Refreshing, hopeful adaptation of a teenage novel.

Rating: 8/10 (28 March 2012)

When it comes to film adaptations of successful (some only financially)novels, I'm one of the first to groan, and I'd argue with good reason too with some of the trash that has been produced in recent years - mostly novels with an intended teenage audience such as myself. I'd normally sit watching the film picking out parts that have been done differently in the book and complain to anyone that will listen. HOWEVER believe me when I say the hunger games is different.
The main problem for me in films of this line, e.g the most recent Harry Potter films and even the twilight saga, is the awful, awkward dialogue that is near painful to watch. It's hugely refreshing to see none of these forced, clichéd lines in this film. Gary Ross and Billy Ray do a great job writing the script whilst not losing the essence of Katniss. Bringing in Suzanne Collins was also a great idea, I'm sure she helped in changing the story slightly to suit a film yet keeping all important details the same.
The imagery in the film was just fantastic, my favourite part in the whole film was at the start, where your given a brief tour of district 12 as Katniss ventures through the district out towards the woods. It's more perfect than what I'd imagined whilst reading the book and really shows the desperation and poverty of these people. The Reaping was the other part I loved, the way it was done was brilliant and it helped you to identify with these people, the graveness of their situation and the cruel, threatening dominion the Capitol exhibits. The costumes were also notably well picked out in this part, the best outfits of all the people were all a dull, faded grey colour. This draws parallels with concentration camps in Nazi Germany and creates this sense of despair which even as part of the audience you feel and you pity these people.
The Acting in this film is almost flawless also, I'm such a sceptic when it comes to child/teenage actors but pretty much everyone in the cast plays their role brilliantly. A huge amount of credit to Jennifer Lawrence who fully embodies Katniss Everdeen and personifies every thing written about her in the novels. After pulling off a brilliant performance in Winters Bone and now this, I fully expect her to grow from strength to strength and have a very bright future ahead. The other mention-worthy performance in the film was by Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman who stole the show in each scene he was in. The cast all gelled exceedingly well together and it was an all round great performance from everyone which made the film a much more pleasant 2 and a half hours.
The only complaint I had was the violence. I feel slightly cheated by how much we actually get to see. It is avoided with clever camera shots which dart around but in my opinion not enough. I'm not looking for excessive gore, I just think a little more may have been useful in keeping the audience drawn to the seriousness and desperation of the tributes. However I do appreciate that they obviously wanted the film available to a younger audience and adding in this violence may have increased the certificate.
All in all it's a very good film and even better when you consider they've adapted it from a successful book with a cast full of young, teenage actors. It's definitely worth a watch and I recommend it fully.