First off, I'm one of the few out there that can honestly say I had never heard of The Hunger Games prior to the announcements regarding the film adaptation. It seemed a little amusing to see the ridiculous levels of excitement surrounding the film, but also a little disheartening to hear people referring to Suzanne Collins' trilogy of novels as "the new Twilight". The concept was a familiar one, albeit with the intriguing promise of being sci-fi as well as fairly political. I sat on the fence regarding the film, until the first proper trailer showed up, which featured some lovely production and character design, a hint of nice tension, and one of my current Hollywood crushes, the superb Jennifer Lawrence. Suddenly, I found myself throwing all preconceptions about the so-called "tweeny sci-fi melodrama" aside, and electing to give The Hunger Games a go.
I followed the advice of others, and read all three novels in the series over a weekend, before seeing the film. Suddenly, I could understand the excitement surrounding the casting announcements, the look and tone of the film, and of course, Ms Lawrence as heroine Katniss Everdeen. Upon completion of the series, I officially became an "Excited Fan".
For those who may not know - and by now, I imagine that there wouldn't be many - the plot is set in a futuristic version of America known as Panem, rebuilt after decades of war and ravagement into a totalitarian nation divided into multiple districts, each one responsible for a certain aspect of infrastructure (fishing, agriculture, electronics, etc.) and all beholden to the Capitol, a freakish, decadent city of the rich controlled by the Machiavellian President Snow (a quietly-dangerous Donald Sutherland). As the result of a past rebellion, each district is forced to compete in the annual Hunger Games, a Battle Royale-esque competition in which a girl and boy between twelve and eighteen are chosen to enter an arena and fight to the death, naturally leaving one eventual winner. The Games are a form of fear control from the Capitol, yet treated like a legitimate sporting event, televised nation-wide and glamourised for the masses. It's like the film Series 7: The Contenders, blending Big Brother with The Most Dangerous Game on an epic budget.
Katniss hails from the coal-producing District 12, and we find her at the start illegally hunting in the woods with her childhood best friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth). As a result of their many trips together, Katniss has become a skilled and capable hunter, looking after her family practically single-handed. When her twelve-year-old sister Prim (Willow Shields) is chosen for the year's newest Games, Katniss willingly volunteers in her place. She's taken alongside local baker's son Peeta (Josh Hutcherson, expanding on his usual acting range considerably), and the two find themselves on the way to the Capitol to be prepped, trained and then sent into battle.
To reveal much more would be spoiling things, but the film has a nice, languid pacing that eases you into the world of Panem, and then finally, the Games themselves. Woody Harrelson manages to drive up his usual shabby charisma as the pair's mentor, Haymitch, a former Games survivor who's become a surly alcoholic through years of watching his tributes slaughtered. Also on their team is their chaperone and escort, Effie Trinkett (a bizarrely-made-up Elizabeth Banks), and hotshot fashion stylist Cinna (Lenny Kravitz), whose job is to help the pair become presentable so they can win public favour.
Director Gary Ross has a keen eye for the both the visual and tonal sensibilities required in translating Collins' work to the screen, juggling the heavier, darker aspects of the story with the undeniable lightness of the Capitol. Much of the more emotional moments are handled in a somewhat quiet, more intimate fashion (where many directors would over-play the melodrama), allowing viewers to feel for the characters in a far more natural way. The violence is quite brutal at times, but also surprisingly casual, characters being eliminated in quick, efficient succession. Fans who were worried that the film would be too watered-down needn't fear: although it's not graphic or even very bloody, many of the deaths still manage to make you feel it.
There are few complaints to be made, although they are fairly important. The largest is the fact that many aspects of the story are just glossed-over or ignored entirely, giving many actions, plot turns etc. a slight superficiality - without the audience really knowing why certain things are happening, it becomes a little too easy to disconnect. Of course, this was going to be slightly inevitable, given that the novels are written first-person style from Katniss's point of view, but it also leaves things feeling a little hollow, like they just shoe-horned in moments that seem to work well onscreen, but lack any real substance. Another downside is the lack of time given to developing Katniss and Peeta's relationship, leaving people wondering why she should be acting certain ways in certain scenes, when we've had no real build-up to establish that it's warranted.
Thankfully, the good outweighs the bad, and the addition of new scenes to the story, showing how the Capitol runs, giving us a taste of President Snow's sinister control, and a great TV feed featuring commentary from showman Caesar Flickerman (wonderfully scene-stealing Stanley Tucci) and Games announcer Claudius Templesmith (Toby Jones, all of whose scenes are stolen by Tucci), add a nice depth to the world we're in, as well as demonstrating just how large and prevalent the Games are in society. My favourite addition came from seeing Head Gamemaker Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley, sporting the world's most awesome beard) and his team running the Games from their control room, manipulating the tributes like chess pieces, and mixing things up to make proceedings exciting.
Regardless of all of this, the film well and truly belongs to Jennifer Lawrence. The entire movie was always going to stand or fall on whomever was playing Katniss, and Lawrence rises to the challenge admirably, embodying both Katniss's strength and vulnerability with little-to-no effort, and making us feel every moment of fear, anger and heart-ache the character endures. Considering Lionsgate's plan to adapt all three books, I'm genuinely excited to see where Lawrence takes Katniss next, expecially as I now know of the character's growth and progression throughout the series.
It isn't the greatest film ever made, but The Hunger Games is absolutely a worth-while one, exciting, intriguing and even slightly scary (there's even a few moments of well-placed levity to break it up a bit), and I eagerly await the sequel Catching Fire. This isn't Battle Royale, despite what some vehement few will say (and say, and scream), this is thoughtful, well-made science fiction that will only get better as the franchise goes on.
And it sure as hell isn't the new Twilight either - it's something much, much better.
Rating: 4/5
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