"May the odds be ever in your favor."

Rating: 7/10 (11 April 2012)

"May the odds be ever in your favor."
Check out my full review at: http://reelstorymovies.blogspot.com/2012/04/hunger-games.html
The Hunger Games was a disturbing sci-fi dystopian tale of futuristic North America, that has been replaced by Panem, a country made up of 12 districts ruled by a dictatorship called the Capitol, who yearly pits one male and one female (ages 14-19 years old) from each district against each other in an arena in a battle to the death until one child remains.
Visually, the movie is beautiful and has cool special effects as described in the young adult novel published with the same name. However, the disturbing plot is the less brilliant aspect of the film. The movie takes a long time to get into the meat of the story, namely, the Hunger Games. Much of the time, the film feels more like someone is reading you a (more boring) book instead of actually watching it.
This is not a compliment. The movie feels like it follows very closely with the book (something I have read), but there are parts where instead of connecting emotionally with the characters and really feeling the fear, the exhilaration, or the remorse of the "games".
Part of the problem with the film is that much of the book consists of Katniss, the lead character, and her thoughts and emotions running through her. The author, Suzanne Collins (a writer for Emmy-nominated children's hits Clarissa Explains it All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo among other things) uses the countless thoughts and emotions surging through Katniss' brain to tell the tale of her emotions and of how she copes with the horrors of living in the impoverished Seam of District 12, how she disobeys the Capitol by hunting in the off-limits forest nearby her home, and her feelings towards marriage, raising kids in a terrifying world like Panem, and her interests in two male friends.
These thoughts were not provided in the film to its detriment. Collins captures in her novels so seamlessly who Katniss really is that as readers we can relate to her, feel for her and understand her fears in such a world, whereas the movie feels more emotionally distant. It's much harder in the film to really understand these "kids" fighting against one another and oftentimes as observers, the viewers are more just watching what goes on, on the screen and reacting.
The movie lacks character development and love interests between the main characters. It struggles to really connect viewers to the grotesque acts on the scene and it really hurts the movie as a whole.
Still, millions of viewers have flocked to the film the past couple of weeks, as it has earned over $250 million at the box office in its opening two weeks, however, the film was a bit disappointing in some of the areas that are most important areas.
Jennifer Lawrence plays a terrific Katniss Everdeen and Woody Harrelson gives a memorable performance as the bumbling drunk, Haymitch Abernathy. The others give an average performance and are forgettable.
For me, I left the theater feeling disappointed at Gary Ross' attempts to re-create the same feeling Collins created in her novels. Instead of feeling for these poor kids, I feel nauseous.
My Score – Overall Rating: 6.75 out of 10 Plot: 7 out of 10 Character Development: 6 out of 10 Acting: 6 out of 10 Audio/Visuals: 8 out of 10