Young Adult Month - The Hunger Games

In the not too distant future, after a disaster takes place

A nerdy guy with rage issues, among the last of the human race

He was just a media nerd, he ranted a lot, it was quite absurd

But he was special for some reason, so bad men decided it was Rage Issues season

He’ll star in 3 movies, 4 if we squeeze him dry (la-la-la)

He’ll go and join a rebel force, as he’ll slowly lose his mind (la-la-la)

Now keep in mind, he’s just a guy, no different from you or me

So, he’ll have to learn how to survive, with the help of YA Movies

Franchise Roll call

Hunger Games

Maze Runner

Diiiiiiiivergent

If you’re wondering how he posts his thoughts, and who he’s posting for

Repeat to yourself, it’s just a theme, and stop thinking any more

It’s Young Adult Month!

After the success, such as it was, of the Twilight series, Lionsgate and other studios greenlit a bunch of other book adaptations aimed at Young Adults. The best and most popular of these, in popular consciousness at least is The Hunger Games. Released in 2012, the movie gained popularity, making nearly $700m on a $78m budget. And it was critically well received too, with an 84% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average 7.3/10, with an 81% audience score, averaging 4.1/5.

In the dystopian future of the Hunger Games, there was a war, with various districts rising up against the Capital. The rebellion was ultimately unsuccessful, and as punishment the Capital demands that every year a male and female from each district is chosen as tribute, they are taken to the capital to partake in a game of survival known as the Hunger Games

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers as tribute for her district to protect her little sister, along with Peeta Mellark (Josh Hucherson) she must go to the Capital and prepare for the fight of her life but the key to survival in the Hunger Games isn’t just sheer strength. It soon becomes apparent that she needs to get people’s support so they’d send out supplies. To that end Peeta reveals that he’s been in love with her for several years. But in the kill or be killed world of the Hunger Games, that’s only gonna get them so far.

OK, so start with some praises, and these may end up being praises of the book because the plot here is quite good and from what I hear, it’s obscenely loyal to the book. I like that the games are seen as entertainment for people, that’s it’s become a big event where people will pay money to help their favourites win. It distinguishes it somewhat from other series where people have to fight to the death.

The effects, mostly, hold up and the general locations are all nice too. On top of that, the acting is pretty spot on, although I’ll have to get back to Jennifer Lawrence’s performance. I like that it doesn’t, at least at this point, cover the usual love triangle clichés, we know that Katniss loves Gail (Liam Hemsworth) and that because the star-crossed lovers angle is popular with the public she has to pretend to like Peeta. But the fallout from this isn’t what you’d expect. Peeta isn’t even seen past the opening, although I know he’ll return in the sequels and Katniss doesn’t entirely fall for Peeta in spite of everything. There’s no shouting matches or confusion over who Katniss will ultimately choose, unlike the 2^nd and 3^rd Twilight movies which are 80% made of that sh*t.

I can’t say a lot about the supporting cast because their roles are relatively minimal, as I’d previously mentioned with Gail. There are basically 3 major settings, each of which have their own supporting characters. First it was District 12 where we have Gail, Prim and… that’s about it, then we have the Capital where we have Hamish and Effie, along with Caesar Flickerman and Cinna. We also get glimpses of President Snow, although his role is largely in the shadows at this point.

The final section is the games itself, and most of the tributes are either one dimensional or 0-dimensional as they’re killed before we even get a glimpse. I liked Rue, didn’t really like the career tributes but they’re so 1-dimensional, it’s barely worth talking about them, they serve their purpose. In amongst this, we also have the Gamesmaster, in charge of the games and making sure they’re interesting, and have a winner who got support, but isn’t so popular that they’re rallied behind. His multiple conversations with Snow hint at the darker things to come and his ultimate fate is equally dark.

However, this movie is appallingly directed from a visual standpoint. The action is all over the place which makes it difficult to follow, shaky-cam is everywhere and it’s a gimmick that’s annoying as f*ck. Gary Ross was mostly known for comedies and had a rather large gap in his filmography, with the only film he directed between 2003 and this film, released in 2012 being the animated film ‘The tale of Desperaux’ – I don’t think his style fit and someone high up agreed as he was replaced, thankfully, as director for the subsequent films.  If it’s worth anything, Ocean’s 8 was reasonably well-directed and most probably better suited to his talents

But back to this film, the other issue I have in particular is its use of sound. High pitched noises are generally used to give a sense of disorientation, when a character is rendered deaf or in high stress, so I understand when Katniss is close to that explosion, they use the noise effectively. But importantly, it’s supposed to be brief, if it’s used for too long, it can become unpleasant for the audience and when it’s used at the beginning of the games, it has this exact effect on me.

Then there’s the performance of Jennifer Lawerence. I understand that her stoic-ness is true to the book as hardship had forced her to bottle things up but it’s less compelling to a viewer if you can’t understand what she’s thinking, and unlike the book, we don’t have her internal monologue. Also, the conjuring up of dogs and fireballs is kinda dumb, I’m sure the Capital would have better uses for that tech.

Hunger Games takes a good novel and turns it into an average film. It’s let down largely by its directing and over-use of shaky-cam in it’s cinematography. It’s very book loyal, but that’s a double-edged sword as it can sometimes be difficult to see Katniss as a compelling character.

Rating 60/100