Great movie and looking forward to the sequel!

Rating: 8/10 (9 June 2013)

Last night I decided to watch "The Hunger Games" on Amazon Prime in my home theater. A couple years ago I was a full time student at a private college I transferred to where we were given "The Hunger Games" book as an acceptance gift. I hate reading books and sadly never even skimmed through THG. I remember saying to a friend in these exact words, "I think I'll wait for the movie". Little did I know were we supposed to read the book and would have a dinner with the dean of the college to discuss it! Anyway, 2012 hit and this movie came out. Unfortunately with the release of so many other good movies (The Avengers, Spiderman, etc.) I passed on seeing this film. I finally sat down last night and decided to see what the hype was about. Despite having the book and so forth, I had absolutely no clue what "The Hunger Games" was remotely about. Only that is was a very popular best-selling book. I was very hesitant and skeptical at first about watching this movie. But in the end, I'm glad I did and I really enjoyed it!
Without going into great detail about the story, I have to say I found THG to be a fantastic film from start to finish. The story is very deep and compelling. The whole concept of this movie is very interesting. We think of children so lightly in our society today; to think of throwing innocent children into a battle arena for entertainment, it's just insane. Albeit the concept is incredible, I have to agree with other reviewers on here whom have read the book. Being a PG-13 movie, it seems that they slightly cherry-coated the death/slaughter of of the children. I think this movie would have been more powerful if they turned up the dial on the violence. But I understand that the movie is PG-13 and aimed towards teenagers, so in other ways it made sense to keep the violence i a certain minimum. Jennifer Lawrence was phenomenal in this film. She is a great, dramatic actress who fit the role perfectly. It felt like Hollywood picked someone this time with talent before looks (although she is very cute). She absolutely blows away (in terms of acting) people like Megan Fox and Anne Hathaway who often give a stale performance and are there for eye candy more. Previously I was not a fan of hers from the media/spotlight that surrounds her, but I have to say I really enjoyed her work in this film. She is also the same age as me and for the level her work is at, it's just incredible. (also by the laws of man I have to ask, Jennifer Lawrence will you go on a date with me?)
Besides the toned down violence, my only other complaints - I could tell that a lot was crammed into this movie to make it work. It seemed like the contestants/characters each could have had more back story (which from what I read online they did in the novel). Also, the ending was flat-out predictable. Other than that, fantastic film. Excellent camera work mixed with traditional (non-digital) film (which we rarely see anymore) combined with epic IMAX shots. The soundtrack was fantastic and the rest of the cast perfectly complimented Jennifer Lawrence's performance. Hollywood has a bright future with the new ensemble of actors who were in this film. I give "The Hunger Games" an 8/10. It's not a game changer and young males/elderly viewers in particular maybe turned off from it. I'm a guy but in no way did I find this film negative, bad, or "pro-feminist". And although it has kids in in, it no way did it feel like a kids movie. It just felt like a good movie with a solid lead actress, almost reminding me Sigourney Weaver in the Alien franchise. If you like sci fi and want a good story telling, heart pounding movie, this film has it. and I am already considering seeing the sequels on the big screen!