Review: The Hunger Games

(Originally reviewed in 2012)

Let’s start this off by getting the comparisons out the way. 1: Yes this film is similar to Battle Royale but it’s different enough for the similarities not to matter. Where B.R. is a balls-to-the-wall murder-brawl Hunger Games is fairly neutered in that sense..

2: No, this film is nothing like Twilight, the comparisons here are ridiculous. Yes there’s a love triangle but it’s used sparingly and doesn’t take up the whole plot of the fucking film.

Now back to the review, the film does a good job at setting up Katniss as a character, we get to see her selflessness and her survival instinct all before she actually plays the game so that when she does start we’re in no doubt that she can do all these amazing feats. Katniss herself is such a great character, she’s not tough as nails she just smart, she relies more on sneaking and surprise attacks than actually physical strength. [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]

Also during the training scenes Katniss doesn’t take the ‘tough girl’ route of ignoring everything she’s told and saying ‘I want to be my own person’, she plays up to the cameras, she smiles and dances like a toy monkey because she listens to the advice and knows that the more people like her, the more help she’ll have to survive.

The world itself is decently built up but relies more on dystopian clichés – such as the rich having ridiculous hair and clothes and the poor all being dirty and hungry – than actual new ideas. It’s also worth mentioning that when you think about it, how did a show about kids killing each other become so popular? But I guess in the satire aspect of the film we’re suppose to just accept it, I did it’s just something that sits in the back of your mind.

Jennifer Lawrence is just fantastic as Katniss and can pull off the tough survivor and the media darling brilliantly. People telling her how beautiful she is but she doesn’t care, she just wants to get in and get out as quick as she can, she also manages to make Katniss very human, she gets hurt, she feels pain and gets upset when a certain character dies, all these traits make her more appealing as a protagonist and, like the show’s viewers, we actually care what happens to her.

Another strong role is Woody Harrelson as past winner and possible alcoholic Haymitch. He starts off as a comedic relief but he reveals himself to be pretty clever and his knowledge of the past games proves invaluable. However aside from them, most everyone falls to the wayside, worst being Hemsworth who feels like they’re already forcing the love triangle for future movies

The direction is a mostly mixed bag, the use (or lack thereof) of sound is admittedly a major point for the film, for example when Katniss suffer hallucinations from a wasp sting the noises she hears and the camera movements all show hoe tripped-up she really is. However there are times when the camera relies too much on shakiness and quick cuts and in some parts it’s difficult to tell what’s going on.

Having revisited Hunger Games before and seen where the series has gone, this opening chapter has a lot more issues than I initially realised. The world building grinds the first half of the film so slowly that by the time the actual games get going it’s difficult to care, Lawrence is still great a Katniss and only builds from here but this is a series that benefitted from new blood.

5/10