The Hunger Games is set in a dystopian future in the corrupt nation of Panem. As punishment for a failed uprising, the 12 districts of Panem are required to send one male and one female between the ages of 12 and 18 to battle to the death in the gladiatorial Hunger Games. When her sister is called up as a tribute, Katniss Everdean, played by Jennifer Lawrence, volunteers to go in her place.
Let me be frank for a moment, I was trying to find something negative about this film, but I couldn’t find all that much. The story was interesting and does a really good job of making you hate the denizens of The Capital as well as making you care about the characters.
Unlike other movies based teen fiction novels, this was one that the dark, gritty, and very thought provoking.
The overall design of the film feels akin to movies like Brazil, or Metropolis, where we see the superficiality of The Capital and the harsh realities of the districts and the Hunger Games itself.
While many of the shots were fairly basic, I felt that it worked with the flow of the story. While there are moments where the camera is handheld and shaky as if it’s being shot by a drunk child, these moments don’t persist for very long.
All I can really say about this film is that this is one that is definitely worth seeing. It has a solid story with endearing characters. It does a great job establishing the dystopian, borderline-Orwellian world where the story takes place.
The drama, like any good film, comes from the gravity of the situations and the psychological toll it takes on the characters, making a lot of the actions and reactions of the characters occur organically.
When it comes to movies based on teen fiction, this is more what we should be seeing instead of the watered down soap operas we’ve been getting. On my personal scale, I give The Hunger Games a 4/5.
