I'm shocked! I loved it!

Rating: 8/10 (22 April 2012)

First there was Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, then Twilight and now we have The Hunger Games. Let me start by saying much kudos to the film on being popular by word of the mouth because normally we are bombarded with crazy advertising for a film like this but instead I didn't see that much honestly. I think the film relied more on it's fan base than anything for the box office numbers and it really did pay off. My fiancé and I actually waited until this weekend to see The Hunger Games to see it with a not so crowded theater and still it was pretty packed. I didn't know what to expect and to be honest I thought I would never get into this film but I'm surprised to say that I really did like this movie and actually bought the book because of it. For a long time it felt like the teenager's intelligence was just being insulted with the bad writing with Twilight and I gave up hope for them. The Hunger Games is an intelligent well thought out story that has a clever take on our society and isn't afraid to tell you the truth.
The nation of Panem, formed from a post-apocalyptic North America, consists of a wealthy Capitol and twelve poorer surrounding districts. As a punishment for a previous rebellion against the Capitol by the districts, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district are selected by an annual lottery to participate in the Hunger Games, an event in which the "tributes" must fight in an arena controlled by the Capitol until there is only one victor. Katniss, a 16-year-old girl from District 12, volunteers for the Hunger Games in place of her younger sister. Peeta, a baker's son is also selected. Katniss and Peeta are taken to the Capitol, where their drunken mentor, former Games victor, instructs them to watch and learn the talents of the other tributes. They get to go on TV and get treated like celebrities until the games begin and now must face survival and death.
I thought the film was very clever on what would life be like if we were put into situations like this. I thought the "tributes" were treated more like American Idol contestants and that was very believable. I liked the characters and they were not only believable but they were likable. Jennifer Lawrence does a really good job as Katniss along with Woody Harrelson, Lenny Kravitz and Elizabeth Banks. The costumes were so creepy but believable that they would be considered the high fashions of the time. The action scenes were very exciting and also so sad and intense. These are kids who have to not only kill each other but face the possibility of dying before they can experience so much of what life has to offer. My only complaint of the film was the shaky cam effect. I don't mind when there's not much action going on in the movie, but when the action is happening, we couldn't tell who was getting killed and what was going on. Thank goodness this wasn't 3D because I would've had a big headache. Also I felt like the film cuts short on giving any of the other tributes any kind of character development that you really don't feel for them as much.
But I thought this was a great movie and a good start to the summer blockbuster films. I have to admit that I will probably buy this when it's released on blu ray and will read the books, it seems like a really interesting story. I'm looking forward to the sequels and most of all I'm just glad that we will have a franchise again where the story is just plain exciting and we're dying to see what happens to our hero's next. I would recommend for you to see this film before it leaves the theaters. It's one that should be experienced on the big screen because of the scope of the movie, the sets are great and it's a movie that you really could get into. Looking forward to seeing what Katniss will do next now that she's ticked off the rich.
8/10