I've been meaning to review the Hunger Games trilogy of books for a while now, but I've had such a big backlog of movies and TV shows that book reviews keep getting pushed off. Regardless, The Hunger Games is a film capable of standing on its own so I don't think that there's a problem reviewing it before I write about the book.The Hunger Games is set in a dystopian future where the United States no longer exists, but has been replaced by the totalitarian nation of Panem. This nation consists of twelve districts, which exist only to serve the wealthy and all-powerful Capitol City. Each year, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 17 are selected from each of the twelve districts and placed in an arena and forced to fight to the death. This is done both to remind the districts of their helplessness and to provide entertainment for the rich citizens of the Capitol. The film follows Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), a sixteen-year-old girl from a poor mining district after she is selected to participate in the games. What ensues is an extremely violent story, but one that also humanizes the characters and focuses on the difficulty of what they are forced to do. There are plenty of other young adult themes, but mostly I enjoyed Katniss' fight for survival and the original world that the film brought to life. I cannot say that I absolutely loved the film, but it did an excellent job of telling a smart and compelling story.
The artistic elements of the film are excellent, as the sets, costumes and special effects make this strange world feel quite real. Some of the things described in the book are so unusual that I wasn't sure they could translate to film, but the portrayal of Panem was quite effective.
All of the actors were excellent, especially Lawrence, who convincingly played Katniss' conflicting emotions. Lawrence was nominated for an Oscar for a very similar performance in Winter's Bone and she is every bit as effective here. The supporting cast of Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Amandla Stenberg, Woody Harrelson and an unrecognizable Elizabeth Banks is very good, although most of the characters didn't receive the same level of development as in the book. Despite the natural time constraints of film, these actors did a fairly effective job of bringing their complex characters to life.
The Hunger Games is a reasonably good young adult novel, and this film was a solid adaptation of that story. The film left something to be desired and is undoubtedly better as a supplement rather than a replacement for the book, but it is still a solid piece of entertainment in its own right.
