The Hunger Games (2012)

Director: Gary Ross
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth

Synopsis:
When her sister is chosen to represent their district in the annual death battle, a young woman volunteers to take her place.

Impressions:
Whenever something makes it big, it's just as easy to join in the hype backlash as it is to ride the bandwagon. Unlike the Twilight series, which is fun to mock because of its wretchedness that rapidly spirals into guano madness, at first I really didn't think anything about this at all, good or bad. However, when the opportunity to view it actually did come along, I liked it well enough. A lot of these YA adaptations have a similar feel, but this is pretty good. I prefer Battle Royale if I want to see kids fight to the death, but this does what it sets out to do fairly well. Some people don't like all the shaky cam, but I imagine that's a large part of the reason it gets away with a PG-13 with a lot of the violent content. One thing this has over Battle Royale is the parody of reality TV (though this is similar to what was done with game shows in The Running Man). I'm not that fond of the main duo as characters, but I believe that's partially the point, that Katniss tends to be unlikable by nature and Peeta is rather bland and whitebread (pun intended). Katniss' actual love interest Gale has more promise, but doesn't get featured much. The aesthetic is pretty good, with the desaturated look of the hardscrabble Depression-esque districts contrasted with the gaudy extravagance of the capital. A blue-haired Stanley Tucci as TV host Caesar Flickerman and Elizabeth Banks as the vapid Effie Trinket really stand out among the capitolian freakshow. You get a nice aversion with the likable Cinna played by Lenny Kravitz and the drunken mentor played by Woody Harrelson. Characterization for the tributes is mostly shallow, which I suppose is unsurprising because they mostly serve as disposable meat. I do like that the contrived romantic angle between Katniss and Peeta is deliberately contrived in-universe as a ploy for sponsors to gain a competitive edge. The effects are pretty good but the integration of CG creatures and live action characters doesn't always look that great. I imagine parents may cringe a bit at the premise, but if that isn't a problem for you, then I'd say it's worth a watch.

Rating:
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