[martok2112]

The reviews I'd heard usually had to to with the age old "film vs the novel(s)" tack, so I'll take those with a grain of salt since I'd never read any of the books.

However, Hunger Games wasn't even on my radar at the time, so that really was another reason I didn't rush out to see it. But I do plan to own it on Blu-Ray.

[samwiseb]

I don't buy into that argument anyway, personally. In this case I just finished reading the first book (am already halfway through the second) and I can say that the film improves on the book in a number of sequences. Although I didn't appreciate how dark things were at the end until I read the book. Actually reviews have been fairly good, I would say higher than probably two-thirds of the ST films.

It's still playing in theaters here, maybe you could still find it in your area. Even a really cheap theater would be preferable to a TV screen. The cinematography and sound in this movie have a rather nice non-commercial vibe going for them, so that a cheap theater would more than suffice. In a time when I swear I cannot bloody tell anymore which movies are shot on film, this one looked like film.

[kevin]

I missed The Hunger Games in cinemas and I've never read the books, but I'll rent it down the line.

However, I did manage to watch Battle Royale out of it since it was mentioned in connection with The Hunger Games at the time. Which was a pretty good flick on it's own terms as well.