The Hunger Games

The first time I heard about “The Hunger Games” was when the movie was coming out. The way people were talking about it made me assume that it was just another Harry Potter wannabe like “Twilight”. Upon taking a closer look at those involved in the film, I could tell that this was going to be a serious adaption. They weren’t going to mess it up like “Twilight”. Then, a few days before the release of the film, the reviews began to come in and they were quite positive. I decided take the same approach as I did with “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” in that I not read the book or a plot summary. I wanted to be completely neutral and see how the filmmakers would appeal to me. Survey says: Everything was working very well until the romantic scenes between Katniss and Peeta. What follows is an analysis of the film and not the story of the book.

The adaption and depiction of the scenes in “The Hunger Games” appears to be very well done for the most part. My friends say that there were hardly any deviations from the book. I personally believed what I was seeing on the screen. The reaping scene reminded me a little bit of the atrocities of World War II so that was a nice touch. There was a great contrast between the districts & the Capital and that was important. This is best represented by Effie Trinket as performed by Elizabeth Banks. The filmmakers did explore the fact that Katniss is not used to such luxury but they were depicting the irony of the luxury more than Katniss' experience of it. The irony of the tributes being treated like superstars before their deaths was well achieved anyways so that is good. It seems as though the line “May the odds be ever in your favor” is meant to accomplish the same purpose as the line “May the Force be with you.” I felt that the film had this line a few too many times but at least is was used at the right times. As mentioned, the movie was working quite well up until the “romantic” scenes with Peeta. After seeing “The Hunger Games”, I have been told that Katniss and Peeta’s relationship was only a show that they put on so that their odds of surviving would improve. This is a good thing story-wise but in terms of portraying that on the screen for someone new to the story like me, there were mistakes. A better cinematic decision would have been to make it clear for everyone watching the movie that Katniss was only pretending to love Peeta for the crowd and then have her faced with the decision to kill him in order to live at the end of the film. As a result, her idea of both of them committing suicide would have been a dramatic revelation that she has developed some genuine feelings for him. This was not the case however with my first viewing. Being new to the story myself and with “Twilight” on my mind, I thought that Katniss really did love Peeta and thus most of this romantic angle of this film felt counterfeit. I know now that it was suppposed to be conterfeit but first impressions are the most important. When in the cave, the filmmakers should have had Katniss aware of a hidden camera and then show love towards Peeta. That would have helped me to understand. The line “You feel so hot” did not need to be there at all. That was too campy. The scenes between these two characters earlier in the film also did not help the cinematic adaption. There were too many moments that set up romantic possibilities between Katniss and Peeta. There should have been just one moment in the film at the window the night before the games so that Katniss' decision of both of them to die would have been more of a surprise. Why does the romance in Harry Potter work? It is because J. K. Rowling did not set out to tell a romantic story. Ron and Hermione for example were just friends at the start. Also, they clashed a little bit insomuch that you couldn’t tell in the later books whether they would end up together. Watching “The Hunger Games” for the first time however, I thought that Katniss and Peeta were in love. The love triangle with Gale felt too much like “Twilight” and so the filmmakers could have done a better job with the romantic part of the story. I am sure that it worked a lot better on page. One part of the climax I like is how Peeta points to Cato hand during the standoff. I missed that the first time.

Acting-wise, the film was pretty impressive. The cast provided the main source of anxiety that was pivotal was for this movie to be a success. I first saw Jennifer Lawrence in “X-men: First Class” and her Oscar nominee status at that time was enough for me to take her seriously as Katniss. She did wonderful. Oscar nominee Woody Harrelson was awesome in his performance but my favorite performance goes to Stanley Tucci. He really lets his costume do the work. The same goes for Toby Jones in that once again, he is so much different from other characters he has played in the past. Lenny Kravitz’s work allowed me to trust his character all the way. Effie was a very memorable character as mentioned. She was despicable thanks to Elizabeth Banks who also used her costume quite well. Willow Shields’ character Prim was the main depiction of the horror of the games. You felt the dread of being chosen as a tribute because of Shields’ performance. I applaud Amandla Stenberg as Rue and Donald Sutherland did as good as he always does in any movie.

The cinematography was interesting and so was the editing. It must have caused headaches in IMAX. It was cool to find out that director Steven Soderbergh from “Ocean’s Eleven” was second unit director on “The Hunger Games”. Despite its imperfections, this movie felt much more reputable than “Twilight”. There is potential with this film franchise. The biggest point I wish to make is that I am completely new to “The Hunger Games”. The filmmakers should have made it more obvious to new fans like me that Katniss and Peeta's love was all show. I kept thinking about the phony romance in “Twilight” and I thought I was watching the same thing. When you adapt something into a movie, you must appeal to new and old fans like "Star Trek" and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”. Depsite my critisisms, I wanted to see the next movie because of how well the previews for it worked.

3.5 Stars