The Hunger Games

Right off the bat I'm gonna tell you I haven't read the books, so this is in no way going to influence my views on the movie other than a allusion to what might be in the books.

Based on a book written by a television writer (which explains some things) about a dystopian future where there has been a civil war and, as punishment, a young girl and boy from each of 12 Districts must battle to the death in a heavily controlled woodland environment and it's all broadcast on TV. That's about it from a setup point and I will throw up a SPOILER ALERT from here on in because there is no way I'm gonna be able to discuss this movie without spoilers.

Onward and upward.

The Hunger Games (2011)

 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/

Technical (3) - Everything here is not too bad considering you're talking what should have been a high budget movie made for only $78 million. It has a distinctively SyFy movie feel to it that I just couldn't shake for most of the movie. It was all pretty passable. Nothing spectacular, nothing too detrimental other than the clothing styles of the people of the Capital which were pretty distracting and just plain odd. I understand it was supposed to accentuate the dichotomy between the rich Capital and the poor Districts, but I don't understand why they had to do all that craziness with the garish makeup and clothing that made me think they should have been doing The Time Warp instead. Not everyone was so crazily dressed. Harrelson, Kravitz, Sutherland, and Bentley all showed their elitism without going way over the top. I can see guys wearing glittered eye shadow and trimming a crazy beard (he claims it was real and he had to wear it in public when not shooting...), but not a woman wearing makeup like a damn clown (I'm looking at you Banks). Otherwise the CGI works but isn't remarkable, the set pieces are pretty sparse, the music is mostly forgettable, and the camera work does it's job (except I will be glad when "Blair Witch" cam finally dies out).

Dialogue/Story (1) - Here's where the whole thing takes a dive. It pains me to see a writer not only allow their work to be butchered, but actively participate in that butchering. I can only see it that way because what I assume was sort of central in the novel is nowhere to be seen here. Bella has Jacob at home, but is out gallivanting around on TV with Edw...oh...wrong names. You get the picture though. I can't imagine that the internal conflict of the boy at home (which is never clearly defined as her love interest in the beginning) and the boy who seems to be just using her as a means to an end isn't a central theme. Another issue is that there seems to not be an over-arching story that goes beyond this one. It's alluded to at the very end, but they really didn't establish the gravity of the situation. That seemed to be a problem with the whole story! They didn't establish much in the way of relationships (we're not given time to "get" the older/younger sister thing with the girl from District 11 before she's dead which takes away from the emotional impact the scene should have had), of the history (Were the Districts there before? How are these Districts divided? Why are some so much poorer than others? Why were the black kids from the poorer district?), and even of the structure of this mythos (Was Harrelson a winner from District 12? Who the hell was Banks in all this? Other than obviously being a stylist, did Kravitz really have a purpose in sending her off?). SO many questions and not in a good way like "Donnie Darko" where you really want to discuss them, more like questions that frustrate and that you're not even given a crumb to go on. I'm absolutely SURE most of this was more detailed in the books (I'm gonna read it, I'll let you know). Dialogue was fairly predictable too.

Oh and I don't feel like looking up their character names in the movie, so deal with it.

Acting (4) - Stellar cast here. Only Hutcherson was a little bit of a let down. Otherwise, everyone was really on their game. Tucci is over the top, but in a good way for what his character requires. Banks is reaching just a little, but it wasn't so bad that it detracted from the movie. It kinda showed how detached emotionally she was from the idea of a bunch of kids trying to kill each other. The rest of the cast perform admirably, with no one really standing out too much which I think in this kind of a movie is good.

Tilt (3) - I didn't hate it. I didn't LOVE it, but I didn't hate it. I enjoyed it as a popcorn movie and nothing else. I'm trying not to dissect it too much, because the more I do, the more it falls apart (did we completely forget about the cannons for all the middle of the movie???). The more I think about it, the more it should have had something to say. Futuristic dystopian movies should all contain a lesson and the only lesson I can glean is "stay out of the way and everyone will pretty much kill each other and then you can pull some sort of bullshit out of  your hat at the end and win...pretty much pissing everyone in power off.

Total Score - 2.75

Overall not a bad movie, per se, but definitely had the potential to be so much more.