The Hunger Games
Lionsgate | Release Date: March 23, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 49 Critic Reviews
Positive:
39
Mixed:
8
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
HitfixDrew McWeenyNov 20, 2015
It is a thrilling, intelligent, deeply-felt movie that does not play by the typical rules of franchise building in modern Hollywood. Read full review
100
The TelegraphRobbie CollinNov 20, 2015
Despite its well-worn ideas and themes, Gary Ross’s provocative, pulse-surgingly tense adaptation couldn’t feel fresher, or timelier. Read full review
100
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMar 20, 2012
As tough-spirited as fans would hope for - and exciting and thought-provoking in a way few adventure dramas ever are. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumMar 20, 2012
A muscular, honorable, unflinching translation of Collins' vision. It's brutal where it needs to be, particularly when children fight and bleed. Read full review
90
Boxoffice MagazineJames RocchiMar 16, 2012
As action, as allegory, as cinema, The Hunger Games is the best American science-fiction film since "The Matrix," and if Ross and his crew stay with the series for the next two books, we may get that rarest of things: a blockbuster franchise that earns our money through craft, emotion and execution, not merely marketing and effects. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversMar 21, 2012
My advice is to keep your eyes on Lawrence, who turns the movie into a victory by presenting a heroine propelled by principle instead of hooking up with the cutest boy. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenMar 20, 2012
A film that transforms a popular work of teen fiction not just by faithfully exploring its themes but, more important, by proving those themes have a very grown-up resonance. Read full review
85
MovielineStephanie ZacharekMar 20, 2012
There's action here, too, and a great deal of vitality that feels true both to the spirit of Collins' book and to the idea of movie entertainment as it exists. Read full review
83
The PlaylistTodd GilchristNov 20, 2015
Ultimately, Ross hasn’t just successfully mounted an adaptation of a hot literary property, or even launched a film series that earns the right to be a franchise. He’s produced an engaging, thoughtful, populist piece of entertainment that transcends gender, genre or source material. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallMar 20, 2012
Leaner than "Harry Potter's" adventures, meaner than the "Twilight" saga, The Hunger Games lives up to its source if not entirely the hype. Read full review
80
CineVueDaniel GreenNov 20, 2015
The Hunger Games looks poised to usher in a brand new hit franchise and deserves all the credit it gets for its confrontational subject matter, delicately-orchestrated fight sequences and sci-fi sensibilities. For teen audiences, films don't get much darker - or smarter - than this. Read full review
80
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMar 23, 2012
Katniss is gritty, she's flinty, she's intimidating -- and she doesn't have to compromise one iota of her femininity for it. And Ross' movie tells her story wonderfully. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranMar 21, 2012
Making a successful Hunger Games movie out of Suzanne Collins' novel required casting the best possible performer as Katniss, and in Jennifer Lawrence director Gary Ross and company have hit the bull's-eye, so to speak. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfMar 20, 2012
If the movie had a lead actress more delicate or malleable than the strong-cheeked Lawrence-a Natalie Portman, say-it would tip over into sexy-girl-killer celebration; the same goes for Harrelson's salty mentor, who is never too supportive or paternal. Both performers lean into the economies of survival, certain of the savagery that lies ahead, and come up with sharp work. Read full review
80
Total FilmMatthew LeylandMar 16, 2012
What's remarkable is the lack of cheese. Tacky effects, corny dialogue and creaky performances are all shown the door. We repeat: not the new "Twilight". Read full review
80
The GuardianXan BrooksMar 16, 2012
The Hunger Games is that rarest of beasts: a Hollywood action blockbuster that is smart, taut and knotty. Ably filleted from the Suzanne Collins bestseller, it's a compelling, lightly satirical tale. Read full review
80
EmpireOlly RichardsMar 16, 2012
As thrilling and smart as it is terrifying. There have been a number of big-gun literary series brought to screen over the past decade. This slays them all. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovMar 21, 2012
The Hunger Games is first and foremost an adventure/survival story, and director Ross keeps things moving with nary a moment of downtime. There's precious little fat on the script; it's a lean, mean antifascist machine, and Lawrence is at once winsome and spectacularly engaging as Katniss (so much so that all her male costars pale into near-blandness in comparison). Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorAndy KleinMar 23, 2012
Ross manages to keep the pacing remarkably swift, given that the games themselves don't start until halfway through the 144-minute running time. Read full review
75
NPRBob MondelloMar 23, 2012
The Hunger Games' pacing is brisk, its stakes as high as stakes get, and its leading lady engaging enough that the odds - at the box office at least - will be ever in its favor. Read full review
75
USA TodayScott BowlesMar 22, 2012
The action is brisk, the acting is solid, and barring an unlikely failure at the box office, a franchise is born. Let the games begin. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliMar 22, 2012
This is better than any of the "Twilights." It features a functioning creative imagination and lots of honest-to-goodness acting by its star, Jennifer Lawrence. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn LevyMar 22, 2012
You can imagine a better adaptation of The Hunger Games, but you can much more easily imagine a far worse one, and all in all that's not a bad outcome. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasMar 21, 2012
When the goal is simply to be as faithful as possible to the material - as if a movie were a marriage, and a rights contract the vow - the best result is a skillful abridgment, one that hits all the important marks without losing anything egregious. And as abridgments go, they don't get much more skillful than this one. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 21, 2012
What The Hunger Games does have is a game cast, a large budget well spent, Collins on board as co-writer, and Lawrence as Katniss. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 20, 2012
The Hunger Games represents the best first book adaptation of any of the three series. It surpasses Christopher Columbus' "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone" by a whisker and Catherine Hardwicke's "Twilight" by considerably more than that. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertMar 20, 2012
An effective entertainment, and Jennifer Lawrence is strong and convincing in the central role. But the film leapfrogs obvious questions in its path, and avoids the opportunities sci-fi provides for social criticism. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 20, 2012
The games have begun, and so far they're pretty gripping. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundMar 20, 2012
The Hunger Games is more notable for the holes it doesn't fall into than the great heights it reaches. Read full review
70
SlateDana StevensMar 22, 2012
Director Gary Ross' adaptation, co-scripted by Collins herself, isn't quite as crackingly paced as the novel, but it will more than satisfy existing fans of the trilogy and likely create many new ones. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonMar 20, 2012
Like the pacing of the novel, the film, even at almost two and a half hours, moves briskly, continuously drawing us in. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 20, 2012
Lawrence is a tremendous talent, and she is what makes The Hunger Games ultimately worth spending time with. She doesn't elevate the film to the heights to which one might have wanted, but she takes it a lot higher than it would have otherwise risen. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyMar 15, 2012
As she did in her breakthrough film Winter's Bone, Jennifer Lawrence anchors this futuristic and politicized elaboration of The Most Dangerous Game with impressive gravity and presence, while director Gary Ross gets enough of what matters in the book up on the screen to satisfy its legions of fans worldwide. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsMar 22, 2012
The Hunger Games is dressed as a dark satire of soulless entertainment, but like Katniss' adversaries in the PG-13 hunting scenes, it doesn't have a distinctive identity or go-for-the-throat. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaMar 22, 2012
It also smells very much like a movie with money on its mind - not altogether successfully balancing its loftier ideas with a sense of superficial whimsy and Vegas-meets-Wizard of Oz production design. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanMar 22, 2012
Where Collins' book paid careful attention to detail, Ross pays far too little. Characters never become exhausted or desperate or gaunt; they don't even get chapped lips or broken nails. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayMar 21, 2012
If the series's legions of fans miss a detail here or a sub-plot there, they'll still recognize its bones and sinew, especially in Jennifer Lawrence's eagle-eyed heroine Katniss Everdeen. Read full review
63
ObserverRex ReedMar 21, 2012
This futuristic tale of teenage violence is so not my kind of movie that I approached it grudgingly, so imagine my surprise when I ended up being totally exhilarated and enjoying it immensely. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle SmithMar 21, 2012
The Hunger Games may be derivative, but it is engrossing and at times exciting. Implicitly, it argues that "The Truman Show" might have been improved by Ed Harris lobbing fireballs at Jim Carrey, and it's now clear what "American Idol" was missing all those years: a crossbow for Simon Cowell. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonNov 20, 2015
This is a solid take on the material, but it could have done with a little less narrative incident and a little more cinematic sparkle. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisMar 22, 2012
Again and again Katniss rescues herself with resourcefulness, guts and true aim, a combination that makes her insistently watchable, despite Mr. Ross's soft touch and Ms. Lawrence's bland performance. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderBen SachsMar 22, 2012
Director Gary Ross (Pleasantville) generally avoids the elaborate exterior shots and special effects that dominate high-concept blockbusters. Read full review
60
VarietyJustin ChangMar 15, 2012
A watchable enough picture that feels content to realize someone else's vision rather than claim it as its own. Any real sense of risk has been carefully ironed out: The PG-13 rating that ensures the film's suitability for its target audience also blunts the impact of the teen-on-teen bloodshed. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMar 22, 2012
Watching The Hunger Games, I was struck both by how slickly Ross hit his marks and how many opportunities he was missing to take the film to the next level - to make it more shocking, lyrical, crazy, daring. Read full review
50
TimeRichard CorlissMar 21, 2012
Can The Hunger Games, in the movie version directed by Gary Ross, successfully navigate the crossing from page to screen? Our answer: Eh. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMar 20, 2012
The Hunger Games takes no risks. Read full review
40
SalonAndrew O'HehirMar 20, 2012
The Hunger Games has some cool moments here and there, and is never entirely dreadful. Lawrence is both radiant and triumphant. They haven't screwed it up badly enough to kill it, although they've tried. Read full review
30
The New YorkerDavid DenbyMar 26, 2012
The result is an evasive, baffling, unexciting production - anything but a classic. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMar 22, 2012
In The Hunger Games it's both a feast of cheesy spectacle and a famine of genuine feeling, except for the powerful - and touchingly vulnerable - presence of Jennifer Lawrence. Read full review
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