Movie Review – The Hunger Games (2012)
Every once in a while there’s a book craze that spawns a movie.
We’ve seen it before in cases like The Da Vinci Code (bestselling book in 2003, hit movie in 2006), the Harry Potter and Twilight series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Eragon, etc. When books become bestsellers, somebody is bound to make them into movies.
The Hunger Games has been a bestseller since its first printing back in 2008. In March of 2012, the movie became a smash hit, taking the world by storm. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy, and Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket. Supporting the cast are Liam Hemsworth, Lenny Kravitz, Stanely Tucci and Donald Sutherland.
The Hunger Games is set sometimes in the future in the post-apocalyptic nation of Panem, a country made from the former countries of North America. The nation of Panem is made of a wealthy capitol area and twelve surrounding poor districts.
The Hunger Games (2012) – (c) Lionsgate
The movie begins with a brief introduction to District 12 and the film’s heroine, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence). We see that in addition to helping her mother take care of their home and her younger sister, Katniss is a rather skilled hunter. She’s out hunting a deer in an unauthorized area when she’s suddenly startled by fellow District 12 resident, Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth). The deer she was hunting runs away, but Katniss is able to shoot and kill a bird.
The Hunger Games (2012) – (c) Lionsgate
Katniss’s hunting expedition is dwarfed by the fact that today happens to be the Reaping, an annual event that uses a lottery method to select a male and female competitor from each district to participate in the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is an annual event that uses a male and female contestant from each district, making them fight to the death with only a single winner. As long as you’re between 12 and 18 years old, then you qualify as a possible contestant for the Hunger Games.
The Hunger Games (2012) – (c) Lionsgate
Katniss and her younger sister, Primrose Everdeen, head to the Reaping along with Gale and the rest of District 12′s children. They all register themselves and stand at attention for the arrival of Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks). She wishes them all a Happy Hunger Games and then plays the propaganda films that proceeds each session of the Reaping. Effie then randomly selects this year’s contestants: Primrose Everdeen and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), the son of a baker who gave bread to Katniss’s starving family. Katniss is shocked that her younger sister is selected, and knowing that Primrose wouldn’t stand a chance, Katniss volunteers herself for the Hunger Games.
The Hunger Games (2012) – (c) Lionsgate
Katniss and Peeta travel by train to the Capitol. On the train they’re joined by Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), a previous winner of the Hunger Games. He offers some tips and advice for the two young contestants, mainly about survival techniques and the importance of winning over the support of the people. It’s all about gaining support of sponsors, people who could actually help the contestants during the Hunger Games.
The Hunger Games (2012) – (c) Lionsgate
The contestants arrive and there’s a great deal of fanfare throughout the Capitol. There the contestants receive a few days of training in both combat and survival techniques. The Hunger Games normally lasts several days, so it’s important that each contestant knows how to scavenge and live off of nature in order to survive. Before the games begin, each of the contestants has a chance to meet with TV personality Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci). When Peeta meets with Caesar, he declares his longtime crush on Katniss. Katniss is shocked by his revelation, unsure whether he’s being truthful or just trying to win more support from sponsors.
The Hunger Games (2012) – (c) Lionsgate
Just over an hour into the movie, the actual Hunger Games finally begin. All of the contestants have a starting position at a curved structure nicknamed the Cornucopia, a place of refuge filled with weapons and supplies. Before the games started, Haymitch warned Katniss against the temptation of weapons at the Cornucopia. The games officially begin, and sure enough, there’s a slaughter as many of the contestants are killed while trying to secure weapons. Katniss makes a dash for some supplies and is nearly killed before escaping to the woods.
The Hunger Games (2012) – (c) Lionsgate
Katniss takes to the woods as the surviving contestants form a band of hunters, seeking out the lone contestants hiding in the woods. Peeta joins those stronger hunters from Districts 1 and 2. The first night she, and the rest of the contestants, learn which of their fellow contestants were killed that day. The images are projected in the night sky for all to see. The following day Katniss ventures a little too close to the edge of the arena. In a scene straight out of The Truman Show, we see that the environment is carefully controlled by people at the Capitol. Those people create a wall of flame to heavily encourage Katniss to turn around and return to the playing field. She does so and is mildly injured in the process.
The Hunger Games (2012) – (c) Lionsgate
It doesn’t take long for the band of hunters to find Katniss. They trap her up a tree and play the waiting game, camping around it and cutting off her escape. That night some medicine arrives from a sponsor and Katniss is able to heal her injured leg. The next morning, Rue, a young girl from District 11, is hiding in a nearby tree. She silently informs Katniss of a nest of deadly tracker jackets in a nearby branch. The genetically engineered insects are capable of causing hallucinations when they sting. When they swarm, the massive amount of venom is capable of killing a human being. Katniss is stung a few times but manages to cut the branch, causing the nest to fall on the group of hunters. They scatter and Katniss escapes from the tree.
The Hunger Games (2012) – (c) Lionsgate
Katniss doesn’t make it far before she falls from the tracker jacket stings. She hallucinates before being unconscious. Katniss awakens and meets Rue, learning that Rue took care of her while she was unconscious for a couple of days. The two of them team up and decide to attack the hunters’ collection of supplies. Rue distracts the hunters while Katniss attacks the supplies, setting off the mines around it and destroying their stockpile.
The Hunger Games (2012) – (c) Lionsgate
Katniss returns to Rue only to discover that she’s caught in a trap that was set by the hunters. One of the hunters, a boy named Marvel, shows up and throws a spear at the two kills. Katniss quickly fires an arrow and kills Marvel, but she’s horrified when seeing that his spear struck Rue, killing the young girl. Devastated at her loss, Katniss gathers flowers and has a small funeral for the young girl. Her actions are shown on the TV monitors back in District 11, and the people there start a riot against the authority.
The Hunger Games (2012) – (c) Lionsgate
A rule change is made to the Hunger Games, allowing two victors in the event as long as they are both from the same district. Katniss hears this and quickly seeks out Peeta, finding him camouflaged and with a serious injury to his leg. It’s then announced that a special feast will be at the Cornucopia, complete with a special gift for each contestant. Katniss rushes to the Cornucopia to get the medicine for Peeta. There she’s ambushed and is nearly killed by Clove, a girl from a rival district. Just as she’s about to kill Katniss, Thresh, another contestant from District 11, kills Clove, telling Katniss that his favor was for her treatment of Rue. Katniss takes the medicine back to Peeta and his leg heals.
The Hunger Games (2012) – (c) Lionsgate
The people controlling the Hunger Games speed up the process by making it nighttime and introducing hound-like creatures into the arena. Katniss and Peeta make their way to the Cornucopia, beating the hound-like creatures in the race to safety. At the Cornucopia is Cato, the last surviving contestant. Katniss and Peeta fight Cato, ultimately winning by knocking him off the Cornucopia and to the waiting hounds on the ground. Katniss shoots Cato so he wouldn’t have to suffer from a slow death.
The Hunger Games (2012) – (c) Lionsgate
It’s then announced that the previous rule of allowing two winners has been changed back to a single-winner system. Neither Katniss or Peeta are willing to kill each other, so they both attempt to commit suicide by eating poisonous berries. Just before they eat the berries, another announcement declares both of them the winners. They receive their awards in the Capitol before heading back to District 12.
So is the movie any good?
To me, The Hunger Games felt like a not only a chick flick but also a RIP-OFF of The Running Man (1987) and Battle Royale (2000), both of which were vastly superior films. The environmental control of the battle arena and numerous hidden TV cameras were clearly from The Truman Show (1998). It’s Japan’s horrific Battle Royale where you’ll find most of the similarities with The Hunger Games.
When you have a movie that borrows so much material and concepts from other movies, the result is a boring chick flick that will only amuse those who have no knowledge of older films. Then again, the The Hunger Games books and movie were mainly marketed towards teenagers and young adults, so it’s likely they have little to no knowledge of those previous movies.
As you can probably guess, I’m clearly not a fan of this movie. I sat through it A) for my girlfriend, and B) to see what the fuss was all about.
One of the things that annoyed me in The Hunger Games was that everybody had really weird names. From Katniss to Peeta to Rue to Cato to Haymitch and beyond, apparently nobody in the future is allowed to have a normal name. Then again, people in today’s society have an obsession with giving their kids “unique” names, whether it’s something intentionally (or unintentionally — many parents are stupid) misspelled or just plain weird.
Something else that seemed weird in The Hunger Games was the obsession with Rue, a young, shy girl who doesn’t accomplish much of anything in the battle arena. Sure, she helps take care of Katniss while she’s hallucinating and unconscious, but after that Rue doesn’t really do anything of great importance. Katniss still would have found a way to destroy the stockpile even without the help of Rue. When she gets killed apparently it’s a shock that a little 12-year-old is killed by an older and stronger teenager. Were the people of District 11 actually expecting the little girl to survive the games?
Or were the people of District 11 just that impressed that a fellow competitor would show a little bit of compassion after the death of a rival contestant? Were those same people rioting during the Reaping when Rue was selected to compete in the games?
In a post-apocalyptic world where people are starving and living under a rather sadistic regime, it seems weird that all of a sudden you see the emotional outpouring over the death of a little girl, from both Katniss and the people living in District 11. Their whole lives are nothing but sorrow and suffering where people die very easily. Why are they suddenly so emotional at the loss of a child? They knew she would most likely be killed anyway in the games.
You really shouldn’t look too deep into The Hunger Games. This was mainly written for the younger audience. Virtually nothing in the movie can be presented as original content. At some point Hollywood will stop having the person with the bow and arrow be the hero/heroine of the story.
The Hunger Games (2012) – movie trailer
Effie Trinket – “May the odds be ever in your favor.”
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This article was originally published at www.chamberofreviews.com on September 17, 2012.