The Hunger Games [2 Discs] [Blu-ray/DVD] [Includes Digital Copy] [2012]

Surrounding the capital city of a nation in ruins, are twelve separate districts that are all over-populated by desperate residents. How do you pacify such angry citizens? Simple: Reality television. No, not Jersey Shore, something much worse. Or better, depending on how you look at it. Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence of Winter’s Bone and X -Men: First Class) is a skilled tracker, hunter, and survivalist who lives in the impoverished District 12 where most earn their living in the mines. Her mother (played by Paula Malcolmson) has been struggling since her husband died, leaving her to raise Katniss and her sister Prim by herself. Katniss (Lawrence) is sixteen and a close friend of Gale Hawthorne (played by Liam Hemsworth) who dreams of running away. Every year, each of the twelve districts randomly selects two children (one boy and one girl) or “tributes” no younger than 12 and no older than 18 and Gale (Hemsworth) believes he’s dodged the bullet as long as he can. Still, when the tributes are selected, Gale is spared and so is Katniss. But when Prim (Katniss’s sister) is chosen. Katniss volunteers to take her place. Making her and Peeta Melark, (a baker’s son portrayed by Jess Hutcherson of Bridge to Terabithia and Journey to the Center of the Earth) the candidates for the 74th annual, winner-take-all, death match known as The Hunger Games. Held in the Capital, The Hunger Games are broadcast live to the entire nation. Each participant is trained, sponsored, and ranked and then locked in a massive, futuristic Coliseum with remote control hazards, predators, and cameras hidden throughout. Now, this was a much-anticipated film. I was greatly intrigued by the trailers, but Twilight was also much-anticipated and no matter how much love it gets from the audience, I haven’t even been able to sit through the first installment. Then, I saw the generally positive response from critics and took it upon myself to see this highly entertaining, dramatic effort and I urge those patrons out there who haven’t seen it to do so at there earliest possible convenience. This is a great film.

Okay, so i bought this "Special Edition" box set because I had extra reward zone tickets, so I figured why not, its only $10 than the original. I was a little hesitant because I have an extensive movie collection, so I was not sure I would be to excited about the bigger box, but when you look at the picture, to me it looks like the book of blurays/dvds are the same size as a blu ray box. So i figured ill take that out and put that on my shelf and put the box away. Well the box is the height of a CD box, so that was kind of a disappointment. But I could have lived with this, if the extra stuff they gave you was even remotely cool. The extra (keep in mind I said EXTRA, not extras) is a stupid plastic rectangle with a picture behind it (yup that is it). 80% of the real-estate inside this box is taken up by plastic packaging just to hold this thing up in the box. So I'm pretty mad that not only do I have to suffer with his oversized box, but i got nothing good out if it to make it even worth it to suffer with the bigger box. Just a suggestion to best buy, if you are going to continue to come up with these stupid exclusive box sets, make sue the case holding the blue rays are the size of a blu ray case. You certainly can't claim that you do not have enough room to fit it in the box because of all the other stuff these special editions come with. Or come up with something actually worth having in these box sets to at least make me feel like its worth dealing with the big box and cd sized blu ray case. Note: To be fair, there may be bonus features or an extra dvd with the bonus features included in this edition, but nothing to write home about...

I read all three books and could not put them down. They were captivating. The way the characters and relationships were developed and the method by which the scenes and situations were described were spectacular in the book. This is NOT true in the movie. Even though it had to be compressed for length, even 2+ hours of movie doesn't do the book justice. It felt rushed. Several key details and characters were either left out completely or were portrayed very underwhelmingly. The plot was nowhere near as good as it was in the book. I know there needs to be some cinematic license taken to differentiate the two, but this was not done properly. Acting performances were questionable at best, although there were some bright spots. If you've read the books and have not seen this movie, you WILL be disappointed. If you've not read the books, you will likely enjoy this movie. It is not for young children. There are certainly some situations that could be questionable for anyone under the age of 10-12 or so. However, overall, the movie was worth watching although I was disappointed. I'm glad I have it in my collection. There is great potential for the other installments to be much better. All I can hope is that the overall production budget is larger for the second movie and that they do a better job of setting up the final, and most important, installment of the Hunger Games series - Mockingjay.

It is always disturbing to see what could possibly happen to society in the future. In a way, it seems as though the movie tells the major part of the story as though it were reality TV. The country had been previously ravished by civil unrest. A powerful group has dominated, becoming the elite...the Capitol. The other factions have become laborers each within their specific "district" based upon the primary resource available. People are provided the basic necessities in exchange for the continued provision of the raw materials needed to maintain the Capitol's lavish lifestyle. Life in the districts seems to be stuck in the mid-twentieth century whereas the Capitol has progressed into a highly advanced (and gaudy) level. To keep people in line, an annual "game" has been started...the Hunger Games...where each district sends one male and one female to the Capital where they receive a bit of pampering and heavy training before being sent to the staging area of the games. Once there, it is a fight to the end. Survival skills are tested, not only from the elements, but in how to survive from being killed by other participants. The entire time the game is going on, cameras everywhere are filming every move of each player and broadcasting the "show" back to the Capitol and districts, and if the action gets too dull, a control center can manipulate the environment to make things more interesting for the viewers. In a way, it is like Survivor, except instead of being voted off the show, you are killed during the show. Only one person is meant to survive.

I pre-ordered the collector's set of The Hunger Games on Thursday, and today I picked it up from Best Buy. I got the box, and it was wrapped in the package wrapping, and it seemed to be in perfect condition. No dents or dings in the box. When I got home, I opened up the box, and i was slightly disappointed. The box was basically empty! The 4 discs were all in a little CD case type of thing, and the collectors trinket was practically worthless. but despite all of that, I was really excited to watch it, so i popped it into my DVD player, and half way through the movie, it stopped, and then it skipped a few scenes. After I cleaned my dvd player and the disc and it still did the same thing, I decided to try to play it on my computer. It did the exact same thing. Now I have a cardboard box, a useless trinket, and a DVD that doesn't work. I don't know how it got scratched, but I'm assuming it happened while packaging the box, or during delivery somehow.I literally took it out of its case for 5 seconds, and that was only to put it into the DVD player. Hopefully Best Buy will give me a refund since I haven't even had it for 12 hours yet!

First of all the movie is well done and the acting is top of the line, especially Jennifer Lawrence. The movie does stay true as possible to what is written in the book by Suzzane Collins. I did however noticed one scene in the beginning where it happened differently in the book. I wonder if anybody who read the book also noticed this too, but overall it was executed nicely in the movie. I was surprised though by some of the scenery of the city and some other scenes, the graphics should've been amazing but I wasn't stunned, maybe since the producers now know the Hunger Games is a major beast of a box office success they will upgrade the look a bit. Sorry for the rant. The feel of the movie, music and sounds are PERFECT. I've never been so moved and involved with the characters in a teen movie in such a long time. I got this on Blu-ray and this was the 1st time I saw the movie, so overall I was definitely blown away. Best thing about the blu ray version is you get a digital download version, so I'm good to go on itunes, watching the hunger games on my ipod and tablet.

I looked on the internet for the best version and i was almost decided on the Target edition until i looked on the Best Buy website a week before it was released. I found this edition and my mind was made up there. I saw everything that it came with and had to get this one. So, i pre-ordered it a few days before it released. I went to Best Buy and picked it up and opened it up and was very pleased with everything that it included. I love the designed cube the movie comes in and the disk holder that holds the DVD's and Blu-Rays is awesome. The collector's item it comes with is awesome also. I also love the extra room it comes with so that when Catching Fire and Mockingjay Part 1 & 2 release on DVD & Blu-Ray, i'll be able to hold all of them in the cube perfectly. I've watched both the Blu-Ray and DVD several times and have had no problem with them. They both work great and don't skip, delay, or mess up at all. I am very happy i went with this edition of the movie. It's worth every penny. Thank you Best Buy :)

In my personal opinion, both the book and the film are much deeper and much more ambitious, than what most critics and reviewers would make us believe. After reading the reviews in "New York Times", "Le Monde" and on "Msn.com" (to cite only few) I was surprised that they mostly missed everything that is important in this film. With a kind of amused superiority, which people from Capitol in this movie would immediately recognize, the "professional" reviewers pointed at the obvious allusions to gladiator fights, the reality shows, the importance of trashy entertainment in today's TV, the search for a new franchise able to replace "Twilight", etc., etc. But they almost entirely failed to see, that this film is first and above all about much more important things: how to keep hope, not lose the courage and preserve humanity and dignity under a totalitarian oppressive regime. Overall a great representation of what a totalitarian Government is capable of, Great Film!