The Hunger Games (2012)

Rating: 6/10 (5 August 2012)

The Hunger Games will always fail in comparison to one of my favourite films of all time that shall remain nameless. The book was embarrassingly bad. Poor writing, with no idea about characterisation, conflict, or pacing. Luckily Gary Ross is a much better filmmaker than Suzanne Collins is a writer. He manages to capture those silent moments of thought which allow the audience to breathe and contemplate what is happening. Unlike Collins' non-stop 1st person narrative from Katniss, which included every one of her mundane thoughts. She's a character that doesn't speak much, and this is better represented in this film. Lawrence gives a great performance and knows when a look is more than a speech. In fact, the whole cast do well. Like the book, the first half is more interesting, as we see the build-up to the games. The ceremony and pomposity is what hides this cruel sense of torture. It's in the second half where the film (like the book) begins to lose its pace. Ross does the best he can with having to deliver a PG-13 film. There was actually more violence than expected. However, the amount of violence wouldn't have changed a thing as we simply don't know nor care about the characters killed. They are nothing but fodder for the action scenes. It's strange to feel so empty at watching kids die. There's never a question about how this film is going to end because it is too cowardly. The amount of incidental deaths caused by accident are so high it relieves these kids of making any choices. It's still a fun watch for the most part, and simply by being better than the book it deserves a lot of respect.