A highly enjoyable and promising start to the series

Rating: 8/10 (18 August 2012)

Gary Ross' film begins with Jennifer Lawrence living in a rural community, being the glue keeping together a fatherless, almost- penniless household, with the camera-work intimate and indie-styled, and the music sparse. But wait, this isn't a sequel to Winter's Bone, is it? No, instead what we have here is (as I'm sure you're aware) the much anticipated adaptation of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games (Collins also serves as one of the film's three screenwriters), set in a post- apocalyptic US entitled Panem, where, in order to keep the youth in line and civil order maintained, 24 randomly selected 12-18 year olds are forced to fight to the death until one remains.
Of all the good things about the film, its shining star comes in the form of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen; from the moment she steps on screen she exudes a magnetic, presence; her performance is strong, convincing, emotional, and at times, vulnerable. She's a firm and consistently engaging central figure, who only benefits the film, bringing it to heights it may not have otherwise reached. But it's not all that surprising when you take into account the fact that she's the second youngest actress ever to receive a nomination for the Best Actress Oscar.
Lawrence is also backed up by a terrific supporting cast, including a shabbily charismatic Woody Harrelson, and even if he's only Basil Exposition, he's still enjoyable in the part; Stanley Tucci and Elizabeth Banks are entertaining as media-minded Caesar Flickerman and Effie Trinket. Wes Bentley and Donald Sutherland also make memorable impressions in significant roles with small screen time. However, Toby Jones barely utters a word.
I was taken aback by Josh Hutcherson, that while he may not be a astounding actor, he works quite well as Peeta Mellark, in the occasionally damsel-in-distress-like role, being believably vulnerable against Lawrence's resilient Katniss and even if their chemistry doesn't sparkle just yet, there's three more films for it to catch fire (wocka wocka).
While the film does indeed plant the seeds of love triangle, it is more focused on the Games themselves; And while Ross doesn't take the material's satirical promise as far as it could go, it's still laid on the table; making a statement about exploitation, the class divide, government distrust, repression and reality television. Because when you boil it down to its most basic, it is about kids killing kids. This could all have come across as strikingly tasteless on screen, but Ross works in the confines of a PG-13/12 certificate, effectively delivering violence that makes you feel the pain. He does this without making it overly gratuitous or alienating the target audience. The intense and frantic start to the Games illustrates this as we witness all the Tributes against each other, with bodies falling like dominoes and the horror of the carnage retained.
The film is not without its flaws – Ross' frequent use of shaky-cam in the film's action sequences is understandable, but it makes the action somewhat confusing and dizzying (maybe that's the point), but in a particular fight, each blow is delivered in hand-held flashes detracting from my enjoyment of said scene. The pacing in the second half is also uneven, at times it feels brisk, at others overly slow; not that I have a problem with slow pacing, it's just that the briskness of the first half's pacing is slightly at odds with the second half's, where Ross appears in no rush. One last gripe I had was that the finale was anticlimactic, (it was obviously designed to lead into the sequel) but I'll say no more to avoid spoilers. Yet these are minor flaws that can be ignored as it didn't destroy the experience of the film, because from start to finish, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Many have made this clear and so will I: this is not the new Twilight, nor has it ever been - shoddy visual effects, stilted performances and cheesy dialogue are nowhere to be seen – instead this is something much better. More sophisticated than Twilight and darker than Harry Potter, this is a grounded, thoughtful, very well-acted and at times emotional film, which is also a very promising start to this franchise. Let's just hope the odds will ever be in its favour.