REVIEW: The Hunger Games

 There are no spoilers in this review. It was my #5 most anticipated movie of the year.

PLOT: Set in a future where the Capitol selects a boy and girl from the twelve districts to fight to the death on live television, Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister's place for the latest match.


THE GOOD: Concept. The concept of The Hunger Games is what drew me to the book. For those who know me well, you know that I rarely read. Books, that is. I'm sure if you wrapped everything that I've read on the Internet and work e-mail in one day, it would culminate into an 800-page novel. I just don't have time for books. At least not when I love movies, video games, and TV so much more. Most people read books when they go to bed. Two pages into a book and I need to sleep. Look, wake up, go to work, drive home, eat dinner, play with daughter, watch TV, go to bed. Throwing a book into that busy schedule is tough. The book has to be good. Better than good, it has to be great. So it may or may not surprise you to know that I did read the first Hunger Games book and I'm five chapters into the second, where I'm completely stalled. The idea of young and vulnerable people getting thrown into a ring together to fight to the death is very appealing. What!? I'm being honest. You know that if they put that crap on TV, you'd watch it. Heck, you almost already do if you watch or read the news. We love a good tragedy, even when it's bad things that happen to good people. Alright, I'm digressing a little, so let's talk about the story that might have inspired The Hunger Games. Many make the obvious reference to Battle Royale, the Japanese novel-turned-film where school students find themselves on an island where they must kill each other until one student is left. Admittedly, there are many similarities between the two, but they are different enough in their messages that I don't see The Hunger Games as a plagiarized Battle Royale, like a lot of people do.

KATNISS: *sings* Don't tell me it's not worth tryin' for. You can't tell me it's not worth dyin' for. You know it's true. Everything I do, I do it for you.

THE BAD: Cinematography and editing. The Hunger Games is the pure definition of "Chaos Cinema." Reading other critic and user reviews, a common complaint is the shaky camera. There are certainly times and places to use this technique, but throughout practically the whole movie is not one of them. A co-worker brilliantly compared this camerawork in this movie to the action scenes in the Jason Bourne series. I have to say that I'm extremely disappointed in DOP Tom Stern's work here, along with the three editors who had a hand on the footage. There are so many action scenes where I could not tell what the heck was going on. It didn't make things tense for me; it frustrated me. But even in the non-action sequences, say when Katniss is just walking through District 12 to the outskirts, there is no need for the shaky cam effect. I get it, you're trying to make it look realistic. Can't you use the characters to produce that effect? I was hoping that there would be some really creative camerawork one the game starts and they're in the arena. Nope. More shaky cam. I literally got nauseous on some parts. There are supposedly thousands of cameras and microphones in that arena, it would have been really cool to see a Truman Show thing here. Half mounted cameras, half steady cam.

Casting. The tributes are supposed to be between ages 12-18. Now, I like Jennifer Lawrence. I think she's a cute actress, but she's way older than I always pictured Katniss Everdeen. Liam Hemsworth as Gale looked even more ridiculous. At least Josh Hutcherson has a young-looking face. He worked, visually, as Peeta to me. But these kids are supposed to be starving. They were way too meaty and in shape to be members of an outskirt district. Would have liked to see some dedication here and have the actors lose some weight in the early parts of the movie. Also, I never thought it would take much acting ability to be able to act out dying, but apparently none of the kids killed in the movie can handle that. All that being said, I did like the casting of the adult characters, especially Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks as Haymitch and Effie, respectively.

Message. There are certainly moral issues hinted at in this film, but all of them are explored at the most distant point possible. The parallels of The Hunger Games and present-day America and the wars being fought are constantly referenced in the book, but the movie doesn't make it a priority to discuss this point.

Special effects. A bit more attention to the special effects might have been nice for this movie. I loved the wide or zoomed out shots of The Capitol, but there are two things that bugged me in the film. The first is when Katniss and Peeta first come out in their chariot. Cheesy, cheesy, cheese. The second was the wolf-mutts. Honestly, the wolves in Twilight look better than that.

KATNISS: Read between the lines, District 11.

Slow and long. There are plenty of slow moments in the movie. Long discussions that don't serve to advance the story, but rather inform those who have not read the books why something is the way it is. The action scenes are few and far between and it made the 142-minute running time that much more apparent.

Narrative. One thing that probably would have remedied the long and boring discussion would be to change the way the story is told. Go for a first-person point of view like the book. It worked for the book, so why not the movie? Harry Potter is written in third-person limited and the same style worked for the movies. Twilight is first-person, and the films always seem to start out this way, but then veer off into third-person narrative forms. The Hunger Games should be all first-person with Katniss narrating everything. This prevents the long-winded explanations of things and helped the audience understand Katniss' motivations for her actions. Ask someone who hasn't read the book why Katniss befriended Rue? Or what the significance of the mockingjay is? Or how about Katniss' true feelings for Peeta and Gale?


THE END: As a fan of the book, I'm disheartened about this film adaptation. It's a very generic, cheesy, and cheap version of a story that has so much more to tell. With an 85% Rotten Tomatoes rating, one would think that this film would be excellent. But if you do some further research and look at Metacritic, The Hunger Games stands with only a 67/100. What should that tell you? Well, people are positive about the movie, but they're not going ga-ga over it. Even 21 Jump Street has a better Metacritic rating and it's a movie I would recommend far more than this. The Hunger Games cracked the #3 spot for highest grossing opening weekends of all-time and it makes perfect sense when you really think about it. But don't believe in the hype and wait to rent it.


DISCUSS: What did you think of The Hunger Games? Have you read the book? What do you wish they would have added or left out? Are you excited for the sequels?

 Exciting.