Not EXACTLY like the book, but still great!

Rating: 9/10 (8 May 2012)

The Hunger Games centers around a dystopian society named Panem where a wealthy society possesses complete control over the rest of the country's districts. Every year, the Capitol hosts the Hunger Games, a tournament where a young man and woman from each district fight to the death until there is only one survivor. One young woman named Katniss Everdeen is forced to enter the Hunger Games to protect her little sister from entering. From there, the plot keeps thickening into an excellent cream sauce that makes up this film.
Writer-director Gary Ross does an excellent job adapting the key plot of the original book into film. He fully captures the drama and the thrills of the text and translates it into a visually masterful piece of film. From the desolate area of District 12 to the lavish Capitol city to the intimidating forest of the arena, Ross puts the viewer in a world of thrills and chills.
Academy Award Nominee Jennifer Lawrence once again proves her acting excellence by putting on a flawless performance as Katniss. She fully encompasses the honest emotion, strength and fear of the character that readers have come to know. In fact, every member of the cast from long-time acting veteran Donald Sutherland to newcomer Josh Hutcherson help bring the book to life in the best ways. The novel's message about class warfare stays completely intact and is even expanded by the varied narrative. It may not be the EXACT same thing as the book, as there are a lot of differences, but translating a book to a film takes a lot of creative liberties and I still thought that they did the best they could with this film. As of right now, I'm dying to see it again.