The Hunger Games

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Lenny Kravitz, Wes Bentley, Elizabeth Banks, Toby Jones, Alexander Ludwig, Willow Shields
Directed by: Gary Ross
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
2012

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: To protect her sister, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers for the Hunger Games, a violent competition in which 24 tributes from the 12 districts fight to the death.

Review:

Tim: I approached this movie in an interesting and unique (for me at least) fashion. I read about 40% of the book before seeing the movie. This gave me some background and insight into the characters and the world in which they live. However, it also left a good deal of the events unknown to me, so that I'd be surprised while watching the movie. I finished the book before watching the movie a 2nd time. I found the film to a faithful adaptation of the book, and a solid, entertaining action adventure movie. I was a big fan of the book and I wanted to love this movie. Gary Ross does a very good job, but the film falls short of being great.

This is a little disappointing, as the book has become a global phenomenon, and the story is unique, interesting, and entertaining. Everything was in place for this to be a truly great movie. Now, the film made $408 million at the American box office, which is astounding. But, the box office haul does not equal quality. This is a very, very good movie, but it does not capitalize on the opportunities it had.

The first issue I had with this film is that although it's Lionsgate's biggest film, the budget was simply not big enough for the film. The world of Panem is quite different from our current world, and the film needed to do a better job of bringing us into that world. The scope of the film needed to be significantly bigger. The small scope hurts because the Capitol isn't as visually impressive as it needs to be. Even the opening scenes in District 12 don't really pull us into that world. Gary Ross specifically wanted to use the shakycam to help us connect with Katniss' perspective. Some of that would be fine, but he overuses it early on. The scenes when we're supposed to identify with Katniss are a bit too disruptive because of the shakycam. This was a mistake, and Ross blows a bit of the opportunity for us to get sucked into that world. The lower budget and the too-small scope really hurts this film.

Now, overall, Ross does a fantastic job of translating the book to the screen. This is obviously very difficult to do, as fans of the book will always lament what was left out. While this happens, most of the important things are included. That is definitely a big positive. Now, I will mention that the latter half of the book comes across far too rushed on screen. It's great that so much was included, but the actual Hunger Games feels very, very rushed. This hurts the film, but was not a fatal flaw- at 142 minutes, you really couldn't make this film much longer than it was.

Let's discuss the cast. While Jennifer Lawrence has a lot of potential, I thought her performance was only average. She was likely the right person for the role (I can't think of many other actresses who would have been better), but she could have had a stronger performance. She played Katniss' awkwardness a little too strongly (the stupid look on her face in many scenes will never leave my mind), and not enough emotion comes through in her performance. Still, overall, she was the right choice. Josh Hutcherson as Peeta is a very interesting choice. When I saw the film for the first time, Hutcherson just did not seem like the Peeta in the book. However, as I thought about it, Hutcherson really captures the spirit of Peeta. While I did not think he was fantastic, overall, he does a good job in the role. He interacts well with Lawrence, and I thought he was strong. While these two were well cast, the movie would have been better had they both given stronger performances.

The rest of the cast is good. Stanley Tucci was very well cast as Caesar. I liked Wes Bentley (great beard!) as Seneca. Elizabeth Banks really transformed herself into Effie. Woody Harrelson was terrific as Haymitch. I really, really enjoyed Harrelson here. Overall, the cast was quite strong, and that really helps the movie (we even get Donald Sutherland as President Snow!)

There are some really great scenes in the film. I really get choked up when Katniss volunteers for Prim. Ross did a fantastic job of filming that scene for maximum emotional impact. The first scenes of the Hunger Games are pretty great.

Overall, despite the film's flaws, this is an entertaining, enjoyable film that manages to stay faithful to the novel and include most of the important parts of it. I really, really wanted to love this film. While I can't claim it is a great movie, it does get awfully close. This is a solid film, and one that has instantly jump started a franchise. I am so thoroughly looking forward to the continuation of the films, and with a larger budget, these movies could be fantastic. While this movie could have been better, it's still a very good film.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Winter's Bone, Battle Royale