Never read the books, but still found it painful.

Rating: 2/10 (28 March 2012)

I never got into the books but when the film was announced I was told the general plot by a friend and it intrigued me to say the least. It sounded a lot like Battle Royale, but any movie that has that sort of 'last man standing... with kids!' Game employed would sound like Battle Royale. That movie was truly the first of its kind. After seeing the promos for this film my intrigue subsided slightly, as it looked like a child's film... Low and behold, it really was.
Firstly, I don't know why subject matter like that should be aimed at children as it's quite dark, so why attempt to make it a 'safe' film and torture mature audience members with things such as awfully obscure camera work (to hide the violence) and in whole, a watered down film?
Secondly, if the books were anything like the film then that's not a good reflection on society, as there is no way that these should become best sellers based on story telling (then again, Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey became bestsellers). I doubt that the book and film had too much in common anyway. This movie contained a few too many plot holes that grinded on me (what happened to the 'sponsors'?) as well as some cringeworthy lead role acting, and did I mention the watered down plot?
Another thing that gets a notable mention is that the female protagonist doesn't do anything in the whole film without someone else's help! I found that rather annoying, as a good protagonist in a film like this I'd expect some sort of kick-assness about them.
To cut it short, I thought it was too long, too safe and way too commercial for it to be respected by cinema-goers. I wish Takashi Miike could get hold of something like this. This was way too mainstream for anything good to amount from it.
It gets 2 stars because of Woody Harrelson's performance keeping me awake.