*If you don't want to know anything about the film, please don't read this review.
OK, so before the film, I knew nothing about
The Hunger Games. Never read the novels (still haven't), and from what I could read about the concept of the story online, it was all done before, but I still had interest in seeing this adaptation of the Suzanne Collins' novels, simply because of the cast. More below.
Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the evil Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. A twisted punishment for a past uprising and an ongoing government intimidation tactic, The Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which "Tributes" must fight with one another until one survivor remains. Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentor ship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy. If she's ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. THE HUNGER GAMES is directed by Gary Ross, and produced by Nina Jacobson's Color Force in tandem with producer Jon Kilik. Suzanne Collins' best-selling novel, the first in a trilogy published by Scholastic that has over 16 million copies in print in the United States alone, has developed a massive global following.
I won't go too much into the plot of the film (read the synopsis above), so I'll just jump right into the things I liked and didn't like.
The Hunger Games is a mixed bag. You have a young talented actress playing a strong female character, surrounded by a pretty good supporting cast. Jennifer Lawrence was absolutely terrific as Katniss Everdeen. She was actually the main reason why I decided to see this film. For those of you who saw the rather brilliant film she was in, called
Winter's Bone, know what I'm talking about. Lawrence did a great job from start to finish, and she also makes you care about this character. Woody Harrelson, who plays Haymitch Abernathy, is another good thing about the film. While the story is very serious, there are a few funny moments with his character, and it all works really well. The big surprise for me in the film was Liam Hemsworth. Yes, the brother of Chris Hemsworth. For what he was in the film, I thought he was great. He definitely has the charisma like his brother. The thing is, he was not in the film for a long time. But all in all, I look forward to seeing more of him. Which brings me to Josh Hutcherson, who is playing Peeta Mellark. I can't say that Hutcherson was great, because he wasn't, but he was a lot better than other roles he played in different films. Saying that, his character was written in a way that you are supposed to feel for him at the end, and that might have worked only if Hutcherson and Hemsworth changed roles. If that was the case, I think we would have two greats leads (Lawrence, Hemsworth). Seeing Toby Jones and Stanley Tucci in a weird make-up was very interesting, and both of them did a solid job as the announcers of the games. Lenny Kravitz was also very good, I really liked his performance of a guy who is helping Katniss during her time at the Capitol, where he prepared her for everything. Another thing that stood out was the tone of the film. It's not your typical science fiction, and while this concept was done before (
that doesn't matter, because every film has something different), what
The Hunger Games does right is the emotions combined with the dystopian tone and look of the film, and director Gary Ross definitely made that work.
Visually, the film looks pretty good, but when it comes to CG shots, they have that "low-budget" look (fire dress, train ride, CG backgrounds, Capitol, dogs) and while Rhythm and Hues, Pixomondo and Rising Sun Pictures did a solid job, I was expecting much better visual effects. As for the actual games in the film and action scenes, it's a complete mess. The camera work (lots and lots of shaky cam) and editing in the film are one of the worst I have ever seen. And that is not an exaggeration, because when the action is on screen, and there are quite a few big fights, you just can't tell what the hell is going on. Everything is so fast and the quick cuts don't help much either. It took me out of the film a couple of times, actually. The script written by Ross, Suzanne Collins and Billy Ray is a hit and miss. While you care a lot about the main character, and you want to see what happens next, unfortunately everyone else is left behind. The people who are running these games (control them, if you will) are just there, they don't have any role other than being emotionless and moving things along, until the very end. And what a boring ending it is. Running time of the film is 142 minutes, and it's really slow and boring in most parts, and with all the killing and twists going on, I expected a little more exciting finale. I know they are setting up everything for the sequel, but at least they could have end the first film with something interesting.
Overall,
The Hunger Games is a film that does a lot of things right, but also a lot of things wrong. Strong performance from Jennifer Lawrence is the main reason why the whole story works, but even with that, it's still not a great film. If you are big fan of the novels, you will probably enjoy the film for what it is, and for everyone else, you might want to wait for the Blu-Ray or DVD to check it out.
RATING: 7/10