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Wide Screen‘The Hunger Games’ review
For someone completely unfamiliar with Suzanne Collins' "Hunger Games" novel, it's hard to know what to expect going into director Gary Ross' big-screen adaptation. The hype surrounding the film has been almost deafening, with every piece of promotional material, casting news, and trailer poured over by die hard fans. Beyond the buzz though, there is a movie in the middle of this storm, and a fairly decent one at that.
In case you've been living under a rock or you just don't know what all the fuss is about, here's what you need to know: set in the distant future after a calamity has destroyed society as we know it, a cruel police state called Panem rises from the ashes and comes to dominate North America. In order to control the population of the 12 districts contained within its borders, every year two children from each district are chosen as "tributes" to fight to the death in a televised melee called the Hunger Games. Think "The Running Man," only with more teen angst!
The film follows the journey of Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), tributes from the impoverished blue collar District 12.
That's all you really need to know going in, and for its part, the film does a good job of getting viewers up to speed in the first few minutes. Director Gary Ross has created a beautifully realized version of the "Hunger Games" world, one that readers of Collins' novels will immediately recognize and that newcomers will be eager to learn more about. Unlike most contemporary sci-fi films, the special effects are kept to a minimum here. They are used sparingly to establish locations and to enhance the story, rather than distract from it. It's a rare feat for a movie featuring such fantastic elements and technology, but the effort really keeps the film grounded in reality.
At the centre of the film are Katniss and Peeta, the two tributes from District 12. Both Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson lend their characters a down-to-earth quality that helps to make the pair easy to root for. They, like the audience, are outsiders in this new world, and as a result viewers will likely become heavily invested in their transition from District bumpkins to Capitol celebrities.
The scenes in which the two are prepared for games are some of the strongest in the film. Audiences will be cheering for the pair as they are groomed for celebrity, prepped for talk show appearances, and trained in an awesome montage as Hunger Games combatants.
Unfortunately, once Katniss and Peeta finally make it to the 74th Annual Hunger Games, the film begins to lose a little bit of its momentum. The first moments in the arena are thrilling to watch, but quickly become muddled by some extremely quick cutting and very distracting shaky camera work. The intentionally jarring editing and camera moves seem as though they are as much about conveying the tributes' confusion as they are about keeping the film's PG-13 rating intact. Almost half a dozen kids are cut down in the opening bloodbath, but most of the carnage happens off screen or is too blurry to see. It's a bit of a let down after waiting close to an hour and a half for the action to start, but quite understandable given that it's children murdering one another on screen.
The latter half of the film is also plagued by a disorienting hallucination sequence, numerous flashbacks, and odd little moments of fan service that only die-hards will pick up on. The flashbacks certainly don't add much overall. They instead hit viewers over the head with the fact that Peeta and Katniss have a past, something that anyone -- especially folks who have read the books -- could pick up on.
Also, kudos to author Collins for creating the sponsored care packages, one of the most useful plot devices ever, and something that director Ross uses to great effect as well. The care packages delivered to the tributes by parachute can essentially solve any major problem a character is facing. Leg injury? Here have some magic cure-all salve from the sky! Need some soup? It's incoming to you now! In any other film, this sort of convenient device would be laughed off screen, but in "The Hunger Games" it makes perfect sense within the context of the story.
So while the titular Hunger Games might be a bit of a let down for some, overall the film is a success thanks to its cast. Strong performances by leads Lawrence and Hutcherson will keep young viewers interested, while great character performances from the older cast members will entertain the rest. Woody Harrelson's drunken former Hunger Games champion Haymitch Abernathy and Stanley Tucci's flamboyant TV host Caesar Flickerman nearly steal the show from time to time, but both actors know to back off and let the younger cast members shine when it counts. A nearly unrecognizable Elizabeth Banks and hilariously bearded game master Wes Bentley keep the plot moving forward at a brisk pace -- quite literally in the latter's case -- and a sinister performance from veteran Donald Sutherland as President Snow adds some much-needed gravitas to the proceedings.
Fans of the books should be very pleased by the film. Author Suzanne Collins is said to have worked quite closely with director Gary Ross on the movie, and it shows. Everything that fans loved about the novel is there on screen, as faithfully adapted as it could possibly be without hurting the film experience. For the uninitiated, "The Hunger Games" provides a great bit of escapism with some interesting themes at the heart of it. The movie will definitely whet the appetites of any and all who see it for more big screen adventures starring Katniss and Peeta. Any series is sure to catch fire after a successful first outing like this.
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