The hunger games take on Battle Royale... but wait PG 13??

Rating: 2/10 (26 March 2012)

OK i was really anticipating this movie, i did not read the book but i am a huge fan of Battle Royale and the concept of humans natural instinct for survival. However, I thought this movie could overcome what battle Royale lacked, i was expecting this movie to not just entertain but also send a powerful message, to let viewers ponder the direction the media is leading our society. The difference in class, the desensitization of violence and the concentration of wealth and power and etc. The hype of the movie and high ratings made me feel this movie will explore all these issues which Battle Royale did not.
At last i saw the movie last night, and lets start off with the good news. This movie was better than.. Twilight? and the Last air bender? The reason this was better was because the lead actress was just a better actor than the ghetto low life so called actors they found from the streets for twilight and last air bender.
Now for the bad news..Let see where to start.. OK the rest of the cast was pathetic, the Antagonist was none existent, there was no story build up for any other characters, the Arrogant and deadly tributes from District 1 and 2 were portrayed as none deadly, illogical morons. Like come on who falls asleep under a tree from there prey? The concept of survival in this movie was portrayed like a child's game. Like come on with such an amazing movie like Battle Royale built at the foundation of this movie, i thought the director would learn and improve? If the movie followed mostly from the book then the author clearly does not know the concept of survival. For example One of the tributes from District 1 was displayed as the deadly and arrogant Alpha male, which lacked any intelligence. However, in the movie it seem every other contestant were equally as childish and retarded. The rules of the Hunger Games were simple, there will be 1 victor yet you have an alliance formed with one of the most arrogant and apparently deadly character? Has anyone ever considered that in situations like this the weak normally team up together to take down a power foe yet you have these idiots working together with this Arrogant moron which they know he will finish them off easily once everyone is dead? The movie just lacked intelligence, the film does not show in any scale that there was any in depth understanding of the human mind and how potentially more dangerous it is compared to a dumb ogre with sheer strength. None of the tributes had any sheer will to survive it seem for them if they die it was no big deal. It seemed the mere thought of life and getting to live was not powerful enough to drive the tributes to actually use their F... brains. The Hunger game was made into a run around game where you have people running around like idiots with no purpose. I was surprise that the Hunger game did not have a time limit. The reason that Battle Royale had a time limit and deadly time zones was to show that this is no joke and life itself was on the line. The hunger games made it seem like it was a camping trip more than a battle for survival.
The movie portrays District 12 as the concentration camps and people there are like living thru the holocaust yet the main character doesn't seem like shes been missing too many meals. The protagonist appears to be a very a confusing and conflicting character, at first she appears to be stuck up but very determined to survive and return to her sister. Yet as soon as the games begin there was no determination to survive nor any real thought about the severity of the situation. The protagonist mainly ran away many times and at times when she had perfect shots at her enemies she decides to do nothing. By the way her arrows seem to be infinite (absolutely ridiculous). The hunger games had a slogan "may the odds be in your favour" or something yet the whole set up was unbalanced and unfair. Unlike battle Royale where the students were given random packages making it impartial to what kind of weapons you get, the hunger games basically had some swords, bows and arrows n some daggers set in the middle arena so the big bad ogre will easily win? I'm sorry in a futuristic world you cant think of ways to make this more interesting like come on? The movie creates an illusion of hope that some characters may be more cleaver than it seems like the character Peeta, at times you feel he has a brilliant plan to survive by deceiving everyone and yet at the end of the movie it shows he wasn't anything special, no plans, no hidden agenda just a simple plot that appeals to the twilight fans.
I suppose the biggest disappointment lies within the fact that the plot had so much potential to be great yet it wasn't. The director went with cheesy amateur filming styles IE shaky camera scenes and thought the futuristic special effects from avatar will be enough to impress its audience. I felt at the end of the movie, the worst part of this dreadful teenage flick was the fact it gives you hope. After 1.5 hour of dull character development, Adam Lambert costumes and avatar special effects, you hope that there will be some sort of fulfilment, a raging battle scene or an in depth exploration of human instinct but in the end the only thing that one can learn from this movie is you just wasted 2.5 hours of your life enduring another twilight, last air bender type of crap