Fantastic. No it is not Battle Royale, no it is not Twilight.

Rating: 8/10 (24 March 2012)

Fantastic. No it is not Battle Royale, no it is not Twilight. Yes, I can see similarities to Battle Royal in how the competition is held, executed, and even the end result all together. However, Battle Royal is a Japanese film that has it's culture deeply embedded with in it, not to mention the heavy use of guns and other weapons not allowed or seen in The Hunger Games. Battle Royal is also incredibly gory and violent having no official rating in the US due to such factors. There is also the entire story surrounding the competitions which differ completely. There is no resemblance to Twilight other than that it will likely have a huge following, most of which will likely be the same age group and possibly even the same fans. Now that I have that out of the way, the film was very well done. The acting was very believable, which is important to note due to the huge science fiction or fantasy like culture that exists within the capitol when you have such derelict conditions within the districts. With this you have two very different cultures that make up the same nation-state. The filming in a few scenes could be described as shaky, which I know from past experience will bother those who are sensitive to such methods. However, I do not think most will notice it, and the majority of the movie was filmed quite well. The Hunger Games as a whole was all done very well, with the exception that the ending was rather anti-climatic. The ending truly just drifts off for the await of the next film in the series. I personally would have liked to have seen more violence and gore, but doing so would be unnecessary due to the context and target audience of the movie. Now that the movie is in full release I would highly recommend those reading this to go see it. I don't think you will be disappointed.
For my full review, visit http://visuallyimpairedreviews.blogspot.com/2012/03/hunger-games.html