Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz, Donald Sutherland
MPAA Rating: Rated PG13
It's finally here! One of most anticipated films in a long time has finally arrived in "The Hunger Games" based off the best selling novel by Suzzanne Collins. No matter how excited I was for this film, I kept my expectations fairly realistic because every book to movie transition I have ever seen has never been as the source material. With that being said, the film is very good. I enjoyed the film and even though they strayed a little differently from the book, I can honestly say the film stands on its own as a very good watch.
For those unfamiliar with "The Hunger Games", you have basically been living under a rock the last four months or so. The premise is that after an unsuccessful uprising by the 13 districts of Panem, the nation of Panem is formed as a socialism type government with one place (The Capitol) in control of all 13 districts. Once a year The Capitol holds a reaping of sorts where they randomly choose one boy and one girl from each district between the ages of 12-18 to fight to the death in The Hunger Games. The Capitol uses these games as a reminder to the districts of their power and to make sure that no one ever tries to rebell again. Katiniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is forced to volunteer as tribute for District 12 after her sister Primrose was selected to be tribute on her first year of elgibility.
The first thing that has to be talked about is the acting of Jennifer Lawrence who took on the role of Katniss Everdeen. I was skeptical when I first heard that she hand landed the role last year as she was older than the intended character and didn't have the acting credit to action type movies, but I honestly believe that what she didn't gain working in action films and instead in mostly drama and indie films helped her portray the intensity and vulnerability that Collins portrayed so well in her novel. This film I believe is a career defining role for Lawrence and could lead her to bigger and better films in the future.
This was also the first type of film like this for director Gary Ross whose filmography before this resulted in Sea Biscuit and Pleasantville. I give him a lot of credit for his more dark and realistic portrayal of the districts of Panem and The Capitol. With the film straying away from Katniss's narrations as in the book, Gary Ross was able to bring in more story lines and character development to characters who didn't receive a lot of attention in the book such as President Snow (Donald Sutherland) or in Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley), the game director . He also did a great job dealing with the more emotional stories in the book such as the flashbacks are the first part of the film showing Panem. One complaint I give the direction of this film is the treatment of the love triangle as it was treated differently in the book. I don't have a problem with the Katniss and Peeta relationship, I understand that they were trying to reach out to twi-hards who basically watch the film for the love triangle but I felt that the story was unnecessary to the movie and I also have always felt that the character of Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) has never really served a real purpose to the story, but that is just my opinion.
One thing that I felt was really good in the story was the action. One of the best scenes of the entire film is the first scene of The Hunger Games when all the tributes rush off of their platforms and go after the supplies. The scene was really intense and was one of the moments that had me on the edge of my seat in the film. Gary Ross's silent scenes were some of the best directed scenes I had scene in a long time and I could understand now more why he was chosen to be director. The Hunger Games was the best part of the entire film as their were many tense scenes and action sequences that could appeal to the male part of the audience.
The one thing I would really complain about that most people wouldn't see as a big deal is the structure of the film. The film lasted basically 2 and a half hours and you spend the first hour and ten minutes just being introduced to the main characters and I felt a little of that could have been cut down. The last thing I like to talk about is the supporting acting as actors Woody Harrelson (Haymitch), Lenny Kravitz (Cina), Amanda Stenberg (Rue), and Alexander Ludwig (Cato) all did incredible jobs bring their character from the book to the main screen and I believe that it was something worth mentioning.
My final thoughts of the film is that while not as good as the original book, the film is able to stand out on its own with some tense action sequences, good directing, and standout acting performances. I recommend that if you haven't seen this film yet to get to your nearest theater and check out this film as soon as possible as it is the best film to come out in 2012 so far.
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