The Hunger Games

Director: Gary Ross
Writers: Suzanne Collins, Gary Ross, & Billy Ray
Actors: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks, & Wes Bentley
[A cast of knowns and well-knowns]

Rated PG-13 {for teens and up}

Based on the first book in Suzanne Collins' popular teen novel trilogy, The Hunger Games had fans worried that more changes than the THE added to its title would destroy their much loved story. This (for the most part) melted away as it broke opening weekend box office records with $152,535,747 in sales, placing it behind the $169,189,427 made by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011) and the $158,411,483 made by The Dark Knight (2008).

WHAT I LIKED

Many movies could take a lesson from The Hunger Games' use of appropriate violence. Do not misunderstand me. This movie is quite violent, but it shows only what is needed to convey its message, nothing more and nothing less.

Call me a sucker for well designed costumes and sets, but I was quite impressed. Especially with how it played off some really outrageous characters, costumes, and customs as normal. You should see what these people were wearing!

I fell in love with the story in this film. It had so many great elements, so that were new and some that were inspired by other world events or works. I was a bit worried going into the theater that The Hunger Games movie adaption would lean more heavily on elements in other similar and popular stories, like Battle Royale (book-1999, film-2000), that also were adapted into films but luckily it did not.

Most movies involving insidious governments all about injustice and oppression are extremely preaching, like V for Vendetta (2005) and many others, but I was extremely relieved that The Hunger Games avoided this painful and overused rut.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE

There were several moments in the film that I wished I could hear what the characters were thinking. I am not advocating radio-like voices like the one's in the Speed Racer (1967) tv series. It was obvious, though, that the book could and probably did use these opportunities (at least for the main character, Katniss).

Yet again, I find myself disappointed and distractied by fans of a movie. For your convenience and understanding, I have two divided them into two classes, the purists and the racist purists. While I admit that the purists are not as bad as a group like the Twilight (2008) moms, who were practically killing themselves over a fictional character from a poorly written book quadrilogy, no one wants to hear excessive whining during a movie about something small they would have been oblivious to. Regardless, complaints are made less valid by the fact that the author, Suzanne Collins, was working directly with the makers of the film. The racist purists, however, are a totally different kind of crazy. I admit that when a movie changes something pivotal to a character's development I get a bit nervous, but this mostly out of concern for the original message of the original media. Imagine if Black Dynamite (2009) was a white guy. If the changes are non-impacting or add to the story then I have no problem. It was obvious that they do not share my optimism with their nasty and racist (not to mention highly publicized) comments about some characters being black. Shame on you racist purists! 

FINAL THOUGHTS

This movie was great, but it was not perfect. I give it a B+ for showing all other books-to-film how it should be done.


WHEN SHOULD YOU SEE IT?

It is worth the theater ticket. I would definitely recommend The Hunger Games in whatever form of media is available to you (excluding smoke signal and/or reenactment).


SCORE

Personal Rating: 8 of 10 (B)

Plot: 9 of 10 (definitely possessed those rich book roots that other book adaptions dream of)

How does this TS review compare to major reviews?
IMDB 7.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes C-85%/A-86%

CONTENT

Violence: 7 of 10 (children are forceful taken from their parents to fight in a survival game, a child kills another with a rock, a child is burned, a child is stung to death, a child's neck is broken, a child is poisoned, there is constant weapon combat leading to several sword/knife/spear/bow/etc. deaths, dead bodies are shown but not lingered on, there is a violent riot, and there is an implied forced suicide)

Language/Profanity: 5 of 10 (infrequent use of: "damn", "hell" and "oh my God")

Sexuality/Sensuality: 2 of 10 (a few jealous looks and kisses are exchanged)

Spiritual Aspects: 1 of 10 (nothing worth noting)

Drugs/Alcohol: 4 of 10 (One of the supporting characters is a drunkard, and unidentifiable colored drinks are consumed throughout the movie)