REVIEW: The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is a science fiction film that details a new society called Panem after what we know as North America collapsed. Panem was originally sectioned off into 13 Districts. After much oppression District 13 revolted against the Capitol, Panem's governing body. In the Process District 13 was completely destroyed. As a result of the revolution the Capitol instituted the Hunger Games, "as a remembrance for those who were lost." The games act as a control for the entire population, as well as a national televised event. Two individuals, a boy and a girl, are chosen from the remaining 12 Districts as "tributes" and are brought to fight one another until only one remains.

Director Gary Ross immediately establishes Katniss Everdeen(Jennifer Lawrence) and does so well. She hails from District 12. In the first scenes we find out that she is a natural leader, as she tends for both her mom and younger sister. She also appears to be very well trained with the Bow. From the looks of it she'd give John Rambo a run for his money.  However that's essentially all the back story that is given because the Hunger Games selection process begins relatively soon in the film. From here we follow Katniss and her district partner Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) as they train and put on a show for people who live at the Capitol. Think of this like a Pre-Game show in which multiple interviews take place in order for the audience to get better aqcuainted with the contestants. The Hunger Games is a mix of reality television along with the gladiators of ancient Rome.

The actual games start at about the half way mark. To be honest this is where the film disappointed most. I thought The Hunger Games would truly shine during the actual games but I have to admit I was extremely disappointed on multiple levels. The production team stated that in order to preserve the book's violent aspects, the action scenes had to be shot in unique ways. I am sorry to say but unique should not mean: "shake the camera as violently as possible so the audience is not aware what exactly is taking place on screen". I wondered to myself if the Camera OP had Parkinson's disease. Despite me hating the method the director used to "showing pieces of the action" in such a frantic manner does in no way mean that I wanted the violence to be shown,  even though it would have been more appropriate especially for the film's content. Violence can be effective when it is not shown at all. For example in Brian De Palma's Scarface Tony Montana's brother gets chainsawed, however we do not see any of it. Just reaction shots and tons of blood.

The film's first true action sequence was horrid as a result of this aforementioned method. It is sad because the moment had such a tremendous build up. This brings me up to my next and larger issue with he film: I simply did not care about any of the individuals involved in the games other than Kitness. I also cared slightly for Peeta. I am sure that the book did not have this problem, but maybe it did. I haven't read it. I would hope that the book would add more depth, but I honestly don't know. SPOILERS: When Rue(Amandla Sternberg) is killed, everyone around me was in tears. I was quite confused as I couldn't grasp how they could care enough about a character that hardly had any screen time. Maybe the audience members were familiar with the source material, which is why they felt this way, but this is unacceptable because what's on screen isn't a book but a film. You hardly know anything about the other characters and so when they die, their deaths have no impact on the overall story. The fact that they are children means nothing to me and is not enough to solidify a response. Just because they are children does not automatically mean I am concerned each time one dies.

The Tributes. Can you tell me all of their character names without looking it up? I didn't think so.

By the time the film ended I felt like it was incomplete. Maybe the other two films will leave me better satisfied. The film has so much potential to be much more than it actually was. Ultimately it seems that most people loved the film but I am one of the few who did not like it. Bad editing, horribly shot action sequences, and lack of character depth for the others involved in the games bring what was an otherwise very enjoyable film to an above average picture. With that being said, despite my criticisms, I cannot wait to see the next film in the series. Hell I would rather watch another installment of this instead of the new Twilight film any day.

2.5/4 Muffins

(Editor's Note: If you like The Hunger Games please go check out Battle Royale. The film is similar to The Hunger Games in content except it has deeper characters and better thought out action sequences that are shot well.)