Plot: In a dystopian future, the totalitarian nation of Panem is divided between 12 districts and the Capital. Each year two young representatives from each district are selected by a random lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal retribution for a past rebellion, the televised games are broadcast throughout Panem. The 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors while the citizens of Panem are required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss's young sister, Prim, is selected as District 12's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart Peeta, are pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives.
*Based of the book series of the same name written by Suzanne Collins.
**Plot summary from IMDB.com
Review: Whats this a big budget hollywood blockbuster reviewed by me!? Yeah it does happen every once in a while. So onto the review of this survivalist tale of teenagers killing each other.
Going into this movie, I had not read the book and honestly I still have not. I have done my research about my differences and I am starting into reading the book series. That being said I had heard the plot synopsis long ago, before it was even put into production, and thought of it as a Battle Royale knock off. Well I didn't get that completely right. It does have a very similar theme. You know teenagers killing each other. But I can't make any more comparisons due to the fact I have not seen Battle Royale for years, the Dvd is sitting on my shelf in a backlog of other films for reviewing. Okay now to the main part of this review.
You're reading this review and after the paragraph your probably thinking one thing. How was it? Well to my surprise it worked. Young adult films haven't been done kindly in recent cinema years. Prissy vampires and emotionless sociopathic lead actresses have been the big hits. This has none of that. It has a strong female lead who honestly is able to carry this film on her shoulders. Jennifer Lawrence has shown some strong acting chops. She was fantastic as Mystique and continues being fantastic as Katniss. The rest of the actors and actress turn in some strong performances, from Woody Harrelson to Elizebeth Banks. Elizebeth Banks is clearly having the time of her life as Effie. Honestly I didn't know it was even her until I watched Brad Jones* vlog. I do have to discuss the look of this film, the capital residents are a bit odd looking. Given no reason in the film they look like Tim Burton characters. It is an odd design choice, but given the fact that in this dystopian future is not exactly normal it kind of fits. When you see the city in a few shots it looks suitably futuristic, and the run down districts look like Robin Hood villages. There are a few things that do not work, and that biggest one is the camera work in the action scenes. The issue being they use the bourne series shaky camera work, making the film horrible disorienting during the bigger action scenes. While the action scenes, when you can see them, are intense for a Pg-13 young adult film. The shaking can get too much and during the main action scenes, it becomes incredibly obvious that they where shot, or changed post production due to the Pg-13 rating. The shaky cam is incredibly jarring, if you see it in Imax it can be nauseating. The next issue comes the changes stem from the book to movie transition. Having not read the books I didn't know just what changes where made or how drastic they where. Not sensing the fact that they changed things is a credit to this film, but I wish they didn't change them. Spoilers incoming, the first change is that of Rue's death the film has her die when Katniss turns the corner and finds Rue in a net, she proceeds to free her and then another "contestant" rounds the corner and throws a spear at Katniss missing and hitting Rue thus killing her. The book has it mostly the same, but instead of Rue being freed and then being accidentally hit, she is killed while still being trapped in the net. She is stabbed as soon as Katniss rounds the corner very cold bloodily. I assume that this change was made because of the rating. The other changes are the dogs, in the book they have the eyes of the other "contestants" if done right it could have been absolutely chilling and really effective. The third change is Peeta the male lead is injured and loses his leg. This is remedied via a magic drug. Between Rues death and the leg amputation, some emotional impact and tension gets lost. The leg thing could have been incorporated, since How to Train Your Dragon has the main character lose a leg, and that was a pg rated kids film. I wanna see a uncut version on Dvd/bluray removing the shaky cam or at least deleted scenes showing the left out scenes or at least rough cg design of the dog faces via special features.
Recommend? Yes, I do recommend this. It really was a great film. It worked well enough as a standalone film for those like myself who have not read the book. I recommend reading the book before or after seeing the movie, or at least do research about those left out scenes. Check this movie out, be warned of the shaking camera though.
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