Shameless ripoff of Battle Royale. Fairly transparent anyway

Rating: 3/10 (7 September 2014)

I didn't read the book but a movie should be able to stand up on its own. But there were things that you obviously had to read the book to understand. This is a fairly boring movie about a lump of wet newspaper named Katniss who volunteers to be thrown into an arena with a bunch of other children to murder each other for the amusement of the upper class citizens. This movie doesn't rip off Battle Royale so much as it murders it and attempts to wear its skin.
Crazy government act making people fight? Check.
Young innocent character thrown into arena to kill for their life? Check.
Hazards that require characters to keep moving to live? Check.
But this is of course a movie for teenage girls, so it at least drew a nice face on the skin suit so it would scare anyone.
Long story short, a bland movie full of exposition and cliché that should be able to stand on its own and doesn't.