The Hunger Games: Press reviews

'an essential science fiction film for our times; perhaps the essential science fiction film of our times'

'As thrilling and smart as it is terrifying. There have been a number of big-gun literary series brought to screen over the past decade. This slays them all.'

'Here is the first blockbuster hit of the year.'

'A faithful adap, a grown-up teen movie and flaming good entertainment. The big test for the franchise lies ahead with the uneven second and third books. But on this showing, the odds are in its favour.'

' a very enjoyable futurist adventure, presented with a compelling, beady-eyed intensity'

'Despite a couple of missteps — one character disguising himself as a rock will elicit unwanted laughs — for the most part it's a killer film.'

'Battle Royale is a nasty masterpiece, far superior to The Hunger Games, which is amazingly similar to it, the Hollywood gloss on the same story, whatever Collins says.'

'Ross tries to find mystery in the forest, in its canopy of trees and thick undergrowth, but never locates a deeper dread'

'Overall, this is a solid take on the material, but it could have done with a little less narrative incident and a little more cinematic sparkle.'

'The premise alone carries it so far, but cinematically speaking, it's a non-event'

'Ross consistently drains away all the tensions built into the cruel idea of the movie'

'one of the rare occasions when the film needed to be bolder, and nastier'

'It's The Running Man for Justin Bieber fans.'

'so terrible it might, with antiquity, become a camp masterpiece'