Review | The Hunger Games (2012)

SYNOPSIS:
Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the evil Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. A twisted punishment for a past uprising and an ongoing government intimidation tactic, The Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which “Tributes” must fight with one another until one survivor remains. Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy. If she’s ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. — (C) Lionsgate

REVIEW:
I’m not a book reader so I have no idea what exactly takes place in the novel (but from what I have heard I am left with more confusion). The Hunger Games film was actually penned by the author of the novels, which I’d say is a rare sight these days.

This movie left me with questions at the end but not the good kind of questions like “what will happen next?” No I was left with questions like where exactly is this taking place, and when is it taking place. The movie is extremely vague about where we really are but apparently the novel gives you all the info you could want so I’m surprised that the author of the books and the movie script would not want to more perfectly craft our setting. Ultimately though that is a minor quibble in what is another otherwise good movie.

In fact all I have are minor quibbles. I thought Jennifer Lawrence was awesome in this movie and I totally forgot that she was Mystique in the X-Men First Class film last year, in fact I thought everyone was quite good in this flick except for Josh Hutcherson who just seemed to be there to me.

I know it is just a minor quibble but the names of the people in this movie drove me nuts! I couldn’t figure out weather or not Suzanne Collins was an 11 year old girl who just liked to name things randomly, or if we lived in some kind of future so terrible that we let pretentious Hollywood stars name all of our children. It’s something I can look pass but jeeez people, common names don’t change that much over the span of a hundred or even two hundred years.

The flick itself is well made, everything looks great. There is a scene during the games where there is a lot of dark and a lot of quick movements which I suppose is designed to create or enhance tension but for me I was spending more time on trying to actually make out was was going on. What I love is the scenes where they remove the audio and force you to focus of the images and the faces of the actors. Sometimes you don’t need any bells and whistles to really sell a scene, just good acting.

Overall this was a pretty good film, and considering I had a low bar walking in I’m happy to say I left wanting to see more of the story.

3 1/2 Geeky Glasses

PG-13, 2 hr. 22 min.

Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Directed By: Gary Ross

Written By: Suzanne Collins, Gary Ross, Billy Ray

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