The Hunger Games (2012)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: Thrilling and superbly acted, The Hunger Games captures the dramatic violence, raw emotion, and ambitious scope of its source novel.
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Cast
as Effie Trinket
as Haymitch Abernathy
as Peeta Mellark
as President Snow
as Caesar Flickerman
as Seneca Crane
as Claudius Templesmith
as Clove
as Game Center Tech #1
as Tribute Boy District 3
as Registration Woman
as Octavia
as Cato
as Portia
as Katiniss' Father
as Peacekeeper #1
as Cinna
as Game Center Tech #3
as Katniss' Mother
as Katniss Everdeen
as Glimmer
as Peacekeeper #2
as Gale Hawthorne
as Hob Vendor
as Katniss' Mother
as Game Center Tech #2
as Game Center Tech #4
as Venia
as Hovercraft Tech
as Flavius
as Rue
as Thresh
as Primrose Everdeen
as Fox Face
as Peacekeeper #3
as Avox Girl
as Marvel
as Atala
as Peeta's Mother
as Propaganda Film Tribute
as Tribute Girl District 3
as Tribute Boy District 4
as Tribute Girl District 8
as Tribute Girl District 9
as Tribute Girl District 10
as Birthday Boy
as Fox Face
as Propaganda Film Tribute
as Octavia
News & Interviews for The Hunger Games
Critic Reviews for The Hunger Games
All Critics (281) | Top Critics (48) | Fresh (237) | Rotten (44) | DVD (3)
The film shows precious little hunger and no sense of game.
Even when two people are just talking calmly, Ross jerks the camera around. Why? As the sense of danger increases, he has nothing to build toward.
Ross manages to keep the pacing remarkably swift, given that the games themselves don't start until halfway through the 144-minute running time.
Like the select participants of its savage sport, The Hunger Games stands triumphant, if scarred and a bit wobbly from the contest.
It features a functioning creative imagination and lots of honest-to-goodness acting by its star, Jennifer Lawrence, who brings her usual toughness and emotional transparency to the archer-heroine Katniss.
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.
Audience Reviews for The Hunger Games
The dystopic universe could have been better explored, while the shaky camera in the action scenes makes it a bit hard to follow what is actually happening on screen, but still this is an exhilarating movie that benefits a lot from great performances and charismatic characters.
Super Reviewer
"The Hunger Games" does everything right that the "Twilight Saga" did wrong. It invests you in the characters, makes you feel emotion for every tribute who is on the "good" side, and creates an atmosphere unlike anything you have ever seen. As Katniss's younger sister Primrose is chosen as tribute to compete in the 74th annual Hunger Games, she will not have it. She volunteers herself to compete. The Hunger Games are a battle to the death. 12 districts across the world compete. It is a televised event that happens out of pure chance. Many of the contenders have been trained, while Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) is forced to rely on her hunting knowledge and coaching instructions. As she meets Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), her feelings for the game change, when she finds out that he is in love with her. 24 contestants are forced into battle, only one comes out alive. In this borderline PG-13 flick, the gore is as high as it needs to be, the acting is brilliant by the entire cast, especially Jennifer Lawrence, who pulls off a powerhouse portrayal of Katniss. Emotion runs on high throughout this film and I was on the edge of my seat the entire way through. It does have it's share of cliche's of course, and those are the few minor faults. The shaky camera felt a little off when you try to focus on the action, the chemistry between Katniss and Gale was a bit rushed, and the conclusion of the film leaves you with so many questions. This film does give you a lot of what you want and It is everything a book adaptation should be. "The Hunger Games" is a great starting point for this series.
Super Reviewer
The first in this series deserves a lot of credit for setting up its world in a way that allowed 'Catching Fire' to build upon it so well, but that movie really shows this up for what it is: a solid dystopian sci-fi flick with an outstanding central performance from Jennifer Lawrence, but also medicore action scenes and two-dimensional supporting characters.
Super Reviewer
The Hunger Games Quotes
| Peeta Mellark: | "I'll take the bow..." |
| Katniss Everdeen: | How will they change you? |
| Peeta Mellark: | I don't know. Turn me into something I'm not. I just don't want to be another piece in their game, you know? |
| Katniss Everdeen: | “I am not pretty. I am not beautiful. I am as radiant as the sun.” |
| Gale Hawthorne: | Oh yeah, I forgot something. *brings out the bread* |
| Gale Hawthorne: | Oh yeah, I forgot something. |
| Katniss Everdeen: | Oh my God! Is this real? |
| Gale Hawthorne: | Better be. It cost me a squirrel. |