Directed by Gary Ross.
Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Hemsworth, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland and Woody Harrelson.
SYNOPSIS:
A teenage girl must compete in The Hunger Games - a televised event where 'Tributes' must fight to the death.
This is a film review, not a book review. I’ve not read any of The Hunger Games novels and, moreover, I have absolutely no interest in reading them now that I’ve seen the film. If they are as average as this, I’ll stay far away.
It’s been three days since I saw The Hunger Games and it has fallen drastically in my opinion of it. Upon reflection there is nothing new here; the main story is a cross between The Running Man and Battle Royale, the love story is as unbelievable as anything you’ll see all year, and the costume and set design is straight out of The Fifth Element. For a brand new film it looks like it was made 15 years ago and the shockingly bad visual effects only prove to evidence this.
At nearly two and a half hours, the film is needlessly long and its attempts to be an ‘epic’ are all part of its downfall. With the exception of the lead character, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), not one of the cast is in the least bit believable and in a film where we are supposed to care about children killing children for live television broadcast, this is a major flaw. There are supposed to be 24 children who take part in the ‘games’ but none of them are given any background or detail, nor do we see any of them die unless Katniss is involved.
Furthermore, the reason why the ‘games’ even exists is either A) never explained or B) so poorly written it passed me by. At least with The Running Man we know it’s supposed to be criminals playing the game and that makes perfect sense (in the world of the film) but here we never find out. Why isn’t it the adults or the elderly, or the under 10s? In a dystopian world, the viewer deserves and should demand to know why the world they’re watching is like it is and why the rules are now in place. Imagine if Minority Report didn’t take the time to explain who the Pre-cogs are, or if in Logan’s Run the age limit rule was just passed over. It would be unacceptable.
The film does not work as a satire on government or reality TV and once the children enter the ‘games’ the fact that it is televised is barely mentioned and the need for sponsors, so emphasised in the first act, is rendered pointless in favour for straight-to-video standard CGI and underwhelming set pieces. And what is with the three finger salutes that is obviously supposed to be so significant? Unless you’ve read the book I can’t imagine how anyone would work it out.
The one saving grace and the sole reason you keep watching is the performance by Jennifer Lawrence. She has a real screen presence about her and conveys both the fear and strength you’d need if this situation were real. It’s just a shame nothing else about the film gives the same levels of commitment as Lawrence. The film isn’t a disaster in the way in which the Transformers or Pirates series are and is in no way offensive, but just because it’s more intelligent than Twilight does not mean it’s beyond criticism.
With the third biggest opening of all time at the US box office, the other two parts of the trilogy will undoubtedly be filmed as soon as possible. They may well be an improvement on this underwhelming first instalment, but I won’t be there to see if that’s true.
Flickering Myth Rating: Film ** / Movie **
Rohan Morbey - follow me on Twitter.
Woah. Did I even watch the same movie as you did? Because the Hunger Games I saw was about an authoritary Capitol preventing rebellion in the 12 districts by having Hunger Games each year, to remind the districts of just how powerless they are against the Capitol. In the middle of this, a girls volunteers for the Games in the place of her sister and ends up accidentally acting as a symbol of rebellion and hope to the districts. It seems like the reviewer has completely missed the point of the movie.
ReplyDeleteFirst, the reason why the games exist is very well explained throughout the whole movie. Rebellion is one of the main themes, if not the main theme, of the movie, and I can't see how someone would miss that. Second, love story? You totally lost me there. Katniss pretends to love Peeta in the Games to attract more sponsors, following her mentor's advice. It's never made clear if Peeta actually loves her or not. And the salute is just a salute; the meaning was pretty clear to me, even without reading the books.
So, I guess giving a bad review to a movie you didn't like is ok. What's not ok is giving the movie a bad review because you didn't understand it. So watch it again, and actually pay attention this time. The story is good, but it isn't that easy to miss. And you just missed 80% of the story in your review, and got another 10% wrong.
***SPOILER ALERT***
ReplyDeleteOne of the dangers of a movie being based on a book is that you can lose a lot of detail. Although the movie starts out with a written explanation of why the games are conducted each year (to remind the districts that the capitol is all powerful and as a warning to never attempt an uprising again), you do lose the importance of the symbolization of the Mockingjay, the symbol that Katniss is forced to embody.
As for most of the deaths taking place off-screen, I think there might be a couple of reasons for that. Even in the books, we don't learn the names of all the Tributes, and only really come to care about Rue, as we do in the movie as well. We do get to know a little about some of the personalities while they are in the training grounds, and while the careers are hunting Katniss, but not much, you have to be paying attention. We see the aggressiveness of the Careers and the care that Thresh had for Rue, for example. But cuts had to be made somewhere, and the point is that children are given as sacrifice, we don't really need to see it to understand it. Nobody expects their kids to be the one to come home.
And, since the books were written for teens and pre-teens, it makes sense not to make it a gorefest. I would not have allowed my daughter to see it, even though she had read the books, if that were the case. I'm sure I'm not the only parent who felt that way, and I'm sure the studios took that into consideration. If most of the fans of the books weren't allowed to see the movie, they'd have a huge flop on their hands! (And, really, can we stop with the comparison to Battle Royalle?? They are not remotely the same!)
Katniss and Peeta *don't* get their hands symbolically dirty, and don't want to, even if they don't want to die, either. This is just one of the situations Katniss finds herself in, over and over again, throughout the whole series. She grieves over each death, even when she is feeling relief that she is still alive. She doesn't plan to become a symbol for rebellion, it just happens to her because of who she is and what the Capitol has made of her, much like the Mockingjay they created, then destroyed when it didn't work out the way they planned. And there is no big romance (although Peeta really does love her, in the movie it isn't clear, and Katniss is never sure herself what Peeta is up to or how he feels). She makes it known in the beginning that she plans to never get married or have kids. Not in the world she lives in. She just wants to live another day, and wants to protect her little sister.
It is not a satire on government or reality t.v. The sponsors are not for face time, they're for providing items (food, medicine, etc.) that the Tributes need to keep going. The games are televised for the sole purpose of showing the rest of the population just how much control the government has over their lives.
Haymitch, Snow and Cinna were portrayed perfectly. They become far more important in the next installment.
Considering how much the screenplay has to cut out, I thought the movie did an okay job. Maybe they could have been more heavy handed about the "whys" of some of the things going on. After I read the first book I was uncomfortable with the subject matter for my daughter and her friends (she's 10), but decided to read the second one anyway. I'm glad I did. The themes of personal responsibility, abuse of power and self sacrifice come to the fore--and I couldn't wait to get to the third book to see how it resolved; I wasn't really sure how Collins was going to end it! I hope the follow-up movies will be the same way.
Go ahead and read the books.
When all the supporting evidence for a film amounts to 'you should read the books', you know you're standing on shaky ground. Rohan's right; we already have Battle Royale and The Running Man covering the same story. There's no point quoting and re-stating plot points. It's like Christians trying to convert Atheists by reciting passages from the Bible at them. It just doesn't work.
ReplyDeleteObviously you have no taste in movie!! The Hunger Games was an amazing movie and Jennifer wasn't the only one who was great for their part Josh Hutcherson was perfect to him and Peeta have a lot in common!
ReplyDeleteI agree that this needs to stop being compared to battle royale. I understand that people don't like how all of the tributes deaths are not shown but that is exactly how the book is. It's all from katniss' point of view which is why we don't see the other deaths. With saying that, I can understand how someone who hasn't read the books wouldn't like it. Coming from someone who read the books it did a very good job of staying true to the book.
ReplyDeleteI don't care to argue with people who havent read the books because they probably never were going to and never will. Fortunately I know that the movie has stayed true to the book and I look forward to the nexts ones. I have no doubt the next movies will be successful no matter what some of these reviewers have said about it. This movie was much better than any of the twilight movies and those have made tons of money.
Good to see my review has prompted lots of comments! All good points, thanks all for reading. The last time a review had so much feedback it was Transformers 3! Keep them coming...
ReplyDeleteWow, this review is so good, I love the intentional misspelling of "installment". At least we know your spelling is almost as good as you're taste in movies. Anyway, sarcasm aside. I don't know WHAT you were doing while you were supposedly watching this movie. The movie actually says the reason behind the Games SEVERAL times, it's actually mentioned in the very beginning. If you bothered to look at any source material you would find that the movies length of the movie is anything but needless. Also, you are very contradictory, first complaining about the movie's length, but then complaining that it didn't go in depth enough with the other children. As many others have mentioned, the book is from Katniss's point of view, so we don't get too much background on the others.
ReplyDeleteInternational misspelling of "installment"..? I think you mean international spelling, and seeing as we're an 'international' (ie British) site, the spelling is correct. So sadly your sarcasm is misplaced.
ReplyDeleteCan people stop going on about the source material? Even if the film were a perfect remake of the book, it doesn't mean it's a flawless film! Even though I haven't read the novel, I think it's safe to assume The Hunger Games is not The Catcher In The Rye, Hamlet, or A Christmas Carol or any other work of literary genius.
ReplyDeleteRemember - no film should ever assume its audience is familiar with any previously released material (novel, comicbook, play, TV series etc), unless it's a sequel. We shouldn't have to read this, or any, novel to enjoy a film, that's up to the screenwriter to write an adaptation of the source material which translates to the big screen.
Catcher in the rye is a sorry excuse for a work of literary genius.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the word is "intentional," not international.
Lastly, Jennifer Lawrence was absolutely wonderful in the film, yet I enjoyed the film as a whole. She was so good that she drew me in for a second viewing! It was just as great second time around!
Maybe what you need is another viewing. That, or read the book!
I think this review makes some good points. But, like others, I have read the book so all the blanks were automatically filled for me. But I can see how a lot of these points have a good standing. But I think that is just a reason to read the books! I'm not eying to be mean and I hope my words aren't taken this way. I just don't think this was completely fair. It was a good movie as well as a good book, and I don't think it's fair to just have so much negativity. (Not that there wweren't positive things as well!)
ReplyDeleteAll in all a good review from someone who hasn't read the book. But I highly recommend reading the books! It will help a lot! Sorry if I sounded mean! :)
This is what we need - constructive criticism of reviews, not 'read the book' or debates on literature. Well done, Craneniki.
ReplyDeleteAs Donald (and others) already said, Rohan would have done well to actually pay attention during the movie. The reason for the games was covered quite well, from the video shown to the kids at the beginning to the discussions between the President and the guy in red. (No, I haven't read the book, either.)
ReplyDeleteAs for the movie doing things that other movies have done? *Gasp* Say it isn't so!! My God, the next thing you'll tell me is that they actually used *cameras* that had been used before! Hang them by their thumbs!!! Sincerely, there were other reasons to be upset with this movie, but you seemed so intent on focusing on the unimportant, you missed out.
First, the heavy-handed use of the "shaky-cam" during the opening part of the film, before events take us someplace more "stable" and the cameras stabilize. Okay, clearly an intentional thing to reflect the different places, but it is nauseating and unnecessary. (Especially when they do it again when the games start, and they make it impossible to tell what's going on in some of the fights.)
More importantly, though, is the lack of internal dialogue. (I guess "monologue" would be more accurate.) Several points in the movie I was wondering why a character was doing something. And as I wondered, it occurred to me that if I read the book, I'll probably find out. So, I have a couple questions about what's going on in a few scenes, but nothing to take away from the entire plot.
Rohan, you would do well to open your mind the next time you go to a movie, and try to actually pay attention to what's being said on the screen. You might even be able to write a decent review then. Just saying...