Most people try to compare The Hunger Games to the Twilight
films. In my mind, this just cannot be done. One features a strong female lead
who sacrifices herself for her sister and district, eventually overcoming all
obstacles and defies the oppressive government that controls her life, while
the other follows a girl who is torn between a sparkly vampire and a werewolf
who lost his shirt. Now it’s time for me to stop writing about a trashy tween
movie, and write about a cinematic masterpiece, otherwise known as The Hunger
Games.
Do you remember the midnight premier of Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows: Part Two? I sure do. All the anticipation and excitement, with
crazy people dressed as wizards and normal people waving wands at each
other…dressed as wizards. That same energy has now been transfused into The
Hunger Games, or the “Harry Potter Rebound” as I like to call it. But why this
film? Why not, say, Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill? This film has gained such a
following because of a girl: Katniss Everdeen. Audiences have finally been
given a character that they respect, admire, and thoroughly enjoy rooting for
throughout the entirety of the film. Unlike Bella (I’m sorry for all the
Twilight comparisons, but it just has to be done), the protagonist is a strong,
independent girl not searching for love or anyone to protect her. Her courage
is repeatedly shown time and time again without fault, and it is her family
that she cares for first and foremost, not a boy.
Perhaps what keeps this movie from being another failed book
adaptation is the fact that Susan Collins, author of the Hunger Games trilogy,
helped write the screenplay and was one of the producers of the film. This,
paired with Gary Ross’ (Seabiscuit, Pleasantville, and Big) excellent
directing, makes for a stellar film. Collins and Ross clearly understood what
elements of the book needed to be cut out to transform the story into a feature
length movie, and they did so without at all ruining the overall story or
characters.
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| Jennifer Lawrence is captivating in her portrayal of Susan Collin's Katniss Everdeen. |
Ah, the smooth segway into the characters. For me, every
single one of the actors portrayed their characters exactly as I had imagined
them in the books. Jennifer Lawrence
gives us a spectacular performance, securing her spot as the lead. Given that
the book is written in the first person, Lawrence was forced to somehow show
her thoughts time and time again without saying a word. You cannot only see it
in her face, but you can feel Katniss’ emotions as she struggles through
dilemma after dilemma, evaluating thoughts and emotions alike. Woody
Harrleson’s portrayal of the drunken mentor Haymitch was not as intoxicated and
blundering as I had pictured, but Donald Sutherland’s eerie performance left me
satisfied and very creeped out, just as Katniss feels when first meeting the
tyrannical President Snow.
Snow is the cause of violence in the story, and the movie
does a good job of showing how brutal the games are while maintaining a PG-13
rating. Yes, it’s a movie about teenagers fighting to the death while others
watch and bet on them, but this shouldn’t be anything new to people. Things
like this have happened numerous times throughout history, and for people to
criticize Collins for depicting it graphically is absurd.
Overall, other than a couple of things near the end, I was
very happy with this film. It stayed
true to the book, the characters were well rounded and I could easily connect
with them. The filmmakers chose wisely
when cutting material and kept the movie going at a solid pace.
Who will love this movie?
1) A liberal who believes the movie is about the 1% (the
capital) vs the 99% (everyone in the districts).
2) A conservative who believes the movie shows the
atrocities and downfalls of a government who controls everything.
3) Anyone who just likes a movie starring a hot
babe with a bow and arrow (sorry Emma Watson, Jennifer has you beat in
bad-assery this time around).
people think this movie is closly related with the twlight movies? that's absurd, how?!
ReplyDeleteIf it should be any movie, The hunger games would be more closely related with battle royale.
Have you seen that? The premise is almost identical to The Hunger Games, but Susan Collins says she got her inspiration from the story of Theseus.
DeleteI agree with you for the most part, but i had a few issues with the movie compared to the book. The fighting and action itself was way overplayed, and they completely missed a few important parts during the games. During the games, katniss never finds herself struggling to find food or water, when that was probably one of the biggest fights in the book. Also, maybe it was just me, but i would have liked to see more of her district at the beginning. In the book, Gale is a main character, in the movie he probably has less than 10 lines.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good point about the food and water, I had totally forgotten about that. Another thing I noticed is they didn't include the fact that Katniss goes half deaf after an explosion early on, and that plays a big part in the second book. Should be interesting how they factor that into the next film...
DeleteYou do have to remember that the biggest struggle here was trying to fit an entire book into a 2.5 hour long film, so some things of course had to be cut or shortened, and I think what they decided to include worked just fine. All the major events were still there, and we still got a solid understanding of each of the characters.