Hollywood's New Teen Adventure Tent Pole Does Not Disappoint

Rating: 8/10 (23 March 2012)

Before we get on to the more gritty, action packed movies of 2012 (The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, etc.) let's talk about The Hunger Games. Based on the Suzanne Collin's book of the same name, The Hunger Games has had a lot of hype circulating it ever since the end of the Harry Potter franchise from last year. Does it live up to the high expectations of the uproarious fans?
One thing I'll state clearly before I get down to review this movie is that: 1.) I saw the midnight screening of this with a group of friends and family. I was awfully tired before the movie started, so once it began, I may have missed one or two details. I'll do my best to comment on as many things as I can.
2.) I have read the book that this movie's based on. It's a good read. Obviously it's not perfect, but it kept my interest. With that being said, I am not going to grade this movie solely on what was left out of it. I'm not a big enough fan of The Hunger Games series to speculate on every detail that didn't make it into the movie.
Okay, let's begin. I'll admit, much like the book, this movie is very good. It followed the book pretty closely, though again, if it didn't, I wouldn't have cared that much. The real treat with The Hunger Games is the cast. Many of them look and act the part. I've been a fan of Jennifer Lawrence ever since I saw X-Men: First Class last summer, and here, she doesn't disappoint. She portrays Katniss as an independent survivalist, much like how she was in the book.
The supporting cast is also good...for the most part. Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark and Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne both show the intensity and maturity of their characters and, naturally, it's great to see. Haymitch and Effie are a lot of fun, and the other contenders in the game are competent enough as villains to make up for lack of any characterization.
Sadly, the two weakest characters are Lenny Kravitz as Cinna and Amandla Stenberg as Rue. Both characters left a tremendous impact on Katniss in the novel, while here, they're simply boiled down to bland, uninteresting supporting characters.
The violence is entertaining, though I think that's very much a personal preference. As I said before, Harry Potter devotees will come to this movie for the weekend entertainment, and that might present a problem. The action in Harry Potter is pretty tame; when you get down to it, it's just a ton of sparks and colored lights flying around the screen. Whereas this movie is much more intense and gritty. There's definitely some pretty disturbing scenes, so I suggest keeping the kiddies home for this one.
One more gripe I have with this movie is how it was presented. Much like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games is very self-contained. Essentially, if you haven't read the book, there'll be a lot of scenes where you might find yourself scratch your head in confusion. Maybe that's nitpicking, but with other movies based on books, such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, there was enough character and story to appeal to other audience members. And, as much as I liked this movie, it really didn't do this.
Final verdict: Is there any point of writing a final verdict? You're going to see this movie regardless of my opinion. It's going to be one of the highest grossing movies of the year, and deservedly so. It's a smart, action packed, sci-fi story. It's characters, though not the best, are still pretty enjoyable and the action scenes are intense and brutally realistic. There's also a lot of quiet moments where you're just allowed to soak in the atmosphere and tone of the film, something that I don't recall Harry Potter ever doing. If you're a fan of the books and above the age of ten, check it out and draw your own conclusions.