The much anticipated Hunger Games movie has everyone buzzing with excitement. Based on Suzanne Collin’s best-selling novel, fans of all ages eagerly awaited the premiere last Thursday, March 22.

The story follows Katniss Everdeen played by Jennifer Lawrence. Appearing in every shot may intimidate some actors, but Lawrence owned the movie. Her performance outshines her male counterpart Josh Hutcherson in the role of Peeta.

While the movie can not possible fit in every part of the book, director Gary Ross did an excellent job of capturing the main elements of the story. However, viewers who did not read the book maybe a little lost during the film due to the fact that the movie was a speed-through version of the book. This did not let the characters develop which made it hard for viewers to connect with the characters.

The run time of two-and-a-half hours may scare away some movie goers, but rest assured the fast-paced action keeps the movie from dragging.

As far as violence goes, there was plenty of gruesome wounds and fighting. For those who know that read the books, the violence could have easily been exemplified like in the book and given the movie an R rating. To keep the movie open to a wide-range audience, it was rated PG-13 so shots never loitered on anything too gruesome.