Not bad but not as good as many would have you believe

Rating: 7/10 (31 July 2014)

With Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings opening to both commercial and critical acclaim, it was perhaps inevitable that Hollywood would continue the trend of adapting novels into big screen blockbusters. These adaptations have ranged from the outstanding (Lord Of The Rings) to the downright abysmal (Twilight) with more than a few straddling in between (The Golden Compass, I Am Number Four). Thankfully, The Hunger Games is significantly better than a lot of other young adult adaptations, but not entirely flawless.
The story revolves around Katniss Everdeen, a teenage girl living in the dystopian district of Panem, who is thrown into a large scale fight to the death with 13 other teenagers from different districts. Those familiar with the Japanese satire Battle Royale, will notice more than a few similarities, with the movie often feeling like a watered down version. Still, it is quite intense fare for a young adult film, with a number of young children engaging in some fairly brutal violence and political allegories not normally associated with teen movies.
As is often the case with literary adaptations, it feels like director Gary Ross is trying to fit as much information in as he possibly can so as not to upset fans of the book. Take the opening, which has the unfortunate task of explaining the book's lengthy exposition before we can even begin to think about the games themselves. The problem with this is, as a casual viewer, you are eager to see what all the fuss is about and after just over an hour of build up, it is perhaps inevitable that the games are slightly disappointing. After a suitably brutal opening brawl which claims the lives of a number of participants, we follow Katniss as she survives in the harsh wilderness like a futuristic Bear Grylls.
There are some moments of inspiration, such as Ross' decision to almost completely strip the soundtrack during battle sequences, giving them a war movie aesthetic rather than an all action blockbuster. There is also a wonderful moment involving a key characters use of make up, which has to be seen to be believed but throughout the 2 and a half hour runtime, one can't shake the feeling that, given the source material, it could have been so much better.
A dark and disturbing teen movie with some interesting political messages about class and the media. A fantastic central performance from Jennifer Lawrence elevates it above the likes of Twilight but it also suffers from trying to appease fans of the book and subsequently feels a little bloated.