This film's popularity eludes me

Rating: 3/10 (28 June 2014)

No, I'm not going to spend this review going on about how THE HUNGER GAMES is a clear rip-off of BATTLE ROYALE (even though it is, the subject's been done to death). Instead, I'm going to talk about the things I disliked, even though I went into this hoping to love it; after all, I invested two-and-a-half-hours of my life in this movie, so of course I was hoping I'd have a good time with it.
The first problem is with the pacing. It takes an hour and a half or so for the actual games (in which teenagers fight to the death) to begin. Until that time, there are endless attempts at needless characterisation, some training montages that go nowhere and add nothing to the overall effect, and lots of extraneous supporting characters. Some of these characters, particularly the likes of those played by Elizabeth Banks and Stanley Tucci, complete with stupid hairdos and costumes, look like they belong in a kid's film and the acting is horrendous. I felt embarrassed for them most of the time.
When we finally get to the games, they're equally disappointing. It's not just that they're not very violent (although the BBFC's decision to further tone down the violence is frustrating), it's that they're badly directed with stupid shaky-cam work by a director who doesn't understand how to utilise it properly. Jennifer Lawrence gives another bland and unlikeable turn as a stand-offish heroine and I didn't give a fig for any of the characters, good or bad. Instead I was just hoping for it to be over, and quickly, but THE HUNGER GAMES is one of those films that seems to go on forever. By the time some CGI creations are added into the mix (what, did the scriptwriters get bored with the storyline?) I realised that this is awful, awful stuff indeed. And even worse - they're making sequels?!