Pretty good film...

Rating: 8/10 (3 April 2012)

First of all, as someone else said in a review, I still make of point of surfing through IMDb before watching a film in the hopes of knowing whether it's worth watching it or if I should stick to waiting for a DVD version of some sort.
True, the scoring is not at all bad here on IMDb but then come the reviews... the first 15 or so rating the film very poorly, claiming 'twas the new Twilight saga or a rip-off of Battle Royale. If you've read these reviews, take them with a hint of salt.
Granted this is pretty much setting itself to be the next money-making Hollywoodesque saga. It has a lot of the usual elements that get teenage groups to fall in love with the franchise, throwing their money - and tear-jerking awe's - its way. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad film.
As for the comparison to Battle Royale, I'd much rather, if feeling the need to compare this to something else, compare it with The Gladiator - fighters from whatever part of a given world, mostly poor or slaves, are pitted against each other in an arena of death. Ring a bell? In fact, human nature, human history... humans in general, were definitely the inspiration for this story. Comparing this to Battle Royale is the equivalent to comparing 1984, a Brave New World and The Trial because of their descriptions of a "future dystopian society" - for anyone who's read them, you'll know how impossible this comparison is.
To wrap it up, go watch this film. I was expecting little and came out well impressed, if not a bit disappointed about how people are analyzing stuff these days. I'm a huge film and book fan, I watch films on a daily basis (being quite picky and critic of most of the stuff Hollywood sends out this way) and also read plenty of books, and I would find it very hard to compare the two franchises, BR and Hunger Games, let alone call the latter a ripoff of the former.
Please, please, please, just stop reading stuff online before watching a film if you know it will bias your opinion... You'll have a better time at the movies and you'll be thinking about them by yourself.