expected it to make up in pacing and action, and unfortunately the pacing was very slow at times and I found myself very bored in the middle of the movie because of the heavy exposition that wasn't very well done, so it was a lose-lose situation. The next problem I had were the action sequences, it's simple you couldn't see a damn thing. Now, this has some upsides, for example the violence wasn't shown in a epic fashion and at the same time they would spend a great amount of time showing you the consequences of it, which makes it very real and poignant, but the big downside like I said is that you can't see a damn thing and have no idea what just happened. Overall though I enjoyed the characters and performances a lot, the actors did a great job I think. So yeah all in all The Hunger Games is the perfect example of a good movie that has the potential to be amazing with its sequels, if they manage to fix the small issues, and turn it into a great trilogy, which I'm hopeful they will.… Expand

I really want to address the people that say it wasn't like the book: First they can't put everything into a 2 hour movie, also I believed that it was the best Book to film adaptation I have ever seen. Its not like most movies that were hollywooded, but this film didn't do that. I highly recommend this film, even if you didn't read the books

I thoroughly enjoyed the film, although the story line of a battle-to-the-death sounds bizarre to me (NOT familiar with the book; don't read fiction). I thought the lead actors were very well chosen. Loved it that the characters' personalities were developed throughout the film. Definitely looking forward to the sequels.

This movie does the book JUSTICE! An amazing recap of everything. The did however forget a few parts, but it doesn't subtract away from the accuracy/amazingness of the storyline. If you haven't read the book you might be quite lost 0_o

I should talk about other series prior to talking about "The Hunger Game". I kept thinking about "Battle Royal", manga (Japanese comic book). "Battle Royal" came out as a manga first, then movie version of it came out. Manga version was the best, and the movie version sucked so bad. If you know both version of "Battle Royal", then you already got my point of this review.
Honestly I did not read novel version of "The Hunger Game", but it was easy to feel something is missing on the story plot. Design and background of the movie (or the story) is awesome, but what is the point of nice looking movie without a nice story plot? Every boy and girl in the survival is not really attractive except the girl in the movie poster because story does not support characters well individually. There are 24 kids in the survival, and I only remember 5 or 6 of them......
Now back to "Battle Royal", the main goal of the base storyline is a copy of "Battle Royal". This sounds like the main reason of this review. I gave low user score because "Battle Royal" is still better by comparing just movie versions. Don't blame my review with comparison on both unless you watched or read "Battle Royal".… Expand

A great adaptation of the novel that Gary Ross does well with much help from Jennifer Lawrence's great performance. An immersible experience with Ross's directing, he carefully places The Hunger Games a movie for any audience, displaying the underlying emotion, violence, and steady storyline for the fans of the novel and newcomers alike. Lawrence really embodies herself as Katniss and displays another award worthy consideration. While The Hunger Games is a great start, it seems as there is a large potential in the trilogy that Ross is not fully uncovering. Needless, Catching Fire hopefully is something that expands the initial story to more epic proportions like The Dark Knight did with Batman.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Extraordinary film! But, I did feel it left out to much. The book gave way more information (like always) but, I felt it was a little peculiar that they left out Madge's character. Katniss's bestfriend and the girl that gave her the pin. I didn't picture the cornucopia like the movie's version. But, that doesn't matter. It was a great film. Brought me to tears at least 3 times and it was full of great acting.… Expand

Gary Ross did an excellent job adapting Suzanne Collin's novel. He even succeeded in explaining many of the ambiguities left by her writing. Jennifer Lawrence was excellent, as always, giving a realistic portrayal as an independent woman struggling to survive. I would recommend this movie to both fans of the series and newcomers.

As someone who was a fan of the books, I was a little nervous going in to this movie. Not just because I was worried that it would be good enough, but also because first person narratives are generally harder to adapt to the screen. I was worried that the main character would lose a lot of her complexity in the translation, just because of the limitations of the medium. I'm happy to say that Jennifer Lawrence's performance absolutely proved me wrong. I think they made the character a little nicer for the movie (or, they left out some of her meaner stuff for the sake of pacing) and there were a few times where she had to have something explained to her rather than working it out herself (again, that has more to do with translating a first person narrative to screen without including a voice over), but the integrity of the character is still very much intact. Lawrence's performance was nicely understated while also selling the key emotional moments.

If I had one complaint about this movie (which I do), it's that the story probably would have been better served if they were willing to let it have an R-rating. I understand why they wouldn't want that, considering the demographic they're aiming for, but a lot of the violence of the actual Hunger Games was a little too sanitized for my taste.… Expand

The move was GREAT! It was missing very little explanatory details that if you read the book, you would spot. But, two thumbs up! The casting was perfect and my questions about if Josh Hutcherson was a good pick for Peeta was answered with a Yes.

I loved the books, the movie was sensational. Collins' is most certainly proud of her vision brought to life on the Big Screen. This movie is a must see for fans and for strangers to Collins' breathtaking trilogy.

All I have left to say, to "Kat Murphy, Special to MSN Movies", is "who are you again?" This woman who so loved the books, but trashed the movie, is the woman who loves bean paste in her cheesecake. Her "eclectic" taste in movies has bled her of every reasonable perception of top notch entertainment. Take your Eel ice-cream and Geoduck sausage taste for movies Kat Murphy, the rest of us plan to enjoy the wonderful Double Fudge brownie with a side of taste-bud tingling Espresso Bean ice cream movie any day. Hunger Games is one of the most tasty visionary treats I've had the pleasure of seeing in a long time.… Expand

When I stepped out of the movie theater, I had a feeling of absolute joy! I was sitting there with a rapid heart rate throughout the whole movie. I read the books before I saw the movie and the books are magnificent! The perhaps best part of it was the acting. My god, Jennifer Lawrence is a brilliant actor! I was also very impressed of Josh Hutcherson. To summarize: Go see this movie!

The Hunger games has put out a movie with action romance and suspense all at the same time. This movie had me on the edge of my seat. This is a must see movie and i cant wait till the new one comes out Catching Fire!

HG is FAR better than it had to be, and not as good as it could have been. But, like the characters forced by the game to do things they otherwise wouldn't Ross and his team work within the PG-13 constraints to make a good action movie that still is about kids killing kids for sport. Lawrence is simply stunning in the lead role, and the orbiting characters are all top notch (Special kudos to Lenny Kravitz are in order). Sadly, the boys of HG are almost pointless, and Peeta is completely clueless to boot. In the end it is riveting and enjoyable too, but I cannot help but think what this could be in a world where an R rated HG could get made by Chris Nolan. That would be something that would satisfy a real hunger.… Expand

This movie was amazing. Some critics will tell you that it did not do the book justice, but I feel that no one would see a movie that could fit everything into it that we all wanted. The movie would be around 4 to 5 hours long if the relationships were developed as well as they could have been. The director did a fantastic job pushing everything together into a cohesive amazing film. If one reads the book BEFORE seeing the movie, they will be ultimately rewarded with a much deeper emotional bond to the characters, but that being said, READ THE BOOK! It's not that hard. The only thing that I would have wanted is Cato coming to Clove and giving his emotional breakdown. They tried to swap that with his monologue at the end, but it would have been much more emotional if Clove had Cato to hold her. I'm sure most things were cut solely to make the movie a reasonable time length, so take that into consideration when judging this film. In other words - read the book, even if you have already seen the movie, you will want to see it again and experience the full impact.… Expand

A great book adaptation, that kept me all the movie on the edge of my seat. Its talented cast brought an excellent performance and its leading star, Jennifer Lawrence, did not disappoint at all.

I think they did the best job they could fitting a 400 page book into a 2 hour and 20 minute movie. Jennifer Lawrence gives a stellar performance. She is the perfect Katniss. I think viewers need to appreciate that the book and the movie are two different forms of media that were never intended to be carbon copies.

Being a huge fan of the book ever since it came out in 2008, my expectations were extremely high for the film adaption, and I have to say I was not disappointed. Although I feel like some characters were very underdeveloped like Gale and Prim, they obviously can't include every little detail in the book, otherwise we would be in the theaters for hours and hours (which I would actually be OK with, but probably not with others.) Living up to such a sensational book is not an easy task, and I thought Gary Ross did a great job with this adaption. Hopefully with the next couple of movies, they focus more on the characters themselves and more of their background story. But it was definitely the best movie I've seen in a REALLY long time.… Expand