"The Hunger Games" - Well made, but it didn't bite hard enough

Rating: 7/10 (3 April 2012)

The film adaptation of this first book in the popular Y.A. trilogy is visually stunning and packs an emotional wallop! Set in a bleak future reminiscent of something from a George Orwell nightmare, we find our heroine, Katniss Everdeen, thrust into a bloody tournament called The Hunger Games, where she is expected to fight to the death against 23 other youths, all of them under 18. The whole world tunes in to watch. In the universe of The Hunger Games, this is tantamount to the Olympics, and it happens every year. To most, this is entertainment.
The film is shot beautifully, the frame gritty and full of popping colors. We get down and dirty with the fighters, tributes as they are called, right down in the arena with them. It's a scary place. It's made all the more real by the outstanding performances by all, wholesome and sinister. Jennifer Lawrence is unstoppable it seems, and is destined for greatness. She is joined by other talented actors like Woody Harrelson, Wes Bentley, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, and Josh Hutcherson - all of whom pour their hearts into their characters, making their presence known no matter the amount of screen time. You feel these characters are real, and that they must exist, and so the gravity of their world is felt all the more. Fans of the books won't be let down, for the script is very true, and succeeds at capturing the essence of Suzanne Collins' vision for the world of Panem.
The theme of the books, and the film as well, is one of purposeful irony. Here we are, eyes glued to the silver screen, watching children murder each other. Are we to be excited when we witness them hacking each other to pieces? Even if it's a "good guy" kid impaling a "bad guy" kid? No, not at all. The film is a challenge to us all to reexamine what we find as entertainment, and ask "why?". What is it about reality television that keeps so many Americans tuning in week after week? Are we aware of an ever-pushing envelope? Do we make conscious efforts about what we watch, or do we simply watch what flashes on the screen in front of us. How strong is the media's alluring spin on our discernment about what is moral? I know I'm guilty.
Many find the film's storyline deplorable. Why? Is it not the attitude towards the material that we should be evaluating, not the subject that the writer has freely chosen to examine? To be angry at the film's theme and content, and even its approach to the material, is outrageous. You're not supposed to find it entertaining, it is supposed to make you sick and disturbed.
The film is simply a commentary of our society's disgusting love and heartfelt embrace of outrageously immoral behavior, expedited through and by the Media.
The Hunger Games could have been sharper, however. It could have examined these themes even more, it could have further and more explicitly explored the totalitarian society the film inhabits. The film plays a little light on the heavy subjects, and seems to cater more towards an audience that may not fully understand the deeper message. A PG-13 audience may be simply entertained, and that would be a tragedy.
Perhaps the film wasn't shocking enough, not enough to rattle the masses from their comfortable cages anyways, but merely enough to give them something to grumble about on the way back from the cineplex.
The Hunger Games is a film to ponder deeply, however surfacey it may seem. There are still two more films to come, and I hope they are even more powerful than this great first installment. May the odds be ever in their favor.
By TOMMY BOND, thefilmdiscussion.com