Somewhat average and routine action adventure

Rating: 6/10 (6 January 2013)

The Hunger Games had a lot of hype so since I missed it in the theater I had to see it when it came out on the DVD. Well, I thought it got off to a promising start and enjoyed the first part, up to when the village girl volunteers to take the place of her sister in the Hunger games, but after that, the movie went downhill and became increasingly boring and routine. The story line didn't have any twists and turns and was uninteresting, and the acting was just "OK". The only character who I thought had any spark or interest was the world-weary adviser and mentor to the kids, played by Woody Harrelson. He should have had more screen time and that would have made the movie more interesting.
Besides him, I thought Lenny Kravitz did a good job in a small role, and didn't recognize him until after looking up the credits. But the other characters didn't make any impression and were all pretty much flat and one dimensional, including the stereotypical villain played by Donald Sutherland.
That said, the movie did have nice wilderness scenery and some suspense when the kids are stalking one another, and is not a terrible film. Though I also didn't like how the ending was so blatant in setting up a sequel, I dislike it when movies do that. Still, overall it is a passable entry in the action-adventure genre.