A great film with many subtle qualities

Rating: 10/10 (19 July 2015)

Many reviewers compare this movie to other movies or the book, that it is based upon, saying that it lacks this and that in comparison with what they expected. I am really surprised to see how many negative reviews this film has received on IMDb.
I saw this film without reading any of the books and without seeing the famed Battle Royale, and I really liked it.
There are many great subtle qualities to this film. It's in all the performances, from the main actors to supporting roles - among others, awesome performances from Woody Harrelson, Lenny Kravitz and Stanley Tucci as fabulous TV-host Caesar Flickerman. It's in the wonderfully understated fascist sci-fi setting, which connects wonderfully to fascist architecture and cinema. It's in the way the games are portrayed as an advanced form of TV entertainment and sport, the slow but stronger development of the characters and their relations, and in the special effects, which are excellent, but also deliberately toned down appropriately.
It's also in the great and appropriate comment, that this film is on present day society and the current global political order. We are the citizens of the Capitol, enjoying our "hunger games" in the form of mass-produced entertainment, while an economical and political order dictates that many of the Earth's inhabitants lives in a world, where they need to fight or starve, while we live in plenty.
I can't fault this film in any way. It takes it's time, and keeps one hooked to the end. A very disciplined effort by the director, with a strong screenplay and cast. I wouldn't hesitate to call it a masterpiece.