Better than Twilight but still a load of rubbish

Rating: 3/10 (25 March 2012)

Where to begin.. I did not have high expectations, but went to see the film yesterday, which was the opening weekend. Interestingly we had no trouble getting good seats at very short notice even though the media had hyped the film as being "sold out" all weekend.
First of all, any film about kids requires young actors and therefore the level of acting falls instantly - young people are often not great actors, generally speaking. Having said that, Jennifer Lawrence in the lead role of Katniss was excellent. It's a pity the rest of the film let her down. Like so many films these days, the PR and spin machine went into total overdrive in the weeks leading up the release - here in Australia, the trailer and PR blitz lead me to believe that Liam Hemsworth (Australian actor who plays Gale) was actually the star of the film! In reality, however, he had total screen time of about 6 minutes and was basically no more than a glorified extra - in fact, some extras had more screen time than him. But that is just typical of the media these days - they think that if they push the local talent people will flock to see it. Just as well we hardly saw him in the film because he was just terrible. He should really go back to his daytime soap job or maybe make another flop with Miley Cyrus.
But back to the film. technically it wasn't very good either. The visual effects ranged from OK to just embarrassing. Having worked in the industry for many years there several scenes where I just cringed at the sloppiness of some of the effects work - it looked as though they let some intern have a go on Final Cut Pro. Particularly the chariot scene when Katniss and co become engulfed in fire. Fail.
The films borrows extensive from other films (as many people have noted), and sometimes I forgot what I was actually watching - Minority Report? Bladerunner? The Truman Show? And a few times, when the CG was particularly fake looking, I was reminded of Star Wars Ep 1.
But back to the "acting", and I use the term very loosely. Fail. There will be no Oscar nominees from this bunch, I can tell you.
Was it the worst film I have ever seen? Definitely not. Did I want the 2.5 hrs of my life back? No. Was it worth $22 at the cinema? No. Was it better than Twilight? Yes, but that is a very low benchmark to compare against.
If I was to summarise it in one sentence, it would be like this: "A forgettable teenage action/adventure with a few surprises and one noteworthy performance (Jennifer Lawrence) but overall lacking in substance and coherence and probably better left for viewing when it comes out on DVD".