Let’s just assume for the moment that you’re one of the 15-or-so people who haven’t seen The Hunger Games, read it, or even heard about it in some form or another. Let’s also assume that you are aware of Battle Royale and constantly compare the two.
Please know that I mean this in the nicest way possible: Shut the fuck up. You think BR was the first time anyone ever asked ‘why don’t we have teens kill each other for sport?’ Watch both movies and get your head out of your ass. Or at least do the latter, because the way you waddle around is just embarassing.
On to the review!
TheHunger Games is a movie based on a book based on an idea that is based on being awesome. It follows Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) as she’s forced to make horrible decisions and hope for the best outcome. It also promises a strong female character with actual depth and emotion. Last year’s Hannah lacked the character depth, and apparently Twilight lacks the character emotion -- or any emotion, judging by the internet’s constant barrage of hatred.
The movie is based on the undated future, after some sort of apocalypse wiped out a large majority of the world’s population (I’m going to go with worldwide swarms of honey badgers). North America is now Panem, and it is broken down into the Capitol and 12 (formerly 13) Districts. Each District is responsible for one type of export, such as electronics, seafood, grains, etc. Katniss’s District handles coal. So yes, Jennifer Lawrence is already typecast as a woman who can only grow up in West Virginia.
Due to a civil war several decades ago, one boy and one girl aged 12-18 from each District gets selected to go to the Capital and fight to the death for everyone’s amusement and to remind the Districts to behave themselves. This year, Katniss’s sister, who has quite literally a 1-in-10000 chance of getting selected, is chosen as the female tribute. This unfortunate turn of events forces Katniss to become District 12’s first ever volunteer. It also causes her to get into a shitload of ‘holy shit I’m gonna die.’
Now, the best news is that you do not have to have read the books to understand and enjoy the movie. The bad news is that you have to not be a total douchebox to enjoy the movie. I genuinely understand that not every film is for every person. I don’t like most romance films, because I find the circumstances and the character mentalities to be strange. It’s as if the men in romance movies have never farted in public. I don’t understand this, but it’s cool if other people like it.
It’s totally cool if other people don’t like a teen action movie based in a future dystopia. What’s not cool is if you don’t like it and then nitpick the dumbest details you can find. One review in particular caught my attention. The critic wrote about the fact that there were just too many unanswered questions about how the future world came to be. That’s cool; I can totally understand how an inquisitive mind could be driven nuts by the fact that you just have to accept the world as it is. No problem.
He then went on to write an entire paragraph about the clothing, expressly complaining about how nobody wore jeans.
Are you serious? Just shut the hell up. When you predicate your dislike of a movie over their lack of denim, you are just an asshole? This is why I wrote about critics dying out. It’s because of shit like this that nobody takes you seriously!
Anyhow, back to the movie. The Hunger Games has also perfectly cast everyone in their roles, from the always-awesome Stanley Tucci as Caesar, Elizabeth Banks as our ‘fashionable’ Effie, and Donald Sutherland as President Snow. The only odd casting choice for me was Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, but that’s because I always imagined him as bigger and more ravaged by alcohol.
The movie itself is a bit long, but it needs to be. It does a fantastic job of fitting in most every plot point from the book. The only downside is the pacing. Due to the nature of the story, all the action is crammed into the second half. The first hour of the movie is a lot of talking and pacing, building and tying together everything needed to make the Hunger Games work.
My major complaint with the movie is the camera. The action scenes are all over the place, and it’s often hard to follow what’s going on. I have a feeling this is really going to tick off those that didn’t read the books and who aren’t sure who just did what to whom.
Other than that, the special effects could have used work in a few places, but it’s pretty acceptable considering how much CGI had to go into this movie.
The acting is superb and the movie follows the plot of the book so well that I doubt any fans with any sense in their heads will complain. There are a few new scenes thrown in to help piece things together, but they all work well together. All-in-all, it’s a good time.
In other words, do yourself a favor and check out The Hunger Games. It’s definitely the first big release of 2012, and it’s the best movie you’re going to see for the next month or three.
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