The World Is Watching.

Rating: 7/10 (3 April 2012)

The Capitol selects one boy and one girl from each of the 12 districts to compete in a fight till the death on live television event. 24 enter, one leaves, this is the Hunger Games.
It's incredibly hard not to compare this film to Battle Royale, I hate to do so, but the similarities are there and unfortunately for The Hunger Games, Battle Royale did it better. In the end, I did like it, but I can't help but feel that it was a lot of build up, with a mediocre delivery of the most important aspect of the film. They talk about how deadly the games are, how it's a fight for survival, but I never really felt that danger. I really do hate comparing it to Battle Royale, but that had a sense of danger. Battle Royale felt deadly, the characters seemed like they've been through hell, you felt sad to see characters die, here, not so much. The most deadly part was the bloodbath that occurred when characters ran to their weapons, then it seemed to be an autopilot. I might be the only one to say this, but this would actually work better as a television show. That way we can feel how devastating these games are, how long they are, how deadly they are. The film does not get this point across, at least not to me.
Jennifer Lawrence was good in the lead role of Katniss, the only volunteer for the games. She shows how brave and heroic a female character can be (you suck Bella). She kicks more ass than any other character. That's another downfall, none of the other kids are really memorable. I wanted something unique for each kid to be memorable, but if they didn't speak a line, they were basically ghosts. There are 24 kids, with the exception of the obvious (Lawrence, Hutcherson, the "villain" kid, and the little black girl) everyone else fades away. I'm not asking for screen time to be dedicated to each one, but make some of them memorable. I knew who the redhead was because she had red hair, that's it. Again, Battle Royale did this right. They had the tech guys, the evil guy, the medical girls, the crazy girl, the romantics, the hero, etc. The smallest detail is enough to make someone in the background memorable. I had no idea who was dying.
The supporting characters are poorly written, specifically Hutherson's character Peeta. Hell, Liam Hemsworth's character Gale does absolutely nothing in the film except brood about Katniss, and yet one little scene where he grabs her little sister to take to her mother screams more about his character than anything Peeta does. Banks, Kravitz and Harrelson all serve to make Katniss all that she can be. Harrelson has some backstory to him, he won a previous game and has since become an alcoholic.
I hope more of the world is explored in the follow up films. They barely scratch the surface here, just the basics are given, which is really all we need for the first one, but I was hoping for a bit more of this world to be shown, specifically the Districts. I actually thought that all three books were about the games and that's what the films would be about. So when they wrapped up the game, I thought to myself, where are they going to go from here? But I suspect there will be some uprising and new characters introduced. As a stand lone flick, The Hunger Games works. It doesn't really leave you wanting to go deeper into the story, but it does tell the story it needs to tell and leaves it in a bow for you. It may not be a nice little bow, but it's enough.
The detractors of the film are many, like the love between Katniss and Peeta. It's never really explained if she does love him or if she is only doing it for the show and to survive. I suspect the latter will eventually turn into the former, but as of right now, the film does not make this clear. The shaky camera work distracts as well. Even when no action is taking place, we are all over the screen, making it hard to connect to those speaking. The film is also a tad lengthy, which can be bothersome to some, running at two hours and twenty minutes.
Despite those nitpicks, the film is entertaining. I guess I just expected a bit more from it, hearing rave reviews and it making millions. The training sequences are exciting and the initial build up, mainly the countdown, to the actual games is thrilling. As I said, I did like the film, I just had to point out those problems. As a film targeted towards teens, I recommend it.