Good movie, played it too safe

Rating: 7/10 (25 March 2012)

The Hunger Games, as many of you know was a very violent book. If you're expecting violence from this movie you're not going to be satisfied. While the story was well executed, and the acting was nothing to complain about, the main problem is the the camera work. The camera is extremely shaky in this movie. The reason for this is 3 reasons: one to save money, two to cover up the gore and violence, and three to build up tension. Probably the goriest visual in the movie is a close up of a cut or two. I am only complaining about that because many people that have read the book have told me how violent it was. Because the main audience of The Hunger Games trilogy is young adults they made the horrible mistake of making this movie PG13. The books, so I've heard, should get a solid R. They purposefully toned down the violence making for a relatively boring character story. Don't get me wrong the character development was superb, but due to the lack of scenes with actual visible violence it is hard to see that the characters are in any real danger. Also without the violence there isn't that sense of disgust towards the antagonists. It all seemed like a game show and the acting does not provoke terror into the audience. Because the characters do not look like their terrified. The actors made the horrible decision of not going past their limits. In other words these were actors who didn't take the emotional part of the film and run with it for the fear of looking stupid. Since the actors didn't want to do more than they wanted to, the main way to instill suspense is through gruesome violence. But no you can't have that because the director thought it was suppose to PG-13. By the way what's so horrible that you can't market a movie that's rated R towards young adults? "I would really want to go see The Hunger Games but it's rate R and my parents would have to come and then I wouldn't look cool." No! If you are not willing to go see a film with a guardian than you are not mature enough to watch the film. I honestly think they could've made this PG, that's toned down the film was. On the bright side though some of the characters do have humorous lines, and there some very interesting characters. If you like the book rent this movie. My Verdict: 6/10: To rent and watch once.