Director:
Gary Ross

Cast:
Jennifer Lawrence
Josh Hutcherson
Woody Harrelson
Elizabeth Banks
Stanley Tucci
Wes Bentley
Donald Sutherland
Lenny Kravitz

Synopsis:
Based on Suzanne Collins’ novel, the film follows a young woman who volunteers in place of her sister when she is selected to participate in an annual match where boys and girls are pitted against each other in a fight to the death.

Review:
First off, I read the first book and enjoyed it. It was a nice little entertaining book, although it offered nothing new that hasn’t necessarily been explored before. The one aspect of the series that is intriguing is the character of Katniss (portrayed perfectly by Jennifer Lawrence).

I was semi-excited to see this book come to life, although I had my reservations seeing as how it was going to be severely toned down to get a PG-13 rating; not to mention the book is written from such a personal view. These two problems never went away for me, a few others actually came to the surface as well. The script is so overstuffed with elements and characters from the book, that it shoots itself in the foot by attempting to cover too much ground. Characters are not given enough time to develop, and when their death comes, it is not effective. I cannot give away any spoilers, but one scene in particular shows how flawed the script and film itself truly is. It’s hard to truly enjoy this movie when only one character in the film is given any time to fully develop and make the audience care for. Luckily this time is spent on Katniss; unfortunately, time is taken away from characters like Peeta.

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