"Battle Royale" light!

Rating: 7/10 (25 December 2012)

Last night I finally saw "The Hunger Games" and I must confess it's an entertaining movie. Shades of older movies such as "Rollerball", "Logan's Run" and more recently, "Battle Royale" are very present in "Hunger Games". In a distant future North America goes through a war that leaves the nation devastated. The war was caused by internal uprising, not a foreign attack. After a lengthy war the state prevails, but much of the nation is left in ruins. As means to remember this sad period, the state organizes a reality show called 'the hunger games', where each of the 12 districts that started the revolts years ago, must submit a young boy and girl to participate in a televised fight to the death, where only one can become the sole victor. This is where this movie veers closely to the Japanese masterpiece "Battle Royale", with a premise very much alike.
Our heroine comes from district 12, Katniss, played by Jennifer Lawrence. Despite casting a bombshell as a tough warrior, Jennifer pulls it off amazingly well, giving a serious performance.
I understand this movie is a book adaptation and, in my case, I haven't read the books or book so I can't really tell if it's a faithful adaptation. A strange feeling invaded me while watching "The Hunger Games"; it felt like something big was going to happen, a big revelation or the real truth behind such barbaric game. But this revelation never happened and by the time the film ends I'm left with more questions that answers. Unlike "Battle Royale", I developed little sympathy for the rest of the young kids involved in the game. Out of the 24 participants, the movie is designed for the audience to care for only 3 characters: Katniss, Peeta and Rua, that's it. Little or no background is given of the other participants, some of them seemed to really enjoy all the hunting and killing.
Little is said about the president of the nation, portrayed by Donald Sutherland, in what I thought was a waste of talent.
Again, reading the book would probably help me to understand the many plot holes this movie has. I think more could've been done with the movie's premise, a more social commentary, but director Gary Ross apparently chose not to. In the end, "The Hunger Games" is really a light version of "Battle Royale".