Appetite for destruction depicted in fine form in "The Hunger Games"

Rating: 8/10 (1 April 2012)

There is a movie that many moviegoers have had an appetite to chew on, and it's called "The Hunger Games". Heard of it? But of course you have, most of America and the world has not only heard of this movie but have already digested "The Hunger Games" with a cinematic viewing. I did that myself and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. Based on Suzanne Collins' best-selling novel, "The Hunger Games" takes place in the future where the Capitol selects a boy and a girl (called tributes) from twelve districts to fight to the death on live television; hopefully, not the future of reality shows even though some of them have already plagued many with superficiality syndrome. In the competition, there is only one winner and the rest of the twenty-three participants will be fatally eliminated which can make any of the twenty-four participants sick to their stomach in the hunger games competition. The movie stars Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, she is the arching aficionado who volunteers to enter the hunger games replacing her kid sister Primrose who was primarily selected as the District 12 female tribute. Josh Hutcherson co-stars as Peeta Mellark, the District 12 male tribute representative selected for the hunger games in order for the Capitol to get a taste of that Peeta bred. Director Gary Ross does not dress for less this movie by brilliantly capturing the film's pulsating tone of its Darwinism competition and depicting a future of an oxymoron-like colorful darkness. Collins, Ross, and Billy Ray's screenplay was not a utopia scribe, but it did hit the verbal bulls-eye in numerous scenes. Jennifer Lawrence's starring performance as Katniss was multilayered and magnetic! It was dead on! Maybe wrong choice of words, sorry Katniss! Hutcherson's work as Peeta was mediocre at its best or maybe it was because the Kitty Katniss was more delicious than the Peeta White Bread. Woody Harrelson was hey bitchin' in his supporting work as mentor Haywitch Abernathy, and provided some of the best lines in the movie; so another kudos there for the film's screenplay. Other tasty supporting performances in "The Hunger Games" include Elizabeth Banks as District 12 spokesperson Effie Trinket, Stanley Tucci as Hunger Games' master of ceremonies Caesar Flickerman, Donald Sutherland as Capitol President Snow, and Amandla Stenberg as District 11 child tribute Hue. But it was Lawrence's tour-de-force performance that filled me up the most with thespian pleasure in "The Hunger Games". OK, I know you have had enough of my pun tributes to this movie, so I will conclude my review. So in all, I think the odds are in your favor that you will enjoy "The Hunger Games". **** Good