The Hunger Games (Movie)

"It wasn't as good as the book."  How often do we hear that--or say it--after watching a movie based on a book.  Especially an uber-popular and/or well respected  book.  The time constraint inherent to film is generally the main culprit, as not every character and plot thread can be given it's proper due without turning the movie into a mini-series.  Other times it may be license was taken by the film makers, changing elements of the story or the characters, occasionally rendering them unrecognizable.

With the movie version of the super-smash hit novel The Hunger Games (perhaps you've heard of it), license is certainly taken and some elements were changed or omitted altogether.  But all were perfectly logical and even, perhaps, necessary to make Suzanne Collins' literary vision into a pretty great moving picture adaptation.

Even when an adaptation is good, it can still be somewhat disappointing to see the characters and environment you created in your head while reading the book don't match what the film makers had in mind.  For me, this was not at all the case with The Hunger Games.  Just about everything I saw on screen was pretty close to how I imagined it.  Being a latecomer to the book, I was probably subconsciously influenced by the movie trailer, but  the world Collins created in prose was so vivid I think any subliminal mumbo jumbo was secondary.  From the Great Depression-esque Appalachia of District 12, to the shimmering opulence of The Capitol and the colorful and creepy flamboyance of it's citizens, the look was perfect.  Even the the Peacekeepers in their late 1970's Logan's Run getups seemed right.

For those of you not up on your Hunger Games knowledge--let me first welcome you back from your sequestered hermitage away from the modern world--you can catch up on the plot (SELF-PROMOTION WARNING!) here.  Or, just go get the book.  It's a breakneck read.  I got through it in three or four days and I'm a notoriously slow reader.

Well, if you're too lazy for that, here it is in a nutshell:

A post-apocalyptic North America is now occupied with the country of Panem.  Panem is divided into twelve districts, all ruled by The Capitol, the opulent and ruthless seat of power.  As punishment for a prior (and failed) uprising by the districts, The Capitol forces each to submit two children between the ages of 12 and 18, one boy and one girl, as tribute every year.  The tributes are then thrown into a vast outdoor arena and forced to fight to the death until only one is left standing.  The rest of Panem is required to view The Games as a twisted Olympics style spectacle on live TV.

The protagonist is Katniss Everdeen, a 16 year old girl who lives in District 12 with her mother and 12 year old sister Prim.  After The Reaping, the yearly choosing of the tributes, Katniss finds herself as District 12's tribute along with her male counterpart Peeta Mellark.  Katniss and Peeta, coming from the poorest district, are at a disadvantage and have only their cunning and charisma to see them through the ordeal.

Credit for the above capsule to...myself.

I'm sure director Gary Ross and his crew wrestled over just how graphic to depict the violence in the movie.  I mean, we're talking about teenagers savagely hunting down and killing each other here.  Obviously they needed to keep things in PG-13 territory for the sake of the novels target audience, but at the same time the violence is what drives the story and is central to the point the author is trying to make.  While the movie does show some restraint by comparison, I thought Ross struck a good balance between showing the brutality necessary to not either become gratuitous or turn it into some bloodless video game, which would have sucked all the power out of it.  It was effective.  The cornucopia sequence in particular had me sufficiently unsettled as I watched the carnage unfold.  Reading about 17 and 18 year-olds taking out their barely teenage rivals is one thing, but to see it viscerally portrayed on screen takes it to another level.

As far as the cast is concerned, all the actors were spot on.  Jennifer Lawrence has the attractive, athletic, not-quite-tomboyish chops to play the feisty Katniss Everdeen.  She and Josh Hutcherson's Peeta Mellark didn't exactly burn up the screen, chemistry wise, but then she is a reluctant player in her and Peeta's Hunger Games strategy, so maybe that was somewhat by design.  Otherwise, Hutcherson did a fine job.  Stanely Tucci is exceptional as The Capitol's favorite emcee Caesar Flickerman, and I was happy to see one of the examples of artistic license taken by Ross and friends was to expand his role a bit from the book.  Donald Sutherland is positively reviling as the seemingly soft-spoken but obviously coal-hearted President Snow.  The book doesn't give Snow much page time (I'm sure he plays a much greater part in the two sequels, which I have not yet read), but in the movie he and Wes Bentley's head Gamesmaker, Seneca, are one of the logical and necessary elements to flesh out the personification of the wicked Capitol.  Better to invent or expand the role of characters in this way then spend a chunk of precious run time with exposition of why The Capitol is so evil.  This was much more interesting.  Woody Harrelson also nails Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta's alcohol soaked Hunger Games mentor.  Elizabeth Banks and Lenny Kravitz (yes, the Lenny Kravitz) round out the solid cast.

If I had any complaints, they would be these two.  First, more time should have been spent on the importance of Katniss' survivalist skills and why it made her such a skilled player.  This was a central element of the book that I thought the movie glossed over a little too quickly.  It was hinted at, but should have been brought into better focus.

Second, the movie made me sick.  I mean, literally, sick to my stomach.  Some might expect that reaction from a movie with rampant teen-on-teen violence, but that had nothing to do with it.  Ross makes extensive, extensive, use of hand-held cameras.  This is not a groundbreaking technique, and normally doesn't bother me at all, but let's just say if the closing credits hadn't started when they did, I may have been donating my pepperoni and mushroom pizza to row 14 of the theater floor.  Didn't bother my wife at all, but she can also do long division while riding the tilt-a-whirl on winding, treacherous mountain roads without so much as a rumbly in her tummbly.  Anyway, I didn't really notice it until the end, but if motion sickness is an issue, you may want to invest in some Dramamine beforehand.

Nausea aside, I was very pleased with my Hunger Games experience.  It was a thrilling, action packed ride that was faithful to the great source material from whence it came.