The Hunger Games (2012)

First off, I haven’t read any of the books, just so you know. Up until recently, I wasn’t really interested in seeing this. It’s being called the new Twilight (2008) franchise, but that’s really only because it’s a new series of films based on popular young adult books. This is leagues better than Twilight, to be sure. The other reason I was hesitant was that it just seemed like a rip-off of Battle Royale (2000). While similar in plot, they’re definitely not the same thing. Anyway, I actually ended up liking it a lot. I was afraid it would be too ‘Hollywood’, but it wasn’t. I wouldn’t call it “edgy” or anything, but it didn’t stick to the conventions I expected. For example, minimal music is used in the film. There were several moments where I expected big orchestral swells and there weren’t any. I liked that a lot, though they went a little far with it a couple of times. The use of the ‘shaky cam’ was a little much at times too, but mostly it didn’t bother me. It wasn’t really gory or anything, but there was enough violence that it didn’t feel cheapened. I thought Jennifer Lawrence in the lead role was really good, and Stanley Tucci was a lot of fun. I was really happy with the length of the film, too. It’s over 2 hours and I was glad because it really felt like it needed to be and it didn’t drag. I almost think maybe it would’ve worked even better as a cable TV show instead. Despite all this praise, I’m not saying the film was without flaws. There were a few things that were just plain stupid and took away from the film’s strengths. One part that has pretty sub-standard CGI was particularly bothersome. I don’t think they explained the ‘world’ of the film enough for my liking, either. Overall, though, I quite enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to the next films in the series.