Hunger Games is my favorite distopian movie franchise by far. I just love how Katniss isn't the 'chosen' one. She is just a teenager who tries to save herself and her loved ones from the capitol. It has beautiful themes about human nature even Peeta and Gale was supposed to represent showing kindness and being true to yourself or choosing revenge and contribute to cycle of violence but sadly most of these got overshadowed by love triangle ugh. edit: 5k likes??? when did this happen lol anyways the ballad of songbirds and snakes is on the way we won!!

We need a resurgence of teenage dystopian stories. I loved them as a kid and it sucks that new kids don't get new original stories and are instead left with stories our generation grew up with

The Maze Runner will always have a special place in my heart. The author of the books actually had cameos in the films.

All 3 Maze Runner movies are actually really good. And the third one has a truly epic and intense ending. Those movies just have such a unique style and feel to them.

I think part of the point in Mockingjay was that Katniss didn’t want to be a leader and she really wasn’t, she was a figurehead that they were using. She gave a lot of speeches because that’s all they would let her do, but in reality she’s more like a soldier want to be on the front lines making an effort. She doesn’t start being a leader until she finally decides that she is going to break off from the group and kill snow.

The problem with teenage anything is the lack of depth. The world building is either superficial or missing alltogether. In Hunger Games it's actually pretty well done. Even plausible

The problem with the adaptation of the Hunger Games is that you lose Katniss’ internal dialogue. In the books it’s clear that the things that she says and does are often done just for the audience, whereas it’s more difficult to show that in the film. Also the books are first and foremost about how the things that happen to her change her - Collins inspiration for the books was her soldier father’s PTSD. But, again, without a direct pipeline to the inside of her head, this is much harder to portray. The third book in particular isn’t about the rebellion or the wider world, it’s about Katniss’ internal journey. Since the films can’t do that they have to make it about everything that’s going on externally (almost all the scenes of the rebellion which Katniss isn’t direclty involved in aren’t in the source material) which, as you say, the story suffers for. That said, it’s easily the best of the three options here. I’d also say that Katniss not really doing anything is the point. Throughout the trilogy, she basically has two moments of agency - volunteering in Primrose’s place at the start, and killing Coin at the end. For all the rest of the time she is doing what she’s told to do because it’s the only way she can keep herself and the people she loves alive. That she’s not a hero or a leader is the point.

catching fire is so unbelievably good it actually blows my mind, so many stand scenes and performances, and endlessly rewatchable.

fun fact, the kid at 10:07 actually had a death scene filmed where he dies in the mall, but apparently test audiences were confused at the death scene because they never really noticed him before, so it was deleted from the final movie

I watched every Maze Runner film before I read the books and I will always be happy I did. I was able to enjoy all of the movies without constantly comparing them to the books, while also having respect for the books being the source material. It also made it super easy to visualize and put voices to characters.

The Hunger Games is definitely the best. Everything about the series was excellently thought out and well planned. I've read it over 5 times now, and each time I pick out something new to analyse that's fascinating

the thing i love most about maze runner is just the fact that it doesn’t care for your attachment to characters, the only characters that don’t have a scene where they’re almost dead are frypan, vince and jorge. im still gaslighting myself about newts death but i think it’s a really interesting thing to do to kill off most of the main characters in your story while still having people watch.

I whole heartedly disagree with your take on mockingjay p1. While slower in pace, the film was all about the politics of running a rebellion. The propaganda, the difficulty of getting everyone united, the horrors of war, etc. This film also has many memorable moments. The dam scene for example

So, I have one criticism of your take on the Hunger Games, and it's a very important one. Katniss ISN'T the leader of the rebellion. She's never the leader or even in power until she's given a vote in the very end of the story because of one incident where she stuck up for herself. She's a propaganda tool created by Coin. That's key to understanding her story. The movies DID do a poor job of making that clear. Edit: it doesn't matter what all these commenters interpretation of the movie was, you guys. I'm talking about what this creator said IN HIS VIDEO about what he understood, and I was being NICE when I said "it might not be clear". I thought it was perfectly clear. I was being KIND and not mocking him for saying she was a leader.

For me the Hunger Games trilogy easily holds a special place in my heart. There were so many interesting themes, the world building (albeit a little flawed) was pretty engaging and fun to learn about and it's one of the rare instances where the main characters themselves make the dystopia look like it was personal and not just an info dump through the main character. Additionally, The Hunger Games still remains politically relevant at the time so that's a bonus for me.

Maze Runner is probably my top pick because I love the world, the characters, and the action. The world itself is a little unique. I also think you could adapt some good prequels by following the other books like Kill Order and Fever Code. I also would have to give best supporting role to Haymitch but I’d also give it to Newt! 😊

As for the best movie between these franchises it’s between The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and The Maze Runner.

I just loved the mystery aspect of maze runner and how you were really put into Thomas's shoes as you were just as curious and confused as he was as the viewer

The hunger games is by far the best book series and franchise of the three. It may not be as visually entertaining but it is more of a social commentary and really thought provoking and psychologically thrilling.

Divergent is so fascinating to me. It went from a juggernaut to sputtering out in a whimper. It literally quit half of the last book adaptation, that was practically unheard of. I can’t be sure, but I think Divergent was the one that killed the practice of splitting the final book into two films.

I need this genre to come back, it's so specific but I love it so much

It’s weird in the hunger games movies, particularly the last two bc I think they chose to cut out all the best and most interesting plot points from the movie in the hopes of simplifying the storyline. We don’t get to see D13 torturing capital citizens or katniss and Johanna’s sisterly relationship that they had in the books. They even cut the infamous finnick odair in his underwear scene. Her relationship with commander Boggs was also a lot more comedic and loving than in the movie which would have helped the overall tone. They had so much run time but chose all the wrong scenes.

As a hardcore maze runner fan since I’ve read them since I was a lot younger, I actually agree with you on the point that Maze Runner 2 & 3 were not bad. Yes they vary ALOT from the books but they do it in a tasteful way if you ask me.

I'm a 35 year old man, I discovered Maze Runner for the first time a few months ago and instantly loved the trilogy. So glad to see it getting respect. I read the books afterward and it was a rare case where I thought the movie was better overall.

I love divergent but it doesn’t stand a chance compared to hunger games or maze runner it lacks the depth that the other two have even in the books the story is a lot more flat compared to the two still great movies and even Bette brooks tho!

The Maze Runner Trilogy is honestly my favorite out of all these films

I loved the Maze Runner Books, and I distinctly remember liking the movies despite how different the plot became on paper. For a long time I didn’t know why i felt this way, but I think it’s because the characters and their relationships stayed the same, with the same moments of bonding and betrayal still occurring despite the different story direction. The stuff that got cut and/or added largely made the story more exciting and less clunky for a movie. No telepathy which i don’t even remember the explanation for, no huge puzzles being built overnight after the kids escape the maze, and doing a lot less wandering around the dessert/city. I think the movies were just really well paced, while keeping the stuff I loved about the world building and character development in the books, while keeping the same end result in general.

Mockingjay (the book) was pretty solely focused Katniss’ character and what she endured during the games. It’s not nearly as much about the revolution as presenting the mentality of a teenager who’s been through ridiculous amounts of trauma, going insane, and is still continually expected to be “the girl on fire.” It definitely has some glaring pacing (and other) issues when it comes to the revolution arc, and the purpose of the book is not at all suited for the Hollywood teen dystopia action thriller vibe, but the story is pretty well written if you interpret it through a more psychological lens.

I loved the mockingjay movies. It evolved the series and turn it into a great social and political commentary in my opinion. The movies didn't really add extra stuff to the source material, so splitting it into two was a good decision. It gave it the opportunity to completely adapt the book.

I’m a hardcore book fan AND I TOTALLY AGREE! TMR did the right choice in changing the plots for the second and third film because if they did the books, it would feel rather dragging due to the slower pace which Isn’t horrible in a book but for a movie, it’s VERY DIFFERENT! They did it perfectly and kept us on our toes for EACH ONE.❤

I actually really like all the hunger games movies. I personally think it’s the only series that sticks the landing all the way through.

I'm glad Maze Runner won in this fun lil video! I honestly love the maze runner movies so much, especially the first, and it feels so underappreciated sometimes

With the prequel of the Hunger Games coming out this year, I hope we see a resurgence of these types of movies. They're so fun to watch. If we do get more, I hope the producers and writers do them justice. Edit: also give us the last movie of Divergent smh 😤 Another edit: for all of these series, THG is the only one that I finished all the books for. They were just so entertaining and I couldn't stop listening to them. I've tried to go through the first book of Maze Runner... I've tried to read it twice and still can't get through it. Idk what it is. Divergent is just as boring (to me) but in a different way. I finished the first book but I have zero interest to read the next ones. The actors really do keep it engaging for me. Maybe one day I'll finish both series but we'll see lol

For The Maze Runner I think it is the best example that it is possible to adapt a book series making it different from the source material but keeping it fresh and memorable, unlike the divergent and 5th wave movies, which changed everything without reason or sense, killing the spirit of the books (more notoriously in the second case. Seriously I will never forgive how they killed the 5th wave) they actually tried to create a new vision that would accommodate movie audiences without driving fans of the books completely crazy.

I'm glad someone mentioned just how insanely stacked the Hunger Games cast was. If it weren't so well cast I think it would be forgettable and entirely worse than the books, but the cast adds so many layers to their characters. Stanley Tucci comes to mind, Flickerman was described as charismatic in the books but he took it to 11 with his performance.

There's something in The Maze Runner that I just love I don't really liked any of the other Teenage Dystopia films, but the post-apocalyptic world from The Maze Runner was just so interesting to me

I would slightly recommend the movie, "The Giver", which granted isn't the best or wholey original. But as for a teen focused dystopia film it was a breath of fresh air compared Hunger Games and Divergent.

J Law is definitely the best actor across the whole genre. She's the reason it exists.

No matter which one you think is the best, can we all agree that we need more stories of this genre?

The no named kid from the maze runner (scorch trials) was named Jack and he did have a death scene but they cut it out so it’s in the deleted scene section. It confused me as well when watching it how that kid was just randomly there and then he just disappeared with no mention.

I know many of these movies were mid at best, but i have to say that i kinda miss them..

Also, the 2nd hunger games book is a lot more similar to mockingjay than the movie is. They cut out the majority of the first half of the book. It would have been difficult to adapt bc it’s mostly katniss’s internal monologue and being traumatized from the first games.

I was always big into the Maze Runner but I loved what they did in the movies. Even if they were different from the books, I thought they still told such a great story and kept to the original idea, even if not the original story

Hunger Games definitely wins when looking at both the books and movies. The movies were amazing and stayed pretty true to the books besides for changing some things. The characters themselves and the writing of the books were by far more developed than Divergent or the Maze Runner in which I found myself being incredibly bored for both at times. Also for the Hunger Games the movies were beautifully made and they created such a distinct dystopian universe that was easily recognizable. Also for Mockingjay at least it made sense for them to split the movies into two parts!

THG series is probs my favorite out of all of them. While I agree that the mockingjay movies drag bc they got split into two separate parts, I really appreciate the fact that THG feels so grounded and ends in the way it does. but for movies, I understand that that can be a drag, esp bc the books are from a first person POV and thus make everything feel more intense and personal

@10:00 funny you mention the cast member who disappeared after the mall, so there is a deleted scene that showed him being killed by the cranks and according to a KZfaq comment for the deleted scene the commenter said that apparently the director chose to cut out his death because he apparently wasn’t being noticed by test screeners. Ironically when the movie released the audience did notice.

I only saw the first maze runner movie, but I read all 5 of the books, and oh my god, was the fever code absolutely wonderful. I need it to be a movie

I loved both the maze runner books and movies, and even tho they change stuff in the later two movies, I think it still works. I think they just wanted it to flow better for a movie rather than like a book

Where you think Mockingjay was bland, is where I have those same feelings for Scorch Trials. It’s decent, but kinda forgettable compared to The Maze Runner and Death Cure, in my opinion (also Newt is the best character in that series). Mockingjay is definitely not like the first two movies, but I still think they are fantastic. Did they need to be split? No, especially because Mockingjay is furthest from the book when it should’ve been the closest to it considering it had two movies. But even then, I love the hell out of every single one of them. I think every scene was well acted, well thought out, well delivered, well made, pretty much anything you can think of. Also, very much disagree with your take on Katniss. What I love about her character (and what makes her the best main out of these three series to me) is how reluctant she is to everything. She never wanted to be the face of anything and while a rebellion was good for the whole of Panem, she never asked to be a part of it, much less be the one that people look at for wisdom. All she ever wanted was to protect her sister (and isn’t that just depressing to see how that ends?) The PTSD of this character is insane and so well done. I can’t praise that character and Jennifer Lawrence enough for her portrayal of Katniss. I couldn’t see anyone giving this character the justice that she gave her.

I'm glad somebody covered this. It's something I didn't know I wanted

Maze runner takes it for me, anytime i want to watch a teen distopia movie i immeditatly think of thomas and minho running to get through the maze before the doors close, the tension, the yelling, the mustery just perfect watch. coming in close second would be hunger games

The "nameless kid" in the scorch trials movie who disappears during the mall scene was named Jack. They don't necessarily do anything with his character in the movies which is totally understandable but he did actually die in the mall chase. It was in a deleted scene but still canon to the franchise

In the books I love how divergent ended cause I wasn't expecting it. However, I think overall hunger games was the strongest

As far as I'm concerned Maze Runner winning here is better than any of the Oscar's

I disagree on the point that Mockingjay didn’t need to be split into two movies. It either needed two movies or one 4 hour movie because they still cut a LOT (e.g., Johanna and Katniss training to go to the battlefield in the second half immediately comes to mind) of content to get it to fit into Part 1 and Part 2. Even though the book is short, the events in it take place over such a long time that there are noticeable gaps in the book’s timeline that doesn’t translate well into film where audiences generally expect to see things stitched together. I think there’s a lot missing when you’re talking about Mockingjay.

The Maze Runner ones have just something special about them. The only dystopian movie series that makes me wanna rewatch it multiple times.

10:04 The "No-Name" kid is actually called Jack and there's a deleted scene of his death while running up the escalators while escaping from the Cranks in the mall

Considering the ending of the Divergent series I'm kinda glad we didn't get that final movie.

The nameless character is actually named Jack. He’s in a few scenes in the first maze runner and I’m the second movie there’s a deleted scene where he gets jumped on by infected and he falls off the escalator. Why it was deleted I have no clue, but I noticed it my first time watching as well. Great video by the way 😄

Your not wrong I agree with pretty much everything you said. Maze runner is also by far my favorite and I’ve been obsessed with all of them at one point or another.

I've never seen anything on Divergent, so I cannot comment on the series. However, I LOVED the Maze Runner and read/watched the first two books/movies and honestly I was more upset that they didnt stay more true to the source material. Thats where the Hunger Games took my top spot for my favorite book to movie adaptation. I rewatched the entire series was so nice for me and I would do it all again.

Hunger Games and Maze Runner are so far my favorite book series, If it wasnt for the movie adaptations i wouldnt have read the Hunger Games and Maze Runner books. Cant speak on divergent as i have no interest in reading or watching it.

True maze runner is my favorite too, but I’m with the book bias. If you read all 6 books in release order, you can still find throngs hidden in the first 3 books that you would have never noticed the the first or even second read through. Soooo good.

I never watched any of the movies but I read all the books. It was really fun revisiting these series and hearing your thoughts on them. Great video

I just finished binging hunger games on Netflix, fantastic films that hold up really well

I'm a massive Divergent series fan and so disappointed they didn't finish it. I also agree though that if they went the route of a TV movie and a recast it would have been an even bigger slap in the face rather than finishing it. I still watch them every chance I get when they are on stream. Nothing wrong with the other movies I love and watch them too but Divergent by far is my fave.

The REALLY unfortunate thing about The Hunger Games movies was the switch of Katniss's attitude toward the rebellion and her placement as the Mockingjay symbol. Katniss did not want that defacto forced leader position. She just wanted to get home and care for her family and friends. In the films I felt like instead of her slowly growing into her from reluctant girl thrown into the rebellion to the Mockingjay persona, they forced her to just be the leader with little hesitancy. Katniss fought because she knew she had to save herself, family and friends. Katniss didn't fight for the rebellion until she realized and saw that the people around her were willing to die for her and what she represented. It made the deaths during the seige of the capitol mean more and prim's death mean more because Katniss was not brutal enough until she lost and saw enough of what not fighting meant. The last 2 movies would have been better if they stuck more to the reluctant leader than just a poor and annoying one as she came across.

The way you described Divergent made me realise it could be a great movie if it wasn't for the whole... divergent thing. In a world divide by factions, a romance blooms between the MC and her instructor bonding over their trauma or whatever sounds very interesting already, it's just perfect coming of age movie material, not dystopian rebelion movie material.

I really love dystopian novels, my favorite saga of the genre is The Fifth Wave, followed by The Maze Runner and Divergent, I just think teenage dystopia is a really interesting and entertaining genre in books and movies, I wish the industry kept making this kind of films. Hopefully The Hunger Games prequel and the upcoming Scott Westerfeld's "Uglies" Netflix adaptation will kind of revive the genre.

Really loved your analysis! Even though I wholeheartedly disagree with giving MR best overall series over Hunger Games. It was interesting to see someone else's perspective. While I enjoy MR, it feels, ironically, really juvenile compared to HG. Where other dystopian teen movies only explore the "what would teens do in these extreme situations?" and suddenly turn all of them into military experts, Hunger Games explores so many other themes; politics, the use of propaganda, PTSD, as WELL as personal relationships in times of war. And it never sugarcoats or "badass coats" anything that happened to the characters. They all end up extremely fucked up, whereas in the other franchises it always feels like the characters just get cooler and better at using guns with little to no effect to their psyche. Personally, I just think the Hunger Games movies were able to capture and portray ten times more depth and layers to the story than Maze Runner or Divergent. Though I admit, some of it can come down to personal preference of course. Where some people might think HG feels slow in comparison with Maze Runner's action packed movies, I personally prefer that. I will say though, they can pry my Divergent Ellie Goulding soundtrack form my cold dead hands lmao.

I absolutely love this video and am so glad you made it. My thoughts exactly on the Hunger Games Mockingjay, and I think the author/movies lost a great opportunity for a better rebellion. The love triangle is so tiring when you could have shown the actual rebellion fighting. Gale's character got absolutely destroyed. I love the Maze Runner series just because of their characters, and the mixture of the movies and the books just made the series fresh. Again great video

So happy I grew up with Maze Runner and Hunger Games. It actually made me get into english class through middle/highscool

This is some awesome, well thought out content. I had never watched past the first Maze runner movie so now I’m watching the second one now and it’s got the “zombie” content that we need right now since TWD and TLOU (for now) is over. 👏🏾 Thanks for this!!

Personally it made me mad that the maze runner series turned the flare into a generic zombie infection. In the book these people slowly degrade and lose their minds showing bit of humanity still in them long after being infected by the flare. There’s one infected in the book obsessed with noses and it still send chills with how scary that scene is in the boom

My fav book dystopian series from back then is Legend by Marie Lu. I would have loved to have seen a live movie series adaptation. But there’s a show in the works currently which is exciting!

The action and color grating in the maze runner trilogy were unreasonably good

I can't wait for The Hunger Games to return this november. The book is amazing

You never know how dark something is until you begin to see the beginning of it in real life.

None of these would exist without The Giver by Lois Lowry, written in 1993, probably the teen dystopian novel these authors would have read when they were kids. Parts of Divergent seem to be clearly lifted or at least inspired by The Giver. They made a movie of it, too, but it was overshadowed because it came out the same year as Divergent, The Maze Runner, and The Mockingjay Part 1. It was a pretty good movie, with Meryl Streep, Jeff Bridges, and Katie Holmes playing some of the adult roles. The kids in it were very good actors, but I think they were all unknowns.

The Hunger Games books were very well written. I picked it up as an impulse buy with no expectations when it first came out and was very pleasantly surprised at the quality. Most other distopian books really do not reach the level of good writing I found in this book, and many of them come across as copies of Hunger Games. The story was compelling enough for me to grab each new book as it came out. In many other similar series, I either was not that invested or I found the follow-up books to be less than engaging.

I love Divergent. It was an infinitely better book to me as a teenager than Maze Runner or THG honestly. I thought the first movie was great, and Neil Burgers on screen adaptation was honestly very on par with the book but after the director change is when everything went down :/ The new guy didnt care about the source material from what I remember, “the box” in Insurgent was a completely different plot than the book. What ended up killing the franchise honestly is that the entirety of Allegiant was so far off ANYTHING in the book, I assume everyone who watched it opening night (me included) or the days after told everyone else how absolutely horrendous it was and so no one else went, not even accounting for the fact the trailers for the movie showed just how much they had strayed from the original plot… I was honestly glad when they didnt make Ascendant in the end because Allegiant disappointed me so bad I almost left the theater crying when I was 14 😅

Great video! Hunger Games will always be my favorite but I really like The Maze Runner movies a lot. First time I saw Maze Runner I didn't know much about it and the first movie blew me away. First Divergent movie was okay/pretty good but then it just dipped and fizzled out.

Nice!! Really on point about pretty much everything

I love The Maze Runner books and movies. I watched the first movie before reading the first book, but I read the last two books before watching the movies. I’m not sure how popular of an opinion this is, but I actually enjoy that the movies and books are so different. I see it as two versions of the same story, so it’s just more time with the characters and world that we enjoy. Instead of one story told twice, we get a story told in two different ways.

The hunger games did go a different direction than I anticipated. I thought all the books would take place from the perspective of Katniss inside the game. And unknown to her, her actions in the game affect the factions outside the game. And by the time she finished her last game. The world outside has undergone a radical/fast rebellion. That she inspired. But because she is inside the game. She doesn’t know the effect she is having. Like, she makes friends, saves other people from other factions, resulting in all our war outside the game.

I always had a head canon that all three of these series plus the 100 , are connected but are just on different parts of the world or different time periods

the 100 - took the genre and made a whole series that was extremely popular and release quite a bit after, shows still demand possibly

Fantastic video! Thank you!

The Hunger Games is by far the best, both the books and the movies!

The Hunger Games is so good but The Maze Runner will always have a special place in my heart. I love those movies so much, and the books are even better.

i walked into this video 100% prepared to see the hunger games being showered with praise for the umpteenth time, but I was in for a surprise! you're the first one i see giving so much credit to maze runner, and i love to see it. being a maze runner fan since 2014, seeing this made me very happy. (btw, I think one category that divergent could win is "best cgi/special effects". it's the best looking one, i totally agree).

I have to say, while I disagree with several of your opinions about the Hunger Games books and movies, I really enjoyed this video and found your dry humor and comments SO HILARIOUS! 😂 I definitely will be watching more!

The moives are so good because Suzanne (the author) had a lot of say in the moives personally pt2 was my favorite movie

The Maze Runner was my favorite cause it seemed pretty consistent throughout despite the changes. It was a bit forced at times like Teresa's death, but you could at least see the reasons behind all their actions when they don't explain it. Though, they really should have gotten rid of most of the vines in the maze since they definitely go to the top.

I think this was an incredibly fair ranking. Your pick for best series makes a lot of sense given your movie rankings. I imagine if the Hunger Games franchise didn’t split its last book into two movies, it would be ranked the highest.

As someone who only seen all the hunger games and maze runner films, I’d say the maze runner trilogy is the best by the fact it didn’t split the last book for no reason and each film feeling different than the last

My fellow book readers will know that in terms of now similar they are to the book both The Maze Runner and Divergent are horrible in that aspect they are so incredibly different. But what I don't think people do is look at them separately. If you do that then you can realize that both are incredibly well made and amazing to watch. The maze runner is my favorite of thoes 2 because there is just so much action. But I'm sure we all agree that the hunger games is the best because of the plot and it follows the books really well. And the ballad is coming out soon so hopefully that will live up to the other hunger games books

Love the vid man. The part where you said to turn a HG video game into madden really took me out though. 💀💀

as a former maze runner fan, im happy that the movies still hold up pretty well. i remember i didn’t like how they changed some things from the books but i still really enjoyed the experience of watching them in the movie theatre as a middle schooler

my favorite dystopian novel during this era was the Testing Series, and i’ll always be so sad they never turned it into a movie either :( would’ve been right up there with these films