The Hunger Games

Published: April 20, 2020, 6:49 a.m.

By far the best and most compelling of the oddest franchise behemoth of the decade, one that exploded onto the scene and seemed to immediately recede from view with every subsequent release, ending on a dark elliptical note, with a couple of awful middle films along the way. But taken alone the original packs a thematic punch and has the hero to match it in Jennifer Lawrence.