A well done adaptation

Rating: 8/10 (9 May 2012)

Having read the trilogy before seeing the film, I was really excited to see if the film (directed by Gary Ross) would reflect the excellence of the first book. I was pleased to find that while not by any means perfect, the film did a more than decent job of depicting the Hunger Games universe.
The film is set in a dystopian future in which young people are made to fight to the death for the pleasure of the government in the titular reality TV show. It follows the struggle of Katniss Everdeen to survive alongside her male counterpart, Peeta, after she takes the place of her younger sister, Prim, in said competition.
There were a lot of things that I liked about the film. First and foremost would have to be Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal of Katniss. Lawrence proved once again that she isn't just a pretty face with her strikingly authentic performance which conveys determination, fearlessness, and yet also vulnerability. Other elements which stand out include Stanley Tucci's crowd-pleasing TV show host, the clever 'news broadcast' mechanic that Ross uses to adapt the first-person written story into a movie format, and the look and feel of the Hunger Games arena and the beautiful scenes within the high tech Capitol.
However, my main gripe with the film was Ross's over-use of the shaky hand-held camera effect which disrupted at times my immersion into the narrative. I was also a little disappointed by the fact that some scenes in the games themselves were neutered to cater for the 12A target demographic, but despite this I still got a sense of their brutality and its implications.
I would thoroughly recommend that both fans and non-fans of the literary trilogy check out The Hunger Games at the cinema for an exciting and also thought-provoking experience.