Movie Review: The Hunger Games

Title:  The Hunger Games (2012)
Rating:  PG-13
Director:  Gary Ross
Main Cast:  Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth

In a dystopian future, the totalitarian nation of Panem is divided between 12 districts and the Capitol. Each year two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal retribution for a past rebellion, the televised games are broadcast throughout Panem. The 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors while the citizens of Panem are required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss's young sister, Prim, is selected as District 12's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart Peeta, are pitted against bigger, stronger representatives, some of whom have trained for this their whole lives. 

My Thoughts:  The first word that comes to mind when I think about this movie?  Shaky.  The shaky camera work in this film was pretty distracting.  I felt as though some person with a hand held camera was just running around in the woods following Katniss and Peeta through the games.  

Besides that, I felt like this was a great movie!  It stuck fairly closely to the book and I really had nothing to complain about while watching.  They did a wonderful job of building up the tension and really making me feel for the characters.  When they did the Reaping and Katniss volunteered - holy cow, that was amazingly done.  Prim calling out for her sister was so heart breaking.  I definitely began to tear up.  I also loved seeing the capitol.  It was super interesting to experience the training room and all of the interviews.  It was so cool to be able to see the outfits that all of the tributes wore.  I felt like the visual effects were decent, as well.  Nothing seemed terribly fake to me and I felt like that could have easily happened had they gone a different way with the effects.  But in all, everything was very realistic looking and easy to believe.  

The actors and actresses did a fabulous job, in my opinion.  I especially loved Woody Harrelson who played Haymich.  He was great comic relief but was also serious when need be.  He fit in wonderfully with the rest of the cast and I felt like they all worked very well together.  Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss) was great as Katniss and I felt for her the entire time she was on the screen.  My chest ached at her story and I was incredibly frustrated and angered by the situation she had been put in.  

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Catching Fire, the second book to movie adaption in the Hunger Games series.  I'm hoping the director puts some thought into the criticisms of the first book (shaky camera) and work to fix them in the next movie!

     Four Cards

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