Oscar-nominated director/co-writer Gary Ross creates a faithful and compelling adaptation of “The Hunger Games” that will only whet avid fans’ appetites to see the sequels played out on the big screen.
Adapted from the first book in Suzanne Collins’ best-selling dystopian book trilogy for young adults, “The Hunger Games” stumbles over a few of the anticipated pacing and storytelling pitfalls but mostly meets and in some arenas even exceeds expectations.
As expected, the movie has Ross’ steady, intuitive direction, an excellent cast working in top form, magnificent costume and production design, a stellar if understated soundtrack and score, plus Collins’ own pen (along with Ross’ and Billy Ray’s) applied to the script all going for it. These pluses really add up to a satisfying cinematic experience, which as a “Hunger Games” fan, I found to be quite a relief. After all, there are so many ways that a movie version of Collins’ dystopian near-future sci-fi tale about a government-mandated, live-for-television game show that forces teenagers to fight to the death could have gone horribly wrong, but thankfully, Ross and Co. get so much of the story right.
As expected, the series’ fervent fans turned out in droves for 12:01 a.m. Friday screenings, with several houses at Harkins Bricktown 16 crowded with movie-goers, including many dressed as their favorite characters from the books. (My thanks to Harkins for provided me with midnight passes so I could bring this review to you.)
Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence (“Winter’s Bone”) brings her now-standard but still impressive ability to portray both toughness and vulnerability to the lead role of Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old denizen of the Appalachian Mountains. In the not-too-distant future, what was formerly North America has been replaced by Panem, which consists of a weathly, corrupt Capitol situated in the Rocky Mountains and surrounded by 12 poor, oppressed districts whose residents provide all the necessities and luxuries – food, electronics, and in the case of District 12, coal – to the Capitol and are ruthlessly kept under the government’s thumb by the militaristic Peacekeepers.
The Hunger Games are another means of keeping the populace down: In penance for a long-ago attempt at overthrowing the government, each district is required each year to provide two tributes – a boy and a girl – between the ages of 12 and 18 to travel to the Capitol, receive training and then fight to the death in the Games. Only one of the 24 tributes will survive, and everyone is Panem is legally required to watch the dehumanizing brutality play out live on television.
In District 12, Katniss has become accustomed to surviving: Her father was killed in a mining accident when she was a child, and since her mother couldn’t cope, it fell to Katniss to provide for her family, including her beloved younger sister Prim (Willow Shields). Katniss and her best friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth), whose father died in the same accident, keep their families fed by breaking the law and hunting game in the woods outside District 12.
When it comes time for the 74th annual Hunger Games, Prim has turned 12 and is eligible for the first time for the lottery, or Reaping, that will determine the district’s two competitors. Despite Katniss’ every effort to protect her and against all odds, Prim is plucked at random from the thousands of entries, and Katniss’ reaction is immediate and instinctive: She volunteers to take Prim’s place.
To make matters worse, the male tribute drawn for the Games is Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), the baker’s son who once saved Katniss and her family from starvation by sneaking her bread.
Katniss and Peeta are whisked off to the Capitol by the etiquette-obsessed Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks), District 12′s vacuous, flamboyantly dressed government representative, and the inebriated Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), who as District 12′s only previous winner of the Games is tasked with mentoring the pair through this year’s installment.
When they arrive at the Capitol, Katniss and Peeta are beautified, battle trained and literally paraded about for the benefit of the rich and privileged (in chariots around a Coliseum-esque arena, no less). Katniss’ stylist Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) dresses them in flaming costumes that leave an impression but also provides quiet moral support for the terrified girl.
All the tributes also are interviewed on live TV by the affable but oily longtime Hunger Games host Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci, terrific as usual), and Peeta picks that moment to reveal his longtime crush on Katniss. Unsure whether his proclamation is true or not, Katniss goes along in the hopes of garnering sponsors and fan support that could be vital to surviving the games.
Once they enter the arena and face their fellow tributes – including “careers” who have trained since childhood for the Games – it’s clear Peeta and Katniss will need all the help they can get if they want to make it back to District 12 alive.
Ross keeps the plot economically unfurling from the opening moments and after the Reaping, ramps up the action to a near-breakneck speed, but he still is unable to quite keep up with page-turning pace of Collins’ cliffhanger-per-chapter novels. He, Collins and Ray efficiently and skillfully edit down the story to its essentials while still keeping the essential plot and character developments, along with the vivid details that make the story unique. But some elements, such the bond that forms between Katniss and 12-year-old District 11 tribute Rue (Amandla Stenberg), are just too rushed to make the kind of emotional impact that they had in the book.
Despite Lawrence’s stellar efforts, the movie misses the internal monologue of Collins’ first-person novel, particularly since Katniss’ voice is so distinctive, insightful and vital to really understanding the love triangle that makes up one of the story’s many layers. Although Hutcherson and Lawrence have strong chemistry, their characters’ complicated relationship doesn’t get quite enough time or space to develop, though giving the story’s romantic angle short shrift is preferable to letting it slip into the forefront.
But the movie does have one storytelling advantage: It takes viewers inside the control room of the Games, showing the cold-blooded way in which Head Gamemaker Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley sporting some jaunty facial hair) and his technicians put the tributes in harm’s way to make the spectacle more entertaining. Plus, Crane’s periodic meetings with Panem’s ruthless leader President Snow give the excellent Donald Sutherland more screen time.
Ross keeps the harrowing, bloody fight sequences just within the parameters of the PG-13 rating – I wouldn’t recommend the movie to children younger than 12, and they should be a mature 12 at that – but more importantly, he keeps with them a heartbreaking sense of cruel realism. These aren’t the kind of action scenes that make you want to cheer for a hero, they make you cringe at the exploitation these children are forced to endure.
And really, the laser focus on the story’s meaningful core is the true triumph of the movie version of “The Hunger Games.”