Nothing special, except the success !

Rating: 5/10 (3 January 2013)

This was a disappointment. After the huge financial success it had, with a worldwide total of $686,533,290, I thought it would have been huge itself, but it wasn't, on any level!
The thing is, while the story has potential, a lot of it, the execution takes a little bit of many things, blends it with nearly unremarkable everything, and makes something that I saw before in way better shapes!
We have an aphorism in Egypt that says: "It took a song from every film" which precisely describes what that script did. It just chose many good subjects (apocalyptic world, reality TV, class divide,..), however dealt with them as items, not eventually fulfilling anything as high, clear or plenary. So it took a song from every film, to make incomplete musical I guess!
(Donald Sutherland) shows up to blabber, with nothing to be figured out. I couldn't understand the relationship between the 2 leads (Katniss) and (Peeta); was his love true, or merely a trick to draw some sponsors' compassion? Did she love him? And on the top of all; what was the conclusion of that story? She's intelligibly in love with another one, so does (Peeta) know that? And how does her original love understand the matter, not feeling jealousy? It seemed like something "to be continued later in a sequel"! Btw, I longed for a plot twist concerning (Peeta)'s character, but no such luck. The matter of "let's die together" at the climax?? So the heroine, after facing death countless times, prefers embarrassing the show over 1) Winning the contest, 2) Returning to her lover, mom, and sister, 3) Life itself??! That point lost the creditability, otherwise it wasn't basically built well. For one last confusion; why the black kid loved the heroine; the heroine impressed her? The kid had no mother?? The provocative thing is that this movie doesn't want to answer any question, being willfully tepid, or enjoying deficiency.
(Cary Ross) didn't do anything to be proud of, or called smart for. He filmed the movie as unbroken chain of close-ups. The long shots were a few. Aside from tinting the entire movie with one color, that ruined many feelings and situations along the way too. And maybe caused the status of bore which many reviews talked about, knowing that it's shameful to talk about "bore" in an action anyway! Speaking about that action, I supposed it would be the movie's real point, though it wasn't by far something to glorify, or watch in the first place. For a non-violence lover, such as me, it didn't satisfy my apatite for thrilling adventures, cool sequences, or clever fights. And for a violence lover, such as millions out there, it was tamer than a Tom & Jerry's short!
I felt usual, flat and tasteless TV all along. Actually, if (Oliver Stone) had directed it, he would have focused on the bestial media. If (Tim Burton) had directed it, he would have greatly cared about the 2 classes' societies, especially the flamboyant rich one, falling in love with the story's darkness and the show's oddity. Even if (Quentin Tarantino) had directed it, he would have made its violence memorable. See how many chances (Ross) lost, to achieve nothing of his own as well!
(James Newton Howard) used to make distinct music scores. This time, forget it wholly. He composed one of his lowest works ever. Nothing was special about his musical ingenuity here, if there was any!
However, I suffered the most from (Jennifer Lawrence)'s dead face as (Katniss). With one-note, awfully cold, waxy features, she was a perfect doll from start to finish, not giving any effective reaction throughout, or encouraging any kind of interplay between her character and me as a viewer, in brief; (Steven Seagal) looks more concerned and involved in comparison. And the critics praised her performance? That's more terrible indeed, particularly while everybody acted better than her!
It makes other movies, with similar plot or atmosphere, simply surpass. In The Running Man (1987), the anti-media speech was into the point, the action was hot, and it showed the public different viewpoints smartly, not to mention having a charismatic hero. Even in movies like The Condemned (2007), Death Race (2008) or The Turnament (2009), the action was more sophisticated, inventive or at least there!
In (The Hunger Games)'s favor, I loved 2 things; the new idea of a flaming dress, plus the assiduous costume designs of district 1's rich habitants. It creatively mixed the old baroque style with the modern camp one. As far as creativeness goes, that was it I'm afraid. Even the CGI of the fiery suits was so obvious!
This is as bland as (Jennifer Lawrence)'s face. It's unremarkable at best, except for its success; which assures, to considerable extent, that today's teens are so insecure, living a hell of a bloody competition; where they can reach their goals by going over the others' corpses, and love is a device to get materialistic dreams. As if the movie summarized life through one TV show, and the message is direct; you have to be like it, namely drastic and manipulative, to survive and turn out well. It put other contemporary leads like (Harry Potter) to shame as too innocent and dully utopian, while showing the world's ugly face as wild and no utopia; which clearly, according to the movie's income, hit a giant nerve out there.
So although the movie has no redeeming quality, ranking as below average for me; it says a lot by its success, and that's undoubtedly where its only value remains.