READY, AIM, SHOOT: Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) has a doe in her sights, but this time it gets away. She has had to learn how to survive in the woods outside of her district, which are out of bounds for the residents of the 12 Districts, because of the harsh conditions of her family’s life in District 12. She has taught herself how to track and and shoot game in order to keep herself and her family from starving to death.

Picture a post-apocalyptic North America devastated by a combination of fire, famine, drought, and wars. The United States has been replaced by a centralized totalitarian regime that is run with an iron fist by the president (Donald Sutherland) with the support of a group of effete elites who are living in the capitol city.

These wealthy elites are insulated from the suffering of the rest of the population that lives in the country’s twelve outlying districts. As a result of an attempted coup 74 years earlier, the government has been punishing the districts by staging an annual fight to the death, called the Hunger Game. It takes place in an unsettled wilderness area, and each district is represented by a boy and a girl.

The 24 participants are chosen by lottery and, as the story unfolds, we find 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) consoling her younger sister, Primrose (Willow Shields), who has had her name picked to represent District 12. Katniss altruistically volunteers to take her terrified sibling’s place, and soon finds herself riding on a train to the site of the nationally-televised Hunger Games.

En route, she and her fellow District 12 entrant, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), are mentored by a former winner Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson). But the alcoholic Haymitch only has discouraging words to share, warning them to, “Embrace the possibility of your imminent death, and know there’s nothing I can do to save you.”

Nonetheless, Katniss is determined to survive the ordeal. Fortunately, she has a host of survival skills at her disposal, since she is adept at archery and camouflage.

Based on the first installment of Suzanne Collins’s popular trilogy of the same name, The Hunger Games is a riveting adventure which will not disappoint the book’s loyal fans. The movie addresses a number of timely themes such as greed, loyalty, exploitation, and corruption.

It is a futuristic science fiction movie about a reality show where humans hunt humans they don’t even know in order to survive.

Excellent (****). Rated PG-13 for intense violence and disturbing images. Running time: 142 minutes. Distributor: Lionsgate Films.