MOVIE - The Hunger Games

Let’s cut right to the chase with this movie review:


 * 1) I have never read, nor intend to read, The Hunger Games or any of its sequels.
 * 2) I have a deep-rooted hatred of whatever the current major fad in movies and literature happens to be, particularly now that each new fad references the previous fads by saying it’s the Next Previous Fad.
 * 3) This movie actually wasn’t that bad.

If you were to take Logan’s Run, The Running Man, and The Most Dangerous Game and combine them with a teen romance novel, you’d end up with The Hunger Games. It wasn’t an original concept (dystopian future features the young poor exploited violently on national television by the older rich) but it was a good take on a rehashed idea… and quite frankly, that’s the best we can really hope for out of Hollywood these days with all the remakes, reimaginings and sequels that get churned out.

If I had one major issue with this movie (other than its horde of followers, which I don’t understand at all) it’s the directing and cinematography – particularly at the start of the movie. When I start watching a movie, if flashbacks to the Dramamine-requiring-shaking-cam and choppy cuts of the Blair Witch Project come to mind (particularly if you’re not filming in mocumentary-style), you’re off to a horrible start in my book. I understand WHY they did things that way but that doesn’t make it right or enjoyable.

The only other “complaint” I have, may be something that is not prevalent in the books (but I won’t know that because I will never read them) and that is the lack of struggle the main character has with killing other human beings. Yeah, we see her react with fear of the situation, and the loss of one of her “friends” weighs heavy, but she doesn’t really seem to have any issues with taking the life of another person. That kind of numbness I expected from the other psychotic tributes but it seems out of place with the film’s heroine. Like I said, that might be addressed in the books, but in the movie it was lacking.

Lastly, I will never watch any movies made about the sequel-novels. I could tell just from the ending that it will take the teen-romance love-triangle turn and that kind of crap has no place in literature or cinema intended for the masses. That turns a cool action thriller about having to hunt other human beings to stay alive into, at best, a romantic action comedy (This Means War) or, at worst, teen paranormal romance (Twilight).

It was entertaining, but it lacked originality and the camerawork was suspect. Overall, I give this movie a solid: B but I give obsessive fans of this movie an: F