Something Lacking

Rating: 7/10 (22 January 2013)

I have no experience with this book series, so I went into the theater with only a cursory knowledge of what I was to see. Mostly from word of mouth and random commentary. This allowed me to view it as "just another movie." While I thought the premise interesting, I could never put aside the question as to why these events had evolved in this culture. I know the whole thing is a metaphor showing how media, left to its designs, could be the destruction of us. That said, I think that "Rollerball" used the same basic premise, the hero tilting at the oppressive gamesmen. Here we have the young woman, who in order to save a small child from certain death, finds herself in a fight for her own life. Everything is orchestrated as a TV show with smiling show host who have somehow managed to be put in positions of power. There is apparently a greater power which is never defined that has a stranglehold on the populace. Other than being chosen to be on the show, it isn't clear what their methods of control are. I guess they will starve them to death. Maybe they have weapons that could slaughter an entire population or something of this sort, but I never got the message. I thought the competition was also confusing. Why did the powers intervene at times? Was it just good television or did they have favorites? Maybe I'm dense, but I also had trouble understanding the point of some of the competitions. The acting is quite good and so are the special effects, and I didn't dislike the movie. I just felt that it left a lot of questions unanswered, and that most of the issues have been dealt with more effectively in previous films. A side-note: Other than their being visually interesting, is there any other reason for the wacky appearance of some of the characters who hold power. Are they like the people who dress up for NFL games in the most bizarre costumes, face paint in all.