Ever notice that every blockbuster movie has the same fundamental pieces? A hero, a journey, some conflicts to muck it all up, a reward, and the hero returning home and everybody applauding his or...

Panem, The FutureThe most interesting thing about the setting isn't the where, but the when. We're on the North American continent at some unknown point in the future. There was some kind of apocal...

First PersonSuzanne Collins wrote The Hunger Games from the first-person perspective—Katniss's, natch—and the filmmakers kept that POV. So while we occasionally stray away from our girl (usuall...

Science Fiction, Adventure, MythThe story is set in the future, so that kind of makes it science fiction by default, complete with high-tech gadgets, strange new social arrangements, and guys in wh...

The title refers to the annual blood-sport that Katniss gets pulled into: 24 Tributes from the 12 Districts get dropped into an arena and battle to the death to prove that the Capitol is still in c...

There's a trick to franchises like The Hunger Games, whether in movie form or the somewhat quainter book form. How do you get closure with the ending while still opening the door for bigger (and hi...

PG-13We'd like to thank The Hunger Games for pointing out one of the inherent problems with the ratings board. The novel itself would probably be rated R. Suzanne Collins wanted to emphasize the br...