Film Review -- The Hunger Games

The day finally arrived -- after months of anticipation (and buying my tickets the first day they went on sale, a full month before the release date), The Hunger Games opened tonight! Having devoured all three books in a matter of days over the holidays, I was very anxious to see how director Gary Ross and his team of writers (including series author Suzanne Collins) would transform the book into a screenplay, and then into a film. It stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Alexander Ludwig, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz, and Donald Sutherland. 


In a post-apocalyptic world, the nation of Panem rose from what was once North America. A glitzy and glamorous Capitol rules twelve outlying districts, each with a representative industry. An unsuccessful rebellion by the districts led to punishment in the form of an annual televised fight-to-the-death between twenty-four "tributes" of each district -- one girl and one boy between the ages of 12 and 18. Seventy-four years later, Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence), an impoverished sixteen-year-old from coal-mining District 12, volunteers to take her twelve-year-old sister Primrose's place in the Games after the younger is "reaped." Peeta Mellark (Hutcherson) is selected as the boy tribute, and his ties with Katniss, as well as her complicated relationship with her best friend Gale (Hemsworth), are explored. 


The book is obviously much more detailed than the film. The former is also narrated by Katniss, and thus provides crucial thoughts to the readers that the film cannot. The "love triangle" between Peeta, Katniss and Gale is also played up, almost in Twilight form, certainly to appeal to the young female fans; in the book, however, their relationships are much more complex than the film has time to explain, so they end up coming off as trivial, especially that of Katniss and Gale. The same goes for most of the characters; there is so much to squeeze into one film that little room is left for character development, which is a shame, because some great characters like Haymitch (Harrelson), Effie (Banks), and Cinna (Kravitz) deserved more screen time.


Other than that, I think that the writers succeeded in condensing the story into a 142-minute film while staying as true to it as possible. Understandably, some changes had to be made for the sake of time (for example -- and I won't spoil it -- the person who gives Katniss the crucial Mockingjay pin is different in the film than in the book), but most everything else is surprisingly loyal, which is great for those who read and loved the books, like me. I thought that the actual Hunger Games part was specifically well-done, as they were able to take the roughly three weeks that Katniss and company spend in the arena and condense it into a coherent sequence where all of the important events remain intact. 


I was pleased by the film; it was definitely worth all of the anticipation on my part. Of course, it wasn't perfect; it was as good as it could have been under its time-constraining circumstances. But the fact that it was considerably true to the book leaves me excited to see what the film sequels will be like, since I now expect them to respect the other books in the same way. 


May the odds be ever in your favor!


Should you see it: Yes
Grade: A-