So having devoured The Hunger Games books not long ago, I went off to watch the movie. The plot is the same - in a post-apocalyptic USA (Panem) and following a rebellion that was brutally quashed, the Capitol district demands an annual Hunger Games, a competition in which each of the the 12 Districts of Panem sends two teenagers (Tributes) fight to the death. After her sister is drawn to be the female District 12 Tribute, 16 year old Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers for the games even though it means certain death. Along with the male Tribute, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), and Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) former winner from District 12 now forced to mentor two kids to certain death, Katniss makes her way to the Capitol to prepare for the Games - essentially forcing a showdown with a corrupt system.
First of all, the Good. The movie is definitely well made and well acted with a fair dose of gore to show how barbaric it is to make children fight and kill each other for the entertainment of others. As much as this is the Jennifer Lawrence Show (and it is) the rest of the ensemble cast are pretty good as well, from the kids who seem unsure, or really sure, about their roles in the Games, to the sinister politicians and game-makers! Also, it was a really good juxtaposition of the poverty of the Districts with the luxury and absurdity of the Capitol and its inhabitants in comparison. Well done.
But now the Bad. The book spends a good deal of time setting up the situation explaining why the Games exist, why the Districts participate, and the nature of the relationships between the characters, the movie...not so much. Katniss is extremely conflicted about getting close to the other Tributes, particularly Peeta who saved her life when she was younger, and the young Tribute from district 11, Rue (Amandla Stenberg) who reminds Katniss of Prim, is not very well portrayed given that she will either have to kill or be killed by them later. This is actually a very important point! As I discussed with Hitoshi later, without this dynamic, he couldn't understand why Katniss didn't just kill her quickly given that Rue is a lot younger, smaller, and they'd have to kill each other eventually! In fact, this leads me to what was the absolute worst part of the film - the Cave scene. No other words exist for it other than 'awkward', because we didn't see the development of their bond! Instead we get cheesiness!
Anyway, this has made writing this review really tough. Although it's not a bad movie, without all the exposition, there are giant plot holes in the story. Swisschris said that although he enjoyed the movie, he didn't really get what was happening and so found it confusing - why did the games exist, and why do the Districts allow it to happen? As likely as it is that the audience will have read the books beforehand, these are legitimate questions not addressed well in the film!
So, this is not a bad movie but I'm guessing a fair deal of my understanding is due to having read the books so I could fill in the gaps. On the other hand, someone who hadn't read the books managed to largely enjoy it. This makes how good it actually it is difficult to gauge and so the mark is going to have to be...
4-5/10
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