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Film: The Hunger Games
Year: 2012
Director: Gary Ross
Writer: Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins and Billy Ray
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth
Review:
This film begins with a background that there was uprising and the capital won. Now to keep the outlying districts in check, they use food shortages and there are games that take 2 people, a boy and a girl, from each district to fight to the death. This is done for entertainment and for the capital to keep the districts in line.
From district 12, which is a coal mining area, there is a young woman; she is played by Jennifer Lawrence. We see that she is really good with a bow and arrow; she hunts and trades the meat for things. She is really good friends with Liam Hemsworth and there seems to be a little bit of a romantic interest. They are both getting ready for the ‘reaping’ which is where people are chosen.
Lawrence’s sister, who is played by Willow Shields, is terrified she will be chosen and Lawrence puts her at ease saying they don’t get picked their first time. We get a hint that you get your name in more if you get food from the leadership from the capital as well. At the ceremony, it is led by Elizabeth Banks. Shields is selected, but Lawrence volunteers. For the boys, Josh Hutcherson is selected. From scenes we get, they have a connection in someway, but it doesn’t get revealed until later.
They are whisked away by train to the capital where they will be paraded around and the audience will get to know them better. This is to pick favorites and for who to root for by what you see from them.
We then get scenes of them trying to earn sponsors, who will send them things during the games. Woody Harrelson is their trainer and helps them prepare for the games. He is the only winner from District 12 and has become an alcoholic since his time in the games. On the train we really get to learn about both our main characters. Lawrence has a lot of fight in her and Hutcherson knows how to work the crowd.
Both are shocked by what they see when they get to the capital. Everyone is dressed funny and most people seem ‘fake’. We meet some of the important people from the capital as well. The gamekeeper who actually runs the games is played by Wes Bentley and the president is Donald Sutherland. We also meet the man who does the interviewing of contestants, played by Stanley Tucci. He also announces the games with Toby Jones.
We also get introduced to Lawrence’s team to get her prepared, led by Lenny Kravitz. He gives both of them outfits for the opening procession that make a splash. Lawrence is then known as the girl on fire.
The games finally begin where it is the last person standing. Who will survive and win these games? Will it be someone from District 1 that is trained from childhood, which is Alexander Ludwig or Leven Rambin. Or maybe it will be little Amandla Stenberg or the large Dayo Okeniyi from District 11. There is also Jack Quaid, the knife throwing Isabelle Fuhrman or Jacqueline Emerson, the scavenger known as Fox Face. Bentley decides when different things will happen to speed the games along and he is also behind some rule changes to make the show even better.
I will admit that the first time I watched this, I didn’t care for it. After reading the book and then watching it again, I do have a little bit more appreciation for this film. The book is told from Lawrence’s point of view, where the show gives us some things we don’t from the book. Like Bentley’s character is dead when we first hear about him in the second book and we also get reactions from different districts as well as uprisings starting as well.
The acting from Lawrence was good, Harrelson as well. Hutcherson wasn’t bad either. The action isn’t bad, but there is a delay between things happening. This also happens in the book, so it makes a lot more sense. I felt the monster muttations in the book were scarier sounding than the ones we see this film. There were some things that made the book better that were felt out of the film as well. An example of this is that we aren’t given much back-story, where the book goes into to detail about the world, why it is this way and more rules.
This is being added to the horror film research due to the fact that this concept is scary. Having to send children to battle to the death in this arena, because the government is keeping the districts in their place is also quite scary. I can say that it makes sense why the uprisings that you can feel coming happen. This film also seems to be the teen version of The Running Man or much closer to Battle Royale. It is just toned down for the age group.
I think you should watch this if you’ve read the books and were a fan. I think that if you haven’t you might not get the same enjoyment. If you are in your teens you will probably like this as well. If not I would stick to The Running Man, Battle Royale or other similar fans, because they aren’t as epic, but produced a much better concept.
My Rating: 6 out of 10