In a post-civil war America, the empire of Panem rules it's twelve districts with an iron fist. If you don't live in the Capitol, you are a slave, be it in farm-lands or coal-mines. And every year, to commemorate an uprising 74 years ago, one girl and boy are selected to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal gladitorial extravaganza, broadcasted for the entertainment and repressing of millions.

But Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is fighting for something besides glory: to keep her family alive.

And Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) is fighting only in the hopes of saving the girl that he loves and remaning human in the arena.

But can you?

Good points:

The step of no-return is Katniss volunteering to participate in the Games in replacement of her sister, fully knowing that the odds are definitely not in her favor. Her district anonymously salutes her with respect as she does so.

Peeta and Katniss resist playing the Games with blood-lust, earnestly trying to avoid killing others.

Katniss teams up with the youngest tribute and defends her to the end, even though only one of them will be permitted to live when all is done.

Negative points:

Obviously, violence is a large factor of this (though they dulled it down from the book's amount). Teenagers are stabbed, sliced, stung to death by genetically-mutated wasps, shot, battered, and slammed against hard-surfaces until their necks snap. The violence isn't glorified (except by the Career pack), and most of the shots are fleeting and the mood conveyed is that of horror and sorrow. Katniss only kills in defense, accidentally, or out of mercy. A friend advises her to think of the people she's fighting as animals.

Language is present.

There is a short series of angles of Katniss bathing (nothing too private is shown, but enough to get the gist). There are a couple of immodest dresses.

A game victor represses P.T.S.D. with alchohol. A lot of alchohol.

Result:

The Hunger Games are set in a slightly futuristic setting, but it's not so different from the modern society. The playing for the camera, the deciet, the competition, the manipulation, is all applicable to today. This movie is as much a premise to a story of love and rebellion as it is a warning. Let's strive not to open the arenas.