4.7 Stars (out of 5) - Rated PG-13

Synopsis

Every year the twelve districts send a teenage boy and girl to compete in "The Hunger Games" which is a nationally televised event in which "Tributes" must fight with one another until one survivor remains. Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy. If she's ever to return home she must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Starring:

Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland

Director:

Gary Ross

Blu-ray Release Date:

August 18, 2012

Subtitles:

English, English SDH, Spanish

Rating

Overall rating weighted as follows:

Audio 40%, Video 40%, Special Features 20%, Movie - its just our opinion so take it with a grain of salt

Audio 4.9 Stars (out of 5)

Dolby and DTS Demo Discs used as basis for comparison

Subwoofer - 4.5 Stars

Dialog - 5.0 Stars

Surround Effects - 5.0 Stars

Dynamic Range - 5.0 Stars

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, English: Dolby Digital 2.0, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1

If you're hungry for a solid home theater audio experience, this DTS-HD mix delivers. The bass is tight and fits the movie perfectly. The low end isn't verbose but it does a good job providing low creepy rumbles during the reaping, booms of the cannons, a rumbling forest fire, intimidating fireballs, and wide explosions. Dialog is always pitch perfect and overall the soundtrack never sounds lifeless. Surround speakers get lots of activity with sounds of rustling leaves, chirping birds, whirling wind, echoing voices, hovering aircrafts, chirping crickets, and swarming tracker jackers.

Video 4.7 Stars (out of 5)

Spears & Munsil Benchmark Blu-ray Edition used as basis for comparison

Color Accuracy - 5.0 Stars

Shadow detail - 4.0 Stars

Clarity - 4.5 Stars

Skin tones - 5.0 Stars

Compression - 5.0 Stars

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC, Resolution: 1080p, Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1, Original Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

The Hunger Games has a great look on Blu-ray. Colors are natural and bring lush green forests to life, fire shines bright and vividly, and the bright colors of the flamboyant outfits look great. Dark scenes tend to lose detail even though it fits the tone of the film. Clarity is clean and is good enough to make out the details on blades of grass, pores on faces, wrinkled shirts, beard whiskers, and freckles on young faces.

Bonus Features 4.5 Stars (out of 5)

The following list of features are for the double Blu-ray disk addition of the Hunger Games.

Disk 1

Metabeam Smart Remote (HD; 00:31) A commercial for a smartphone app to access additional features such as "Fannotating Commentaries".

BD Touch - A text based explanation of this second screen technology which works in conjunction with BD Live and Metabeam.

DTS-HD Master Audio Sound Check for 5.1 and 7.1

Disk 2

The World is Watching: Making The Hunger Games (HD; 2:02:00) A feature length, eight part documentary that covers everything from pre-production to adapting the source novel to casting to shooting to post and marketing.

Game Maker: Suzanne Collins and The Hunger Games Phenomenon (HD; 14:05) Discusses popularity of the books.

Letters from the Rose Garden (HD; 9:08). Donald Sutherland talks about how moved he was by the script, and writes a letter to the director on how he interpreted the film and his character.

Controlling the Games (HD; 5:50) Behind the scenes of film's Games Center.

A Conversation with Gary Ross and Elvis Mitchell (HD; 14:31) An interview with Mitchell questioning Ross about the adaptation and shooting of the film.

Preparing for the Games: A Director's Process (HD; 3:00) Ross discussing how he went from writing The Hunger Games to shooting it.

Propaganda Film (HD; 1:34) The film that plays in an edited form in the background during the "Reaping" sequence in the film.

Theatrical Trailers featuring Sneak Peek (HD; 1:08), Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:39) and Second Trailer (HD; 1:12) ;

Poster Gallery; Photo Gallery

Movie - 4.0 Stars (out of 5)

Review

It's nice to see an extremely popular movie for teens that has substance. The Hunger Games is an entertaining and heart wrenching film filled will great performances and a few action sequences. This movie isn't just for teens, it's filled with lots of economic and social commentary that adults will find meaningful and thought provoking. The main plot of the story is a little dark for some. Watching teenagers kill each other because the government told them to, seems dark but it's close enough to reality to make you feel uncomfortable. My daughters are at the perfect age for this film, they loved it so much they're almost done with the books. They can't wait for the next movie, and neither can I.