Mediocre in every sense of the word

Rating: 6/10 (18 July 2012)

Before I went too see this film I had these rave reviews calling it the "film for our generation" and "best of the decade" and the huge amount of buzz circulating the film led me to think I was going to see something special.How wrong I was this film is your average blockbuster that seems to be borrowing elements from lots of different films so I really don't see the striking bold originality everyone's being raving about. First off the acting is monotone, there's no character development, Jennifer Lawrence is the epitome of un-engaging and the film has nothing special about it everything is average, the directing- average,the dialogue-average, the sets-average and the soundtrack-.... you guessed it AVERAGE. Imagine this a dumbed down blockbuster version of BATTLE ROYALE with a Truman show undertone, then sprinkle a bit of harry potter and the goblet of fire on top then steal the fith element wardrobe and bang you have the hunger games. Now don't get me wrong I'm not just jumping on the anti hunger games band wagon I wanted to like this film its directed by Gary Ross who brought us "sea biscuit" and "pleasentville" two great movies (a younger Toby.M would have made a good peter right?)but this film is recycling a point we've seen done better in battle royale. The editing is okay at first it worked in the action since the shaky cam made it seem fast and frantic and it coincided with the brutality but too keep it a lower age rating they had to take this too an extreme to a point the action is impossible to follow and hence forth boring.Did I mention all the meaningless and unanswered back story's and sub plots that never get answered. The film has neither style nor substance.And I haven't even mentioned the lame ending,the half baked romance and the laughable special effects and fx (THE Fire).However I did like the character of Peter he was interesting and Josh.h played him well I wanted to see more of him, I also felt the film was paced well.
So in conclusion The Hunger Games is decent and you will be entertained but after the initial thrill you will realise it was just a mediocre film.
p.s. I have read the book and it is better than the film, it also solves some of my gripes but its still not amazing its a good book but it is pretty over hyped.