The Hunger Games (2012)

Just a quick review for this flick I caught at the cinema the other day. Based on the hugely popular trilogy of books by Suzanne Collins, the Hunger Games could be considered in many ways the spiritual successor to the Twilight saga. However whilst I felt very meh in my opinions of Twilight and haven’t felt compelled to watch any of the sequels, the Hunger Games is a different kettle of fish. I wasn’t overly enamoured by the premise of the film which made it sound very much like a loose remake of the Running Man and indeed in many respects this is true but this film has a dark, gritty and visceral quality that puts it light years ahead of that film.

So I think the reason I wanted to see this film was because of all the hype surrounding it and a vague notion I got somewhere along the way that there might be some truth to the hype meaning I had to watch it at some point to determine if there was anything of value. And indeed there was. The Hunger Games takes place in a post-apocalyptic America of some description though the exact circumstances of how America comes to end up like this are neither clear nor particularly relevant since the film is primarily about the barbarity of human nature and the whole idea of a fascist society that lets children kill each other for entertainment and that is really all that needs to be known. To this end, twelve districts, forced to operate under the thumb of an oppressive central government, are compelled to annually send one male and one female teenager as “tribute” to the Capitol. There, they will compete in a televised blood sport – the eponymous “Hunger Games.” When her little sister is selected by lottery for the games, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) steps in to take her place. Along with baker’s boy Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), Katniss departs for the capitol, where she discovers a world of exoticism and violence. Eventually, she and Peeta are thrust into the arena, where they must fight for their lives against dozens of other tributes.

This is a long film, it weighs in at 2 1/2 hours but aside from the first 15 minutes or so, the film is well paced and never feels too long or drags. The intensity of the arena is very well done and is on its own an achievement in cinematic storytelling. That this film manages to score a 12A rating at the hands of the BBFC is also particularly impressive since it’s quite violent, bloodthirsty and features numerous scenes of children slaughtering other children. I also mentioned that the plot of this film seemed like a loose remake of the Running Man. That is in some ways true but it’s more like 1984 meets the Truman Show meets The Running Man and in my opinion better than all three.

I did have some minor gripes with this film. I liked the minimalistic style of the districts which reflected some campy films of the 70s like Logan’s Run and THX1138 but I disliked the goofy and overdone makeup and costumes that many of the characters wore – this was something I also hated about the fifth element and I felt it detracted from the realism a little. I also didn’t think the casting for this movie was done fantastically well – I did like Jennifer Lawrence and Woody Harrelson (I nearly lolled when he first came on screen because my mind immediately leapt to Zombieland and his ‘devil may care’ attitude) but ultimately I didn’t think any of the other main characters in this film were well cast. Lawrence and Harrelson carried the film for me – especially Lawrence who does a superb job and I don’t think could have been cast any better.

The best film I’ve seen so far this year without a doubt as well as a masterpiece that exceeded my expectations,  the trailer really doesn’t it do it justice. Go see.