The Hunger Games

Plot synopsis:
The nation of Panem, formed from a post-apocalyptic North America, is a country that consists of a wealthy Capitol region surrounded by 12 poorer districts. Early in its history, a rebellion led by a 13th district against the Capitol resulted in its destruction and the creation of an annual televised event known as the Hunger Games. In punishment, and as a reminder of the power and grace of the Capitol, each district must yield one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 through a lottery system to participate in the games. The 'tributes' are chosen during the annual Reaping and are forced to fight to the death, leaving only one survivor to claim victory.Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is a 16 year-old girl from District 12, a coal-mining region and the poorest of the districts. This year is the 74th Hunger Games and during the Reaping, Katniss' younger sister, Primrose (Willow Shields), is chosen as a tribute. Refusing to let her sister be taken, Katniss volunteers herself instead, becoming District 12's female tribute. The male tribute chosen is a baker's son named Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) who is later seen during a flashback giving bread to Katniss to prevent her family from starving.Despite the threat of the games, Katniss dreams of making a new life for herself and her family 'outside the fence' with her friend, Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth). She tells him that she never wants children and, despite her dreams, is realistic in knowing that if she and Gale tried to leave they would be caught. Before she leaves, Katniss comforts her mother (Paula Malcomson) and tells her to stay strong for Primrose.Katniss and Peeta are taken from their district by the gaudily dressed Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) and travel to the Capitol. En route, they are fed rich food and treats but are disgusted by the amount of luxuries given to them and the occupants of the train while their families starve at home. They are introduced to their 'mentor' and a former winner of the Hunger Games, Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) who appears to be a pessimistic alcoholic. Haymitch grabs a drink and food before leaving their train car. Katniss and Peeta later reunite with Haymitch in another car and he tells them that the key to survival is ensuring they are well liked by the public so that they may get sponsored. By having sponsors they will have more access to survival tools such as matches, knives, or even water and medicine.When they arrive in the gleaming city of the Capitol, the train is greeted by a cheering crowd. Peeta waves to the residents but Katniss refuses to show herself. Haymitch warns her that she better hold on to her knife and that Peeta actually knows what he is doing by feeding the crowd. Katniss meets her stylist, Cinna (Lenny Kravitz), who tells her that, as tributes, they need to make an impression on the audience so they're remembered, especially by the sponsors. Cinna proclaims that someone as brave as Katniss should have a great costume for the Gala Entry Parade in which each pair of tributes wears an outfit reflecting their district's trade. Katniss and Peeta wear black costumes with actual fire emanating from them to symbolize the coal-mining district they reside from. As Cinna hoped, they make a great impression on the audience. Peeta takes Katniss' hand and raises it into the air during the parade for more effect. After the parade the pair go to their penthouse.The tributes under-go basic weaponry and combat training including the use of knives, swords, and bows. In spite of this training their trainer stresses that survival skills should not be underestimated as exposure and infection can kill just as effectively as any sword. One tribute named Cato (Alexander Ludwig) is hot-headed and imposing, proving to be a possibly serious threat. Later, over a meal, Haymitch tells Peeta and Katniss about the Careers district from which Cato comes from. All of the possible tributes train until they're 18 before openly volunteering to participate in the Hunger Games. Haymitch warns them that they win almost every year due to that fact before asking about Katniss' bow and arrow skills. Katniss refocuses on Peeta, describing his impressive strength, but he rebuffs her compliments and confesses that his own mother (Raiko Bowman) thought Katniss to be the superior tribute.When Peeta is bullied by the other tributes during training, Katniss suggests he show off his strength by throwing a large weight across the room. Peeta manages to perform the feat successfully and gains a small amount of respect from the tributes. Later, in succession, each tribute is instructed to show off to the game makers and sponsors, including Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley). When it's Katniss' turn, she decides to show off her archery skills. However, she misses her first shot badly and loses what little attention she already had. Despite her perfect second shot, she doesn't regain their respect. Angered by the sponsors' attitude towards her, Katniss fires an arrow straight through an apple in a roasted pig's mouth, right in front of the stunned sponsors. Katniss sarcastically thanks them for their consideration and leaves. The tributes' scores are then displayed on a television screen, ranking from 0 to 12. Many tributes achieve high scores of 9 to 10, including the Careers Cato and his partner Clove (Isabelle Fuhrman). Peeta receives an 8 while Katniss scores an 11, the highest of all the tributes.The President of the Capitol, Snow (Donald Sutherland) addresses Seneca and tells him that the Hunger Games is about giving the districts hope but that too much hope can actually be dangerous. During another meal, Haymitch tells Katniss about Peeta's decision to go without his help because of the fact that there can only be one winner.On the extravagant Hunger Games TV chat show, each tribute is introduced individually and interviewed by the flamboyant host, Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci). Katniss elicits laughs from the audience during the interview and impresses them by showing off her dress which displays real fire as she twirls. Ceasar gives her the nickname 'girl on fire'. During his interview, Peeta eats the audience up, garnering some laughs himself. It is then that he announces his crush on Katniss, something which angers her intensely. Backstage Katniss pins Peeta to the wall, demanding answers for his behavior. Haymitch separates the two and explains that he could sell the pair as star-crossed lovers which might gain them sponsorship support during the games.Just before the games, Haymitch warns Katniss to avoid the bloodbath at the beginning by heading to the high ground in search of water despite having to leave her bow and arrow behind. The tributes are all injected with a tracking device in their arms as they travel via helicopter to the outdoor arena. The tributes are then taken underground where they report to certain checkpoints before being loaded onto platforms that deliver them to the ground level of the arena. Before she is hoisted up, Katniss says farewell to Cinna who has seen her off. He tells her that, if he was allowed to bet, he would be on her winning. Then she, along with the other tributes, are raised into the arena and a countdown to the Hunger Games begins. As the horn sounds, the tributes rush towards the center cornucopia full of weapons and backpacks, brutally attacking and killing each other in the process. Katniss manages to grab a pack and barely escapes Clove, who embeds a knife in her backpack. Once at a safe distance, Katniss finds a rope, an empty canteen, and a coat inside the backpack. She takes Haymitch's advice and locates water in a nearby stream before she ties herself high up in a tree for the night and attempts to get some sleep. Loud bangs from a cannon indicate the deaths of tributes and we learn that thirteen were killed within the first 8 hours.During the games, Caesar keeps the public up to date with the happenings and announces that an alliance has formed. Katniss witnesses from her tree perch that Peeta has joined with a group of Careers during the night with the intent on leading them to her. While exploring the next day, Katniss gets too close to the outer regions of the arena. The game controllers decide to start a forest fire to lure her further in to the center. She barely manages to escape but does receive a nasty burn on her thigh, causing her to limp. She is then spotted by Cato and 4 other tributes, including Clove and Glimmer (Leven Rambin) who have banded together. We learn that, apparently, the Careers come, collectively, from Districts 1, 2, and 4 who are trained illegally before volunteering to fight; this group of 4 from two districts chases Katniss who eventually escapes by climbing a tree. Cato attempts to follow her up but is unsuccessful. Peeta suggests that the group wait for Katniss to eventually come down for food and water.The group settles for the night beneath the tree and Katniss ties herself to the tree to sleep. She is woken later that night by a parachute containing much needed medicine for her leg wound, sent by Haymitch. She applies the medicine to her burns and they disappear as if nothing happened. Her attention is then caught by a young 12 year old girl in an adjacent tree named Rue (Amandla Stenberg) from District 11. Rue, however, is friendly to Katniss and points out a large trackerjacker nest just above Katniss and dangling over the Career group below. We learn that trackerjackers are genetically engineering wasps whose stings are highly venomous and can cause powerful hallucinations. With enough stings, they can even kill. Katniss climbs up the tree towards the nest and begins sawing at the branch holding it up. The trackerjackers become irritated and start stinging her but, eventually, the branch snaps and the nest falls to the ground, exploding in a wave of wasps. The Careers group flees but Glimmer is stung too many times and succumbs to the venom.Katniss manages to climb down the tree and manages to grab a bow and arrows. As she begins to hallucinate, she sees Peeta approach her and seemingly yell at her to run. Regaining some sense, Katniss escapes but eventually collapses. After a night of hallucinations and nightmares, some involving her father (Phillip Troy Linger), Katniss awakens beneath a tree trunk with leave bandages covering her stings. Unclear as to who exactly helped her, Katniss stumbles around, thinking it must have been Peeta. Rue appears and tells her that she was out cold for 2 days and that she's been the one taking care of her. The two girls decide to team up and go on the offensive. They form a plan to destroy a mountain of food and supplies located in the starting meadow that the Career group is guarding. Rue is to start small fires to distract the remaining Careers while Katniss detonates the booby-trapped mines surounding the mound. They agree to use mockingjays, birds that mimic any tune, to signal to each other. The plan works. The Careers become distracted by the smoke of the fires while one tribute, a boy from District 3 (Ian Nelson), remains at the cornucopia, standing guard. Katniss then notices a female tribute unseen by the others. Foxface (Jacqueline Emerson) from District 5 sprints towards the pyramid of food and supplies, unnoticed by the guard. She picks her way through the mines, steals a backpack, and makes it back into the forest with great cunning.Katniss then shoots at a bag of apples on top of the pile which causes them to cascade down and detonate the mines. The pyramid explodes, sending food and supplies everywhere. Katniss watches, triumphant, as the Career group rushes back to the clearing. Infuriated, Cato demands to know how such a thing could have happened. The guard tribute from District 3 is equally confused but Cato's anger makes him murderous and he snaps the boy's neck. Katniss leaves, disturbed by Cato's ease to kill. She uses the bird call system to find Rue but receives no response until she hears a scared voice calling to her. Katniss finds Rue trapped under a net and releases her just before theyre attacked by Marvel (Jack Quaid), a tribute from District 1. Marvel throws a spear but Katniss dodges the attack and shoots an arrow into his chest, killing him. However, when she turns to Rue, she sees that Marvel's spear has gone through her chest. Distraught, Katniss tries to calm Rue and sings to her peacefully as Rue dies. Katniss then gathers flowers from the forest and spreads them over Rue before her body taken back to her district via hovercraft.Meanwhile, Rue's father is horrified and angered by his daughter's death and starts a riot. His district follows his rebellious example and they destroy the stage showing the games. As Katniss makes a peace gesture to the camera, the 'Peace Keepers' of District 11 arrive and shoot Rue's father dead. President snow is enraged by the rebellion in District 11 and wants to change the game's rules and circumstances to ensure that Katniss is killed. Haymitch pleads with Seneca to keep Katniss alive, issuing a ploy of teen romance as a main reason. Seneca then announces that the rules of the game have been changed; two winners instead of just one will be allotted so long as they belong to the same district. With this knowledge, and having just overheard the remaining Careers mention leaving Peeta for dead by the river, Katniss sets out in search of him. She finds a trail of blood near the river and follows it to where Peeta has camouflaged himself in the rocks. Katniss helps move him to a nearby cave where they are well hidden.Katniss attempts to heal Peeta's sword wound but realizes he has blood poisoning, something that can only be cured with a special medicine. Katniss despairs as there could be no way Haymitch could send some since it would be too expensive at this point. However, as if by magic, an announcement rings out that there will be a feast at the cornucopia for all the tributes but, instead of food, there will be something each tribute desperately needs. Peeta begs Katniss not to leave him and risk her life trying to save him. He asks her to stay and Katniss reluctantly agrees, though she knows there may very well be medicine at the cornucopia that could save his life. The two share a brief kiss, partly as a way to gain more sponsors. However, this hits a nerve with Gale watching back home who is clearly smitten with Katniss. Katniss waits until Peeta has fallen asleep before leaving for the cornucopia.When she arrives, she sees Foxface sprinting towards the supplies, surprising the other tributes with her speed and escaping without much incident. Katniss decides to mimic Foxface's moves and sprints out to grab the medicine but is thrown off guard when she is hit with a knife launched by Clove. The two wrestle and fight before Clove manages to get the upper hand and presses a knife to Katniss' throat. She teases her with bloodlust and mocks her for teaming up with the 'little monster from District 11'; Rue. Before Clove can slit Katniss' throat, she is lifted by Thresh (Dayo Okeniyi), the male tribute from District 11, and thrown against the cornucopia wall. He proceeds to beat her to death against the wall despite her cries for Cato. Thresh tells Katniss that she gets this one chance since she helped Rue but, after this, everything is fair game. Katniss escapes.She returns to the cave with the medicine and administers it to Peeta and herself, healing their wounds. In a more genuine romantic moment, the two fall asleep in each other's arms. The next day, they split up to find food. During her hunt, Katniss hears a cannon signaling another tribute death. Panicked, she runs back to where she last saw Peeta. She finds him near a berry bush, standing bewildered with a handful of berries near the corpse of Foxface, also with berries in her hand. In a mix of anger and relief, Katniss slaps Peeta, telling him that the berries are Nightlock and extremely poisonous. The pair wonder if Cato would ever fall for the same trap that Foxface did before they notice that the sun is going down at mid-day. Unsure of what's to happen, they freeze and ready themselves for an impending attack.In the distance, Thresh cries out followed by the sound of the cannon, signaling his death. They pause for a moment before a giant mutated dog leaps out at them, vicious and the size of a polar bear but with much more speed and agility. Katniss and Peeta sprint through the forest as two more of the dogs begin to pursue them. They are chased to the cornucopia where Peeta helps Katniss climb on top of it, barely making it up himself. They sit back in relief thinking the dogs will kill the last survivor, Cato, and they will be crowned the victors. Cato, however, is also on top of the cornucopia and attacks Katniss, attempting to throw her to the dogs. The three fight each other and Cato grabs Katniss by the throat, holding her near the edge of the structure before Peeta manages to fight him off her. Cato gets the upper hand and gets Peeta in a choke hold to either break his neck, as seen before, or throw him to the mutant dogs.Katniss unsheathes an arrow and points it at him, uncertain whether to shoot or not. Cato, dripping blood, laughs sadistically, telling her that he knows what the games are about now. The tributes aren't just entertainment; they're all weapons designed to make the spectacle of death as painful and unnecessary as possible. Peeta, who is still being choked, appears to try and tell Katniss something while Cato talks. Cato asks if she shoots him, then her 'lover boy' goes down with him. Katniss shoots his hand, forcing him to let go of Peeta. Peeta then pushes Cato off the edge to be mauled by the dogs. Katniss and Peeta watch a moment as Cato is savagely attacked before Katniss shoots an arrow into him, ending his misery. The last cannon goes off and Katniss and Peeta realize they've won the Hunger Games. They embrace and wait for a helicopter to come take them home.No helicopter comes. An announcement then states that the rules which allowed two winners has been revoked, meaning only one shall remain. Peeta begs Katniss to kill him so that she may win but she takes out her hand and holds out some Nightlock berries. She takes some for herself and gives the rest to Peeta, hinting that she'd rather the Capitol have no winners instead of one. Before they can commit suicide, a speaker pleads them to stop and announces that they have both won. They are brought back to the Capitol where Haymitch tells them how foolish they are to have defied the Capitol like that and instructs them to play up the star-crossed couple routine at their final interview. They oblige but Haymitch relents that it will never be enough for the Capitol.We see Seneca Crane being led into a finely polished room. The door is locked behind him while a goblet is set on a pedestal in front of him, containing Nightlock. Although we do not see it, we are led to believe that he is forced to commit suicide.Peeta and Katniss travel back in District 12 by train. Although they are met with a hero's welcome, Haymitch warns Katniss that she is now a political enemy after such a public defiance against the society's leaders. They are greeted by a crowd of cheering residents including Primrose, Katniss' mother, and Gale. Peeta takes Katniss' hand and holds it up in the air.President Snow watches the District 12 welcome from the Capitol. Walking away, he wonders what to do about the two victors and the feelings of rebellion they may have created in the Districts.

Tags: suspenseful, mystery, murder, dramatic, violence, cult, flashback, psychedelic, action, romantic, revenge

Review:
There's almost nothing to say about a movie like The Hunger Games -- it's been so worked to death to be a successful blockbuster that all of its edges, the things that make a film good or bad, have disappeared.
It just exists as a spectacle, a finished product that defies any critical lens.I could go on about the particulars of the adaptation -- the ridiculousness of the entire Capital setting, or the sometimes disorienting shakycam work, or the great cast of adults patiently playing supporting characters -- or the source material -- the gestures at social commentary, the way that the story protects Katniss from ever having to morally sully herself -- but they all seem to be beside the point.
One wonders if Miss Collins, author of the series, ever read Frederic Brown, or watched classic Star Trek in the late 1960s or during its syndication run in the 70s and 80s, because the basic bulk of the story is taken right out of "Arena" (which also saw reincarnation via an issue of "Adam Strange" in Detective Comics).
Which is okay, because it's not a clone of the story, but uses the basic plot and story written by Brown, and adds many young person and female flourishes to comment on contemporary TV watching habits, and societies' imperilment of becoming addicted to a certain type of bloodletting entertainment.The film is nicely paced, and seems to be riding a fine line of trying to be edgy, real, and young person's fair all at the same time.
Woody "let me tie up traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge some 12 years ago" Harrelson makes an appearance as an aged vet of the games (as I digress bitterly), who relays what wisdom and beneficence that he can to the selected champions of his district.There's romance, there's intrigue, there's hand to hand combat, there's MTV like shaky-cam cinematography, some girlish moments, and even some pyrotechnics (a rarity for any film).
Although i liked this setting much more, it was more appealing.What i didn't liked is at some part i got the feeling i was watching Avatar with the shots in the Arena control room.The movie is too short or the first half is to long and not much time left fro the second part.
In its current form it is boring and crap.If you want a good, gritty, Last Person Standing / Survival of the Fittest -type movie, watch Battle Royale instead..
During the actual hunger game/battle royale, you still don't get much of an action or adventure movie.
And anyone over the age of 18 who still enjoys this needs to grow up and go watch Battle Royale and that'll show you what would really happen in a circumstance like this.The film takes almost an hour to start and when it does start, it actually doesn't.
Battle Royal, the Japanese wonder from which "author" Suzanne Collins stole the plot to "write" 'The Hunger Games', was nothing short of a unique piece of art in a sometime dull cinema industry.
So, after all the hype, I just watched The Hunger Games and really wasn't impressed.It's basically Battle Royale dumbed down for kids.
But overall, I felt like this movie was like a watered-down rip-off of Battle Royale, without half of the emotional depth and pretty much none of the visceral content..
Seeing the "Hunger Games" series gain so much recognition is difficult to fathom; especially when it's more or less a blatant copy of "Battle Royale", a Japanese novel (1996), movie (2000), and manga (2000-2005).
Like the "Battle Royale" manga, "Hunger Games" includes love triangles, a group of teenagers randomly chosen (BR: by class HG: by district), plans to overthrow authority, teens given weapons and forced into a death match, a pair working together to undermine the game with the help of an older mentor who had previously won the game, both female and male main leads, a corrupted government, signal fires and bird calls, a reality TV show program (which IS in the English adaption of the manga (2006) for the series unlike many of you have known), and the list goes on and on.
Moreover, the "Hunger Games" is more like a rip-off of "Battle Royale" than an inspiration since the majority of the plot elements are nearly identical.
If anyone watches Eastern movies or reads Manga they will know that in 1999 a book titled 'Battle Royale' was written with the exact same theme and later adapted into two Manga comics and movies(2000 and 2003{Battle Royale: Requiem} respectively.In Battle Royale students are kidnapped at different times to be used in a 'military' research activity called The Program where they must fight to the death on an isolated island.
In here the stakes are higher(i.e., metal tracking collars with explosives that will kill any insurgents and are all set to detonate simultaneously if no one is killed in a 24 hour period).Personally, Hunger Games was a cheap knock-off of the Battle Royale series sanitized to withing an inch of it's politically incorrect life and a complete waste of my time and brain cells..
Yet, there is no love put into this film it is entirely focused on entertaining your peripheral and lacks substance in dialogue and explanation as well as some of the story being altered in presentation from a book to movie.
If you want to see a far superior movie with practically the same plot then watch Battle Royal.
The story is mediocre to begin with and the cinematography is even worse which ruins the whole experience.Not sure what the director was trying to achieve here but all I can say is its really hard to see an action movie when the cameras aren't showing any action!Really they show trees, random flying object, pointless close up shot of one of the actors anything and everything except the actual action scene!By far the worst movie I have seen this year.
Adapted from Suzanne Collins' trilogy of teen- friendly novels, The Hunger Games looks set to follow in the well-off footsteps of Harry Potter and the soon-to-cease Twilight as the next big-money, low-brow saga for the GCSE bound masses.
Despite all efforts, The Hunger Games is starved of a character or scenario to really care about.A hyped-up, cheesy and dumbed down treatise on human nature, spirit, freedom and TV culture, this is a badly-acted, action-crammed movie built on a much explored prophecy that's been residing in both literature and film for years; a nightmare dystopia in which society is slave to a tyrannical regime.
In director Ross' big screen retooling, The Hunger Games is set in a far from terrifying, post-war America whose totalitarian government get their kicks from a legislation born out of the ashes of World War III; each of the country's 12 districts are to offer up one young girl and boy every year to slog it out on live TV in a last-kid-standing tournament set on a virtual island.
For example 'I wonder if they realise that it's a booby trap,' and then 'It looks like she has worked out how this booby trap works.' The reason that I felt that this story was completely unbelievable, was the explanation of why they have this class system and why they have these 'hunger games.' It was explained that it is a constant reminder of war, and so that there can be a winner that people can support.
If a film, like "Battle Royale", is so good to start with why on earth do you want to try and improve on it?
And before any of you smart alecks decide to say "how can it be a rip off when its based off a book", the answer is simple:Battle Royale came out in 2000, Hunger Games was published in 2008.
with all that said i say watch other movies with the same theme like battle royale the running man..
I was somewhat skeptical when going to see 'The Hunger Games', expecting a novel adaption claiming to be the next Harry Potter, but for older audiences (teenagers like myself).Set in the Distopian not-too-distant future, The Capitol run by Donald Sutherland and other people with strange dress sense, rules the 12 Districts.
We are given nearly no vision and it ends up stressful for the eyes.Taking away the supposed action scenes we are left with minimal character development in the main heroine Katniss, boring dialog and a minimal plot.What really bothers me is that there are already sequels lined up, ready to gross millions, luring in loyal fan bases for 2 hours of low-par filmmaking.
Novel adaptations like The Hunger Games are filmmaking at it's lowest, requiring little to no effort, and shameless sequels, as if the millions this film made isn't enough.Perhaps the novels are better, at least with books, there can't be a shaky camera with extreme close-ups every second.Appalling novel adaption.
The hunger games is a wonderful film that is angaging from start to finish.I really enjoyed this film and what it had to offer.The action was done well even though the camera was shaky it still had that emotional grip during the action sequences.This film has the basic plot of battle royale young adults killing each other and thats it.The hunger games is sent up in a world were people watch all this violence in amusement and shock.The actiing from jennifer lawrence is to die for she gives a eye opening performance.Also josh hutcherson who was stuck in child actor nirvana for a while shines in this well.Woody harrelson and lenny kravitz did a fine job as well.Donald sutherland does a in the shadows performance.For a PG-13 film it is quite dark and grim especially when the action kicks in and when characters talk about the whole idea of the hunger games.If you want a brutal,sometimes jaw dropping but emotional experience watch the hunger games..
Before I start, I've not read the 3 books associated with this film.I watched The Hunger Games on the weekend, and it's an OK movie edited for kids.
As the phrase goes, "there's nothing new in Hollywood" and this is evident throughout this film from start to finish.Please watch the original Battle Royale which is 1000% times better than this, watered down, made to make millions Hollywood creation.This film does not deserve the hype surrounding it, but I just hope the millions this film generates is funnelled into some new and exciting not the same crap often expected from Hollywood..
I Saw A Movie Like This A Few Weeks Ago. Okay, Everyone Who Pays Attention To This Movie's Message Boards Will Know Where This Is Going, I Honestly Tried Not To Compare But Its Like Disturbia And Rear Window, Both Have The Same Plot line So You Can't Not Compare It.Even If I Had Never Seen Battle Royale This Still Would've Been A Bad Movie, Let Me Explain To You In Dot Points Why.1.
If Your Response Is "Oh I Can't Keep Up With Subtitles." I Have A One Word Response "Tough." Battle Royale Is Superior.Now Onto My Other Points Regarding This Movie - There Is Over 2 Hours Of This Crap To Sit Through When The Final Part Of This Is The 3 People Living (At The Time) Running Away From Magic Dogs That Come Onto The Arena By Some Idea About People Putting Them Digitally Onto The Arena (I Kid You Not - And This Is Somebody Who Can Get The Magic Chalk Idea From Day Watch).
the hunger games was so slow i almost fell asleep, was not like the original one no real action i will not waste my money on the next one God forbid if there is one, the acting was not very good the ending was bad, i thought there was more to the movie, did not like the Mockingbird actor being weak at time i would like to have seen here Stronger as a Woman fighter she seemed to weak and just playing the part, the special effects were good that kept me interested but there was not very much of it, and it could of use more of it, too much talk and slow dialog to make it interesting i wanted to scream to the screen Do Something everybody wanted to console someone and no one wanted to fight.
But if the book was released after battle Royal, it would be like me writing Jurassic park and then releasing a film of it?!
I'm one of the many people that wishes this and the other three movies were Rated R and a lot more violent so they could REALLY show the terror of the games and how unpleasant panem really is.P.S. stick with battle royale 1 and 2 instead.
I could care less for any of the characters that die or gets hurt, and the tasks that they perform are .In my opinion, this movie is some kind of rip-off from good movies such as Battle Royale and Brazil (for the scenario and weird people) used in a way that does not work at all.
Genre : Scifi/Action Big Names : Jennifer Lawrence Synopsis: The Hunger Games is based on the eponymous novel, the first of a trilogy penned by Suzanne Collins.Post apocalypse North America, now known as Panem, is now ruled by the autocratic President Snow, who each year conducts a gladiatorial combat contest where 2 teens, called 'tributes', from each of the 12 remaining 'districts' battle it out to death in front of all of Panem.
I have also watched The Truman Show and Battle Royale, which this movie remixed and gurgled out, inadequately.What's good: The novel was the first that I had been able to read cover to cover within 24 hours, in a really long time.
Movies such as Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc...have their share of battles that contain a measure of violence as well -- as so with The Hunger Games, they too, were forced to fight what was evil.
When The Hunger Games came out, all non-book fans could think of was Asian flick Battle Royale of which I think is an okay but forgettable movie.
I imagine these kinds of morality and strategy things are in the book and fans are just filling in these gaps by themselves, but The Hunger Games movie just confused and bored me with its slow plot-hole ridden script, unpleasant hook and unsatisfying climax.
Feeling the story seemed maybe even more important than reading it, so when I went to see the movie, my expectations were very high.On the upside: Great performance by the main characters, excellent visuals and well directed.On the downside: The book gives a lot of context as to how the characters feel and how things have come to be the way they are.
Well after the hype and a suck you in trailer I eagerly sat in my chair awaiting the Cinematic Experience of the year so far.The adverts and trailers went on for what seemed a very long time then, into the film I will cut this short as I don't want anyone else to sit through such badly thought through drivel.Shot with a constant shaky camera (blair witch style) and a story line that just never seemed to get going.A heroine that didn't seem to do much (harry potter) and film that could have been played out in an hour (tv episode) stretched to beyond credulity.Thank goodness we sent the kids into see street dance Wit for it to be on sky...
Absolute rot, and just accepting on one or two arrow shots that Katniss is "Herne the Hunter" reborn does not scan well, and without the books support its a bit of a head nod "Yeah right" for too much of her exploits.I saw Pirates on the same day, which blew me away, creative, good characters and story and compared to a poorly told story with a huge budget; I would take it any day of the week.Imagine "The Golden Compass" but a better story and acting; i.e. it still sucks like a kid on a MacDonalds milkshake; but you don't feel 'quite' as bad for the production crew...Also, almost nobody has mentioned how its a blatant rip-off of The Running Man - only with teenagers, The Running Man is superior in so may respects, but this film has the advertisers buck and a lot of money men rubbing their hands.
I'm extremely biased as well, considering Battle Royale is one of my all-time favorite films/books/graphic novels.
Okay, so let me say this first - I have read the "Hunger Games" books, all three of them in a very short amount of time.
Half of the movie is spent with Katniss going through the entire pre-Hunger Games phases, which worked great for the book, but not for the movie.
Technically, this part is supposed to make you empathize with the characters and get to know them better, only it fails so hard that, at the end of it, you not only don't care for the characters, but you're also bored because you were expecting action-y stuff if you haven't read the books.Then, you think, the Games finally start.
Add to that the shaky camera effects, some very ridiculous scenes, and you get the worst movie (by far) that I have seen in a long time.Bottom line - if you are truly interested in this idea, if you found the trailer interesting, if you feel any urge to watch this movie, just pass and buy the books.
Shades of older movies such as "Rollerball", "Logan's Run" and more recently, "Battle Royale" are very present in "Hunger Games".
In the end, "The Hunger Games" is really a light version of "Battle Royale"..
I even re-read the books after watching the movie, to make sure I wasn't making too much of it...only to come away more frustrated.