It's Battle Royale...In PG-13!

Rating: 8/10 (14 August 2012)

Alright, I'm going to be honest. I thought this film was going to be terrible. I really did. I've read all the books, and I thought they were okay, but not really worth all the hype. Then I saw the film, and I was blown away. This was one of the best films of 2012, and I cannot wait for the sequels to come out, although I am a little upset that they're splitting Mockingjay into two films! Oh, and by the way, there is a film just like this one; it came out 10 years ago, was called Battle Royale, and it was better than this, even though this film was excellent.
The film takes place in a dystopia future, where the world was destroyed by an unknown event. The area that survived, now called Panem (North America), is now split into 12 districts, all ruled by The Capitol. We find out that the districts attempted to overthrow the capital, but they were defeated, resulting in the destruction of District 13. Now, for the past 74 years, two citizens of each district; a boy and a girl, all between the ages of 12 and 18, are sent to die in a tournament called the Hunger Games. The last person standing receives a lifetime of fame and fortune, and the district reaps the benefits. This film follows 16-year old Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) of District 12, an expert archer, who volunteers to take her younger sister's place in the games. Her partner, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), is a baker, and they come with a strategy of pretending to fall in love with each other in order to look good and get help from the outside world during the games. They are guided by Haymitch (a great Woody Harrelson), a drunkard who is the only surviving winner from District 12 (only two from the district have ever won).
They head for the Capital, and are trained, and they meet the other tributes. Here is the movie's biggest flaw; most of these characters actually had bigger parts in the book. Here, they run around and get killed off. Only Rue from District 11 is given any substantial screen time, but it's still not enough. President Snow (Donald Sutherland) is the wicked leader of the totalitarian Capital, and he doesn't want District 12 to win, because it results in the poorer districts (9, 10, 11, 12), to stand up and want to rebel again. The games are overseen by Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley) and the Gamemakers, who add new obstacles in order to make the games exciting. Those two were barely in the first book, so their larger part in this film is very welcome.
Eventually, our two heroes work together to try and win, and I won't spoil anything else. This was a very well done film. The actors are great, especially Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman and Lenny Kravitz as Cinna. The effects are all well done, and the cinematography, which I heard people didn't like, is also pretty good. Director Gary Ross (who sadly isn't directing the next film) did a great job translating the book to the big screen, and it was a success. Hope the sequels are as good as this. "May the odds ever be in your favor".
Final Verdict: 8/10