Movielogr

Rating: 3.5 stars

All movies seen on 04/07/2012

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The Hunger Games (2012)

Directed by Gary Ross

Action | Science Fiction

Most recently watched by VicnaLobster, CaptainBigTime, JohnPeel, sleestakk, GMOM65, lordofthemovies, Drew73, zombiefreak, elisabethwithns, vivalaserdisc

Overview

Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games.  Part twisted entertainment, part government intimidation tactic, the Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which “Tributes” must fight with one another until one survivor remains.  Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy.  If she’s ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. The world will be watching.

Rated PG-13 | Length 142 minutes

Actors

Jennifer Lawrence | Josh Hutcherson | Liam Hemsworth | Woody Harrelson | Elizabeth Banks | Lenny Kravitz | Stanley Tucci | Donald Sutherland | Wes Bentley | Toby Jones | Alexander Ludwig | Isabelle Fuhrman | Amandla Stenberg | Willow Shields | Sandra Ellis Lafferty | Paula Malcomson | Rhoda Griffis | Sandino Moya-Smith | Raiko Bowman | Dwayne Boyd | Anthony Reynolds | Judd Lormand | Kimiko Gelman | Nelson Ascencio | Bruce Bundy | Dayo Okeniyi | Leven Rambin | Jack Quaid | Latarsha Rose | Ian Nelson | Kalia Prescott | Ethan Jamieson | Jacqueline Emerson | Mackenzie Lintz | Imanol Yepez-Frias | Annie Thurman | Dakota Hood | Amber Chaney | Karan Kendrick | Shane Bissell | Kate Kneeland | Steve Coulter | Sharon Conley | Tim Taylor | John Ross | Phillip Troy Linger | Julie Ivey | Mark Meekins | Jeremy Marinas | Bill Bennett | Kelly Lynn Reiter

Viewing History (seen 2 times)

Viewing Notes

Being a big fan of Suzanne Collins’ HUNGER GAMES book trilogy, I couldn’t be more excited, and yet trepidatious, to see a film version. But, then I heard nothing but glowing reviews going into my private screening and that made me more excited than trepidatious. Maybe if I’d been more wary I would’ve been more impressed.

The adaptation is good, but it’s not great. The film does mostly well in adapting a longer story into film length, but it doesn’t do a great job at two things: action and avoiding romantic entanglement comparisons to TWILIGHT. The action is poorly done, frankly, and there’s not near enough of it; what action there is is too sanitary, at that. The book deals more with Katniss’ thoughts and, when you can’t have that on screen, you need to make up with other elements, including showing more of the action that was also in the book.

Perhaps the romance comparisons to TWILIGHT are almost unavoidable, but I don’t think so. The adaptation was cut off at the comparison knees because it left out a key scene at the end of the book where (spoiler alert) Katniss and Peeta turn on each other. By witholding that, it pushed it back into TWILIGHT territory so girls could make cooing sounds, and that’s frustrating.

Past those issues the movie does okay. Repeat viewings might adjust my opinion for the better, given I was at the ass-end of hype when I saw it. I’m hoping for better with the sequel, CATCHING FIRE, but given that the director has had three big-named, but not-so-great efforts in a row, I don’t have much hope that it will.

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