All 4 of The Hunger Games movies, ranked from worst to best

2. The Hunger Games

Based on the first book of the series, The Hunger Games had the challenging task of setting up the world of Panem and introducing us to characters like protagonist Katniss Everdeen and her childhood best friend Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth), not to mention introducing colorful Capitol players like Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks).

It could have gone horribly wrong, but director Gary Ross did an admirable job of bringing The Hunger Games to life. If this movie had failed, we wouldn’t have the beloved franchise at all. The Hunger Games follows Katniss after her sister, Prim (Willow Shields), is chosen at the Reaping to participate in the 74th Hunger Games, a cutthroat competition that enlists one boy and one girl from each of Panem’s 12 districts to compete in a televised fight for the entertainment of the Capitol.

The second Prim’s name is drawn, Katniss volunteers as tribute in one of the franchise’s most iconic scenes. Katniss instead competes in the games where she meets fellow District 12 tribute Peeta. The Hunger Games is an excellent movie and could easily have been the number-one film on this ranking. The only reason it isn’t is that Catching Fire comes out afterward and surpasses even the highs of this film.

But who could forget the heartbreaking moment when Rue (Amandla Stenberg) dies or the climactic ending when Katniss and Peeta work together to outsmart President Snow to come out victorious, becoming the first-ever double winners? The Hunger Games is an ambitious film that tackles the complicated themes and nuances of its source material with surprising deft and helped launch the career of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence.

And had The Hunger Games not expertly laid the groundwork for the series, we would never have gotten Catching Fire‘s brilliance.

Grade: B+