The broken, slightly troubling premise aside this is still a worthy watch

Rating: 7/10 (27 August 2014)

(61%) Just like "Battle royale" (which got there first), this fails to make its perplexing plot make a whole heap of sense, as the question "Why are they getting little girls fight to the death again?" never really became apparent. That aside I do get the appeal of its source, so when it's aided by rising star Jennifer Lawrence's fine acting ability, with good solid support, a fair amount of action, and decent character development resulting in a very watchable sit. The direction though is far too wobbly and slack at times, and it's a fraction too long, but the mild violence did upset the daily mail which is never a bad thing. For a movie based on a book aimed at teens this is somewhat better than I had assumed.