Viewed in
2012
Formats
Movie theater (digital)
Premise
Based on the first book, Katniss takes the place of her sister for the deadly Hunger Games.
Liked
Performances, cat-and-mouse action, the set up.
Disliked
Lack of heart in the relationships, loss of Katniss' unlikable personality from the books.
Hated
Shaky camerawork.
Thoughts
Given that I haven't read the novels at the time of this review (addition knowledge was passed on by a buddy), this was a promising and entertaining first act.
I really enjoyed the performances and the cast. Jennifer Lawrence was very likable and at times badass. Woody Harrelson was cool, although he was dangerously close to self-parody. Everyone else was solid, from the well-known Donald Sutherland, the semi-known Josh Hutcherson, to the unknown Amandla Stenberg. Elizabeth Banks's performance was bizarre, but I guess she was indicative of the elite class.
Story-wise, I could see hints of the larger world/conspiracy that I assume will unfold in the later titles. Yet these moments never bogged down the pace. The suspenseful action scenes were very good, especially the cat-and-mouse, even though I had to wait a while. The acting (especially the arrow through the apple scene) kept things going pretty well, though I admit I was getting a little antsy.
My buddy told me that the book was entirely through Katniss' point of view. And it appears the writers did a clever job of putting seemingly unfilmable stuff onscreen via performances and play-by-play commentators.
While I was intrigued by the love triangle, the film makers could've done a better job of making Hutcherson more likable. And I was already a big fan of his before the film. Basically, their reason for attraction was surviving such a harrowing experience together, but it never seemed to come off on screen. Instead, Liam Hemsworth made a better impression in just two scenes. My buddy told me that Katniss was more manipulative in the book, which may explain the odd onscreen chemistry of Lawrence and Hutcherson. Actually she felt like the love triangle was one of the weaker parts of the film.
Also, I had trouble feeling the emotions of the sisters, simply because there wasn't much screen time between them before Katniss volunteers herself.
As for changes from the book, my buddy and I wished that Katniss was more of an unlikable character. Not just in terms of her being calculating, but her inability to process emotions, basically not being nice but still sympathetic. My buddy said it best: "She's a deeply flawed person and we don't see enough protagonists like that in this kind of story." According to her, Gamemaster Crane was played up, while she wished Haymitch's arc wasn't reduced so much.
Enough has been said about the shaky handheld cinematography, so I'll just say that I hated it.
Bottom line, The Hunger Games was a well-acted, and according to my buddy, well-adapted, set up. Now we'll just have to see if the film makers can delivery the goods and payoffs.
