VERDICT: It has some phenomenal acting, particularly from Jennifer Lawrence, and the visuals are stunning. The emotional core that is so essential to include in these films was not only there, but rather beautifully and painfully so. It is and will always be one of the best book-to-movie adaptations I have ever seen.
I am starting a new semester here at college, and I have had nary a minute or two to sit down and write another review (as my father correctly predicted) since I already have a crap ton of reading to do. So today, while I had a little time to myself, I thought I'd go ahead and post another one in honor of Jennifer Lawrence winning her very first Golden Globe earlier this week.
Directed by Gary Ross and written in part by him, Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray, The Hunger Games is set in a post-apocalyptic North America now called Panem, in which Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers to take her sister Primrose's (Willow Shields) place in what is called the Hunger Games, a deadly reality show in which twenty-four kids between the ages of twelve and eighteen are chosen from each of the twelve districts (one boy and girl from each) to fight to the death in a televised and highly manipulated arena. This is a control tactic used by the Capitol, the central ruling force of Panem, headed by President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in order to keep the districts under their power. But when fiery Katniss enters the scene, along with Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), a boy who has loved her from afar, and their mentor, Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), sparks begin to fly. If Katniss ever hopes to get home, she must make difficult choices that pit survival against humanity and life against love.
OTHER CAST MEMBERS: Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Paula Malcomson, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Toby Jones, Lenny Kravitz, Amandla Stenberg, Alexander Ludwig, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jackie Emerson, Dayo Okeniyi, Leven Rambin, Jack Quaid.
I was only just starting to hear about this movie in January 2012, only two months before it came out. I hadn't read the books because I was afraid it was going to be another Twilight saga: poorly written, flat characters, the huge bandwagon of mindless fans, the whole awful shebang. And I never do anything where I am jumping on a bandwagon. I either like it or I don't. But after I watched the trailer, I couldn't deny my interest any longer. So I sat down and opened up The Hunger Games and was finished in six hours. I couldn't put it down. It made my heart pound. There has not been a book to do that since the Harry Potter series. So naturally, I hastened to get ahold of the other two books. I finished Catching Fire the next day, only setting it down to go to work and then returning from work later that night, sitting right back down, picking up my book, and continuing to read it. I was completely hooked. Mockingjay took a while for me to get, only because someone as hungry for these books as I was already had it. After a few days, Mockingjay found its way into my hands, and I finished the series in roughly three days (give or take the day or two I waited for Mockingjay). I was blown away; I couldn't believe how wrong I'd been about these books.
So then, I became a fan, and eagerly awaited the movie's release.
The Hunger Games is one of the best book-to-movie adaptations I have ever seen.
Initially some people have been understandably shocked about the film's positive response. "It's about kids killing kids, why would you want to watch something like that?" But like most people, these naysayers didn't bother to look under the surface of the film to the moral message it gives; you by no means are supposed to agree with the idea of kids killing the crap out of each other on TV. It's supposed to startle you, because you may have looked even deeper and realized that our society gets its entertainment sources from things very much like that; exploiting and ruining people for the sake of a joke or a story. The Hunger Games does not point a finger at its audience, though -- it merely puts its characters in that kind of situation bumped up to the extreme (physical disregard for human life rather than emotional, though both are equally terrible) to send the message of how many lives and people we destroy in that process. Maybe open our eyes a little. The film does this rather beautifully, examining the raw emotions of the characters that must endure such things.
Which brings us to our main protagonist, Katniss Everdeen. Her mother has been grief-stricken into inaction to take care of her two daughters, in which case Katniss does what any firstborn child would do and assumes parent responsibility over her little sister, Prim. This was something I related to my own life, since my parents' divorce I have felt like I've had to be a third parent to my sisters at times. I, of course, have it nowhere near as terrible as Katniss does. I thank God for that.
The thing that draws people to Katniss, I think, is that she is very much an unlikely hero figure. She is put in a position to be heroic and she never once wanted to be. And Katniss is not one of the most likable characters you'll ever come across. She's abrasive, selfish, cold, stubborn, and manipulative. In real life, I don't think I'd have liked her much at all upon first impression. But this is Katniss' shell to protect herself, because inside that shell is a fiercely loving and strong young woman. The movie, from beginning to end, does well to demonstrate this. In one scene, Katniss is out hunting, about to try and shoot down a full-grown buck for food. A few scenes later has her volunteering to take Prim's place in the Hunger Games, a scene that brought tears to my eyes; if it were my sister I would have done exactly the same. But the morally disturbing thing that the movie is trying to express is that things like that shouldn't have to happen, which is why it is so heartwrenching to watch Prim and Katniss being pried away from each other.
All characters need something that forces them to quest. For Katniss, it is Prim.
Before this film, there was much discussion as to what kind of film it needed to be, and as a fan, I was worried that the general consensus would not capture the message that is so essential to the entire thing. This film could have easily become an action movie, devoid of all of the emotional components of the book and instead glorifying all of the brutal violence and forced romance that goes on.
That said, the movie's writers really hit the nail on the head with this film. It was exactly how I'd pictured it from the book. It probably helped that Suzanne Collins helped write the script, but so much more of the message could have been lost beyond the writing. Gary Ross made sure that the message stayed in as much as he could. And it worked. It really worked.Going back to the parallelism between our society's idea of entertainment and the Hunger Games themselves, it might interest some to know that the Games don't actually begin until a little more than halfway through the film. It spends the first half spiffing up its tributes; dressing them up in pretty clothes, painting them up with makeup, and displaying them like trophies for their entire society to look at and admire despite the irony that they are sending these same celebrities to their televised deaths. I thought this worked very well to emphasize the pedestals we as a society put our own celebrities on. We glamorize and gloss the entire affair, so that it seems much more glorious than it actually is. There might be interviews and odds to bet on and evaluations and so forth, but in the end, there is nothing very glorious about going into an arena and either being brutally murdered within the first ten minutes or spend days trying to avoid the same fate. In the end, they are just children that are delivered to a society that wishes to keep its citizens stupid and scared. They become pawns. Numbers. And that is a big part of where Katniss' conflict with the Capitol resides, especially when she loses Rue, a young tribute who reminded her of her little sister. Which (SPOILER ALERT) is massive foreshadowing for the last book, even if the audience doesn't know it yet.
At least three people were sobbing in the theater when Rue died, and this occurred all five times I saw the movie.
I will diverge slightly here to talk about the acting, because it was phenomenal. This film was brilliantly cast. Since most of the main cast were kids and the majority of them newcomers, it was smart of the casting directors to ground the film with seasoned actors, so the novices didn't have the weight of the entire film on their shoulders. And the veteran actors did their job well; Stanley Tucci was a very winning Caesar and Donald Sutherland was a sufficiently scary President Snow. Elizabeth Banks was as silly and ditzy as I had imagined Effie to be. Woody Harrelson was something of a perfect Haymitch. Downgrade a little and there's Josh Hutcherson, who was great as Peeta and better in said role than most others he has played. Liam Hemsworth, who is more of a newcomer, impressed me with his nuance
But of course, this film would have suffered greatly without the star work of Jennifer Lawrence.
Yes, I am rather biased because I am a huge fan of hers. But when I look at her acting as objectively as I can, I am still amazed. She carries the entire film, and sometimes without even saying a word. What she can say with her eyes pulls the audience in. She has such power and such emotion in this role, and she embodies Katniss to the letter. She got a People's Choice Award and a Critic's Choice Award for this role, and very rightfully so. If this movie had managed to squeeze into Oscar favor, if it were not for all of the other fantastic movies that have been released this year, Jennifer probably should have gotten some kind of Oscar nod for this role. Although I guess it wouldn't be possible for Jennifer to get two Oscar nominations in one year. :)
Katniss isn't necessarily likable, but that's kind of why you like her anyway. She's a strong woman character who isn't twig-skinny but healthy-looking, and it's incredibly refreshing to see both of those things in a film. She's got a lot of fire in her, and that fire is fueled by love and by strength.
This scene particularly is great; Jennifer correctly portrays Katniss' love and strength, as well as the weariness in her eyes.
Another comforting thing about Katniss' character is that despite being in an inevitable love triangle, that doesn't become the focus of Katniss' quest. She doesn't have any time for boys; she has a family to protect and a Hunger Games to win. The movie very much tries to emphasize this, and according to the book, it does a pretty decent job. Katniss hasn't figured out how she feels about Peeta or Gale, and it's barely ever at the top of her list of things to think about. When she and Peeta are forced to pretend being in love (although it's clear Peeta never pretends) so they will get sponsors, she still doesn't know what to feel about it. In the book, Katniss asserts many times that she hates to owe other people. She owes Peeta her life and her family's life. She is so confused because she does perhaps feel something for him, but then she remembers Gale and feels guilty for leading both of them on.
Some critics have mentioned the underdevelopment of Katniss and Peeta's relationship as the worst part about the film, but as someone who's read the book, I can say that the romance is supposed to be underdeveloped, because Katniss does not make boys the center of her life (a virtue that young girls of today should examine closely). The kiss between them was so Katniss would get Peeta medicine or food or anything that would keep him from dying. They sleep closely together to get sponsors. In the midst of that is when Katniss thinks she might feel something for Peeta. It is difficult to express that kind of inner turmoil on a screen, but the actors and director did the absolute best they could with that. Towards the end of the film I believe the filmmakers tried to assert that Katniss was working Peeta as an angle to get them both through the Games, but unless you'd read the book it might have been difficult to figure that out. In any case, you love Peeta so much by then that you sort of hate Katniss for a few scenes. But it's only the first film. Katniss and Peeta have three more movies to develop their relationship, so there is no rush.
Though there really should have been more here if we were to think they were actually going to die.
Now this film did have its flaws. No film is ever perfect, and there were certain things that I didn't particularly like about it. For one, the camera work. I understand Gary Ross wanting to use it so the violence was horrible enough without being gratuitous. It worked more or less for that purpose. But the camera waving around while Katniss is walking to the forest wasn't particularly necessary, and it was making my head spin to the point where I would go "Thank goodness, a still frame," every time one appeared. It does work to put you in the moment of the film, one of those "feels like you're there" kind of things, and I'm not saying it didn't succeed there. It just didn't always succeed, period.
Most of the other little things I had an issue with resided in me wanting every single aspect of the book to come to life because I am a nerd that way. That's purely opinion. But then, this post is just that.
I would definitely recommend this movie if you want your heart to pound and break and hope all at the same time. It's not the best movie of the year, but it is pretty far from the worst one and one of my favorite movies ever. And as far as book adaptations go, it did the best job it could with its source material.
All images courtesy of Tumblr.
GRADE: A-
RATING: PG-13 for intense violent thematic material and disturbing images - all involving teens
The Hunger Games (Trailer)
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