Clumsy story-telling but JLaw saved the day

Rating: 7/10 (27 March 2014)

I didn't read the books, so am not drowned in disappointment.
But yes, many reviewers are right, flawed script, flawed directing.
Agreed - stupid shaky cam belongs to 90s art films, and should stay there.
I do respect Collin revising the story to fit the movie format. It's a technical necessity.
JLaw is strong and natural. Katniss portrayal is vivid. JLaw deserves all the fame and glory.
Explaining a general confusion/ complaint:
Why the kids gang up during the race - grouping-up is a 'natural' social behavior in Darwinian games. In (stupid) reality shows like Survivor, participants tend to pair up with the strongest possible to eliminate the weakest first, before final battles between the strongest. In THG, Rue is the hunted weakling. Katniss is also classified as a weakling because she is not a preemptive killer.
Sociopaths or everyday narcissists need to win and to dominate at any cost. They tend to view kindness and compassion for fellow human beings as weakness. They have contempt for - and will eliminate such 'psychological weaklings' just for the "gene pool weeding" reason alone.
The THG world has a mad, fascist-like "Capital". So within the story context, contestants ganging behavior made perfect sense.
Is the world we live in as "evil" as that? Do incumbents gang up and scapegoat minority individuals, do wall street rich gang up to become richer, do powerful countries gang up on weak isolated countries?
Some find the THG citizens' treatment of children gladiators as entertainment just too inhuman and unbelievable.
Not long ago, "fringe districts" children and unarmed civilian women of our world were mass-sacrificed in the name of peace. The crimes against humanity still not acknowledged, justice still not done, after 70 years. Isn't that unbelievable?
Are we still pinning all the blame and evils on a few scapegoat figures, so that we don't have to face the rot within?
So the "Capital" citizens, the most powerful people on earth, their indifference and ignorance on the rest of the "districts", their choosing to not care about a few "fringe scapegoats", is very, very contemporary, and totally believable.
For that timely theme alone, THG merited a 7.