In Review: The Hunger Games

The Gist

Armed with a good material, The Hunger Games manages to keep itself tense and entertaining throughout its whole running time, with notes of cleverness here and there. And though not without a few minor niggles (particularly its inability to go darker given its nature), it manages to avoid entering soppy territory and holds the audience's interest for a sequel.

The Good

• interestingly dark premise that works
• intended for younger teen audiences, but with enough grit and lack of cheesiness found in its contemporaries that make it work for a wider audience
• thrilling and tightly plot; tackles political and emotional issues, too

The Bad

• needs more grit and gore for the topic it deals with
• may not be so suitable to the younger audience it originally targets

Synopsis

The story is centered around Panem (once North America) and its 13 districts that revolt against its capitol some 74 years ago (the 13th district was destroyed during the war). After the districts were defeated, as punishment, the capitol stages an annual death match competition comprised of 2 representatives (1 boy and 1 girl aged 12 to 16) from the different districts that survived the war. During the day of the "Reaping," a day where representatives are randomly chosen, Katniss, a girl from District 12, volunteered to be a tribute after her younger sister "Primrose" was randomly picked. Chosen along with her was a baker's son, Peeta. Together, they are thrust into the death ring with only advises from a District 12 champion Haymich to save them from imminent death in the competition.

Catching Fire

I cannot state how much I do not like Jennifer Lawrence, how unenamored I am by her presence. In the two movies I've seen her appeared on (X-Men: First Class and Like Crazy), she played villain which did not help. Her catty demeanor on-screen, cold facial features, and her lack of overall appeal made me disheartened that she was picked for this movie to play lead. It however works at some level. Given that Katniss was not very likeable in the story. And that she did try her best to be, though you can see through it. That's Jennifer Lawrence through and through and she nails that part. The anti-hero. But here she was softened. She was cunning, but a little less cunning than necessary. There's a certain innocence and lack of commitment to murder that made her perfect-imperfect for the role, and as usual that angst / ferocity that make her scary to pick a fight with. Unfortunately, the story says that people liked her well enough to root for her and her young love with Peeta. As a blonde, Lawrence is likable, a bombshell, but when she goes brunette and tomboyish, all that likability is thrown out the window. The overall effect: to me, when the credits rolled, I still could not like her nor Peeta. I wanted her and Peeta to live, but I could not see any reason why I wanted to root for them other than the fact that if they die, then there's no sequel to an interesting story. I like the idea and the personality of the characters (how they both schemed to get support from the audiences), I just am not sure they were properly cast.

Swapping blonde for brown, Lawrence dwarfs her age, and her
likability as well.

Live Fast, Die Young, Make a Pretty Corpse

Director Gary Ross (who directed Pleasantville and Seabiscuit) has crafted a taut and intense thriller here. What he ended up ultimately is a product with enough depth but not not enough teeth. It doesn't go soppy and soap operatic and it does have enough heart, but it lacks that shock required from a theme as dark as throwing teenagers in a death match. What happened to mental and emotional torture? It seems as if Peeta was the only one affected by this and that no one in the battlefield seems to be affected. No one cried because they know death is imminent. Just Peeta. All the time. So does that mean Peeta is the coward of the bunch or has their lives gone so warped forward into the future that kids are not afraid of death, and, in fact, excited to kill.

The supporting cast was good. Elizabeth Banks cast as Effie Trinket was a delight, while Woody Harrelsen as Haymitch seems like a spot-on slacker who does not want to show how much he cares for his countrymen, children, who would die very soon. Josh Hutcherson who played Peeta Mellark did very well, in my opinion and is the figure of human frailty and suffering throughout the movie, the perfect underdog. Former Legend of the Seeker star Alexander Ludwig did well as support rather than lead as he played Cato. Again, my complain here was how Lawrence's character of Katniss was written. She needs to show strength, cunning, and perseverance because she is highly outclassed and outnumbered by her competition. But instead, she was depicted more as lucky, which is not someone who'd root for in a society where strentgh is a value. I am not sure, I have not read the books, but something tells me they softened Katniss for the younger audiences.

Pacing was done well and the set design was elaborate. The dialogues were pretty good and the adaptation was fine and easily digestible. The cinematography is also grand to say the least. Plot is tense and tight, the storytelling enjoyable and entertaining, but ultimately failed to evoke further depth and human pathos. It could have been the best movie, but somewhat, I felt there was some Hollywood hesitation here and there, wanting to make a more rating-acceptable adaptation, for which I wish they get over with the next installment.

My verdict:

Like Katniss's arrows, there were a lot of good hits, and a lot of misses and opportunities past. It could easily have been the movie of the year, but instead we are assured that the series is in good hands. I am staying tuned for more. A passing and recommended mark of 4/5.