This is a bit different than my usual school blog, but I wanted to post this and since I already have this blog, I thought I'd take a little detour from the school stuff and post this review here. Cheers!
The Hunger Games – A.R. Burns
4/6/12 - 8:00 p.m. show
The majority of people in the theater were young girls roughly from the age range of 14 – 24. There were some couples out for a Friday date night and some guys there, but the theater population was about 70% female. The majority of the people were white and I heard at least two instances of kids bringing their parents to the movie. The kids had read the books, the parents had not. Due to the reactions in the theater at certain places in the movie, I’d say about 40-50% of the people at this showing had not read the books.
The Appetizers:
First trailer was for the WWF. It would appeal to the male demographic and helps set the violent tone of the evening. Next up was a spot for the Metropolitan Opera featuring celebs like Katie Couric and Christine Baranski. Then there was a PSA for autism – the one with the golf pro in it whose son is autistic. Next up was a trailer for the new G.I. Joe film starring Channing Tatum and The Rock. It was very violent, showed a corrupt state, featured a multi-racial cast and equal violence from the male and female characters. Next was Snow White and the Huntsman. The more I see of the trailers for this movie, the dumber it looks. Also – K Stew cannot rock a British accent even after shagging one for years. The violence was mostly on the female side with Charlize Theron’s queen being all evil and vengeful; they are trying to bill K Stew’s Snow White as a badass. The tag line is “evil fights destiny” – an interesting tie-in with this film. Next we have the trailer for Dark Shadows, which continues to look like a train wreck every time I see it, from Johnny Depp’s ridiculous wardrobe and makeup to the setting of the 70’s. This was another appeal for the males in the audience as there were boobs and innuendo aplenty. Next was a quick trailer of The Host, which looks ridiculous as well. Following that was the trailer for What To Expect When You’re Expecting. They gave it the heavy appeal-to-guys cut and featured mostly the dads and Chris Rock in it. Finally we got the trailer for Breaking Dawn II and all I can say about that is thank god it’s almost over.
The Main Course:
My first note was “I love her boots!” And I did. Those lace-up boots were awesome – I want a pair! For me, the beginning was kind of odd. They did a good job setting up that Katniss is a good hunter and tracker and that she is a strong female. Amazingly enough, before the first ten minutes are up she’s already had the I-don’t-want-to-have-kids discussion with Gale. I found absolutely no chemistry whatsoever between Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Helmsworth. He’s pretty and all, but there was just no spark there.
The Mockinjay pin was introduced via Katniss trading in the market rather than it being a gift from the mayor’s daughter. Katniss gives it to Prim for protection (fat lot of good that does) and then Prim gives it back to her after Katniss volunteers at the Reaping. A main difference that hit me in the beginning of the film was how Katniss came off the page to me as kind of emotionless and distant, but as portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence and directed by this director, she is extremely emotional and not quite as hardcore as she was in the books. It was one of the first instances in which the film differs from the books in bringing a human face to such a dark world.
The Reaping was very reminiscent to me of Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery”. The Capitol’s propaganda film at the beginning of the Reaping reminded me very strongly of the Marine recruiting ads on TV. The choosing of Prim and the volunteering of Katniss to take her place is much more emotional on film. The little girl playing Prim did a great job and her screaming for Katniss gets to you. The salute is given to Katniss when she volunteers from the crowd – did that happen in the book? It’s been a while since I read them, but it was a beautiful moment. From the beginning, and this is straight from my notes, “Peeta is a world class pussy”. Josh Hutcherson is a good actor and all, but he just is not the way I envisioned Peeta and in the beginning he really did play him very wussy. In my mind, from reading the book, Peeta had a lot of backbone and stoicism. I dunno, it was just weird for me.
Elizabeth Banks disappears in that makeup. Effie was a frivolous and ridiculous character in the book, but I found the wardrobe and the way Banks played her (or was directed to play her) had me hating that character every time she was on my screen. By contrast, the way Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch was introduced was kinda cool. He was kinda badass there and I think Harrelson was definitely the right pick for the job. Another excellent casting choice was Lenny Kravitz as Cinna. I know a lot of people complained about this, but I always saw Cinna as being unwilling to play the Capitol’s game and Kravitz played him true to the way he was in my mind. Another casting choice a lot of people disagreed with was Rue, but I found her adorable and perfect.
The first glimpse of the child-on-child violence as seen in reviews of previous Hunger Games footage is very jarring and really brings to life the horror of this world. This is a place where this is conducted as sport and it’s very shocking at first. Also from my notes during the training scenes: “do they train for Survivor like this?” The whole thing once they reach the Capitol is just the epitome of reality television and that is the one thing about these books – it could happen. People are already doing insane things on reality TV for notoriety and fame – I can totally see killing being the next level.
The scene where Cinna is seeing Katniss off to the platform/tube is phenomenally done. Lawrence’s shaking was spot-on and the Katniss-eye-view camera work that is done there and at other points in the film adds a lot to the feel of those moments. At the showing I went to, the bloodbath at the cornucopia left the theater completely silent – you seriously could have heard a pin drop. There were some intakes of breath and one or two “oh my god”s, but mostly it was just silent horror. Again, the violence is visceral, but it needs to be to be true to the story and its overall message.
The way the games are orchestrated and you see the behind-the-scenes action with Seneca Crane, President Snow, and the people at the controls really shows how fucked up this world is. The way they manipulate things for enjoyment, cut in with scenes from the Capitol and the other districts watching and reacting, really brings it home. In some ways, on film it’s even more of an indictment against reality programming.
Rue, from the beginning in the games, is awesome. So cute. I did, however, find her death scene a little less gut wrenching on film than in the book. I don’t know why, it just didn’t stab me. I think it might have something to do with the fact that in the book there is so much more interaction between Rue and Katniss before her death than there was in the film. At any rate, it just didn’t kill me like it did in the book. The riot in District 11 I also didn’t remember happening in the book, but it was very well done and honest in the film.
Hutcherson and Lawrence did a good job of showing the evolution of that relationship playing out on the game screens. The final scene at the cornucopia was another letdown, as were the muttations. In the books, Katniss sees they have the eyes of the other dead players in the games and that makes them even more horrific – that was another scene that lost some of its punch for me. The ending, when Katniss and Peeta win and are declared winners brought a lot of applause in the theater I was in. The ending of the film was a bit bizarre (wasn’t Seneca part of the resistance, or am I remembering it wrong?), but it set up the next film nicely.
Overall, for a book-to-screen film, I’d give this a solid A. This actually is a good film and I believe both it and the book series have a strong message. I wouldn’t let kids, say, under 16 go and see it by themselves and, were I a parent, I'd prefer to go and see this with my kids and discuss it after. This is a film to prompt serious discussions. There is a lot of violence, but I didn’t find it gratuitous or unnecessary. On the contrary, I found it just visceral enough to underscore the meaning and bring into life the reality of a government making districts give up 24 children each year to go into an arena and murder one another for sport and entertainment. I walked out of the theater hearing everyone else talking about it, comparing it to the books, and not hearing anyone, even the younger viewers, consider it just meaningless movie violence – and I think that is an important feat in itself. Good film, I’d recommend it and I recommend the books even more.
That’s my take on The Hunger Games. Cheers!