The Hunger Games

Disclaimer: I'm talking about the movie not the book. Though I will draw comparisons to the book, I haven't read it recently enough to do a full review of it.

On that note. The Hunger Games!

Its kind of amazing the popularity this series has made. Or you could say, its amazing how it has... caught fire...

Anyway

In preparation for the new one, I went back to watch the original Hunger Games. The first time I saw the movie, I remember enjoying it well enough. I'm not one of the super fans of it but its fun enough. The second time around, though I still enjoy it, remembered some things that maybe they could have fixed up a little bit.

The story is set in a dystopian future where the United States fell into a horrible war that basically destroyed it. The remains of it however formed a new country called Panem. They divided the country into 13 districts. But the government was a little corrupt and one of the districts, the 13th rose up in revolution. But they were quickly destroyed. And to quell the chances of an uprising like that ever happening again, they created a tournament where each district would send a tribute (a boy and a girl from the ages of 12 to 18) to participate in a fight to the death called, The Hunger Games.

Enter Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence). She is a girl from District 12, one of the poorer districts who's sister is just entering the selection of the Hunger Games, the Reaping. Though her chances are incredibly low, her sister is chosen to participate in the Hunger Games. Katniss won't allow this so she volunteers in her place.

The male tribute that is chosen is Peeta Mellark (played by Josh Hutcherson), the baker's son, and the two navigate their way through The Hunger Games, with the help of their mentor, a former Hunger Games participant, Haymitch (played by Woody Harrelson) and then gaining popularity when Peeta says he's in love with Katniss so when the game stars they are portrayed as star crossed lovers torn apart by the horrible Hunger Games.

Now, a lot of what I just explained was a summary of the movie, but some of it, you wouldn't have known unless you read the book. Usually, I'm not that big of a stickler when it comes to book to movie interpretations. I don't care if the Harry Potter movies didn't have this one scene, as long as the movie makes sense and the scene isn't totally necessary, its okay. And for the most part, The Hunger Games does a pretty good job at staying true to the book where it needs to and skipping parts that are not as necessary.

That being said there are a couple of things that added in there that can only be explained if you read the book. This is an interesting way of doing things because it doesn't necessarily take away from the movie, I would guess that it would just leave you a little confused if you hadn't read the book. The biggest example I think was Katniss's relationship with her mother and the circumstances in which her father died. Its not an essential part of the movie but they make reference to it, kinda show it happen and mention her mother being distant. Maybe that's enough but again I find myself crippled by the fact that I've read the book. There was more there, and if you're not going to explain it properly, why is it in there?

I'm going to try and refrain from making this review about what was in the book and what wasn't. Her father was the only part of the two that I realized they didn't really need to mention in the movie.

ANYWAY

The movie is good. But again there are a couple things they could have fixed.

Most importantly the first lines of dialogue from Katniss. The movie begins with her going out into the woods to hunt. She finds a deer, is about to shoot it but Gale stops her.

The first line is "Damn you Gale" The line isn't horrible its just awkward and mostly because Jennifer Lawrence's delivery of it is just atrocious. I think Jennifer Lawrence is a pretty good actress but the first part of this movie is just kind of painful. And I don't necessarily think its her fault. Its very close to the dialogue used in the book and that dialogue doesn't always translate perfectly.

This isn't a criticism of Lawrence, though I think she has improved a lot, but the real criticism is the script. How do you write a script for a world where kids kill each other. I assume its difficult. While sometimes it works, its really awkward sometimes.

The good thing is the movie becomes a lot more tolerable when Haymitch comes in. Woody Harrelson is a solid actor and he plays his part really well. While Lawrence and Hutcherson were still relative newcomers, it was Harrelson who enhanced the world and just made the entire world a little more tangible, not only for the younger actors but for the audience.

Again, Haymitch is a former participant of the Hunger Games who won. He now helps the participants from District 12.

He's funny, he's drunk, he just a very good pick for the part. There are others who help Katniss and Peeta like Elizabeth Banks who is basically their agent, Cinna (played by Lenny Kravitz) and they're good enough, but Harrelson definitely is the best of them.

Now to talk about the Capital characters. Mainly President Snow (played by Donald Sutherland), Senaca Crane (played by Wes Bentley and Ceasar Flickman (played by Stanley Tucci).

Donald Sutherland plays President Snow, the leader of Panem and is now being called the New Voldemort. This is probably due to his nastiness in the second film but we're talking about the first.

To be honest, Snow is very boring in this movie.

There's not much for him to do and whenever he is on screen he just sits around and talks, and gardens, but mostly just sits around and talks.

The first time I watched this movie I don't think I was a big fan of Sutherland in this part. Now... I'm still unsure.

Sutherland doesn't really scare me in this movie. I mean I don't think they could have portrayed him as the Evil Emperor from Star Wars but c'mon make him a little less Santa Claus and little more Palpatine. Looking at the picture above if I were to make a story about this, I'd see an old man who was forced to lead a country through war and make it into the spectacle it is today. It took some sacrifices and he's given up a lot and made compromises but he's there. He's seen things. Maybe its just the picture but Sutherland doesn't really portray a darker plotting mind behind that Santa Claus face.

I'm excited to see Catching Fire just because I hope Donald picks up his game.

Though you can't really see Ceasar Flickman in this picture, it kind of represents roles both of them play. Stanley Tucci had to have had fun with this role because he's laughing, he's moving he's just having fun.

Wes Bentley... well looks around at things.

Its difficult because Seneca Crane didn't have much of a part in the book, he was just mentioned. There was only so much they could do with him as game master.

I do love his beard though.

Now I'm going to address something that I don't really want to address but I feel I have to because its almost quintessential to Hunger Games fans across the board.

Gale or Peeta.

I swear people wanted to make another Edward vs. Jacob and they found it perfectly in Gale and Peeta.

The short answer, if you're looking at looks, Gale. If you're looking at personal history with Katniss. Gale. If you're looking at chemistry. Gale. Liam Hemsworth is by no means a better actor than any of the younger actors in this movie but you at least see a little bit of chemistry between Katniss and her.

I like Peeta in the book but the movie kind of makes him a little bit of a pity case.

The Onion did a hilarious review of Catching Fire that addresses this problem pretty head on. (No spoilers)

Gale is Super Hot

But unless you read the books, I'm not quite sure how this rivalry started before the second movie. The truth is, Gale is barely in this movie. He shows up mostly in the beginning. Promises he won't let Katniss's family starve and then he disappears, only reappearing when he's watching Katniss and Peeta make out on TV. Even in the book there wasn't that much of a rivalry yet. Sure there was maybe alluding to one in the future, but it wasn't that huge yet.

The point is, I don't see all the hype. They're both subpar actors.

The only other thing I need to talk about is the other tributes from the other Districts. And this

unfortunately is another time I will refer to the books. In the books, they describe each tribute. You know which one is which at all times. Granted, again this is a book. You can do different things through words than you can by visual. But all the tributes eventually came down to physical appearances describing them. And not even in the way that the book originally described them when they only used physical characteristics.

This graph to the right will give you more recognition than the movie gave.

Instead of Clove, I said, short black haired girl from Orphan. Instead of Thresh, I had to say Black guy. Instead of Glimmer, I said, blonde chick. Instead of Marvel, I said other blonde guy. Instead of Foxface, I said ginger girl.

I don't like using arbitrary recognition terms... but this movie left me with no choice.

And Rue... well Rue was good. Not much else to say about her. She was good.

The only thing The Hunger Games suffers from is some cheesy dialogue that it can't help and some scenes that can only be explained by reading the book. A situation I would prefer rather than a movie missing important scenes. All of that and the fact they had a couple of shaky cams which was annoying.

One day I'll have to do a comparison review of The Hunger Games and Battle Royale. If you haven't seen Battle Royale... its basically the same movie set in Japan. It was made in 2000, before any of the Hunger Games and its unknown how much inspiration Suzanne Collins took from this movie.

I'm not saying she copied the movie because she didn't. In many ways its different... but in many ways it very similar. Its definitely worth a watch if you have Netflix. Just be prepared for a little bit more violence and a lot of screaming Japanese girls. Hunger Games has a little bit more of a story however.

So what do you think? Are you a huge Hunger Games fan? Peeta or Gale? Hunger Games or Battle Royale?

I'll leave you with this.