The Hunger Games Review

Written by Bobby Ramos

The Hunger Games (2012)
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth


If you are like me, well then you would be a clone, but we are not here to talk about Multiplicity, we are here to discuss the new novel adaptation that is catching Hollywood by storm, of course I'm talking about The Hunger Games.

This is the first in a series of 3, which means that there will be more (Well since the movie has topped the box office for a few weeks now). People if you love foreign films and you would know the essential movie is Battle Royal, a movie (also based on a book) about how the government is scared that the rebellious youth of today will rise up and take over so they pass the BR Act which means that a School and class are picked at random via government lottery are gassed out and sent to an island where they are fitted with electronic collars, They have 3 days to kill each other, last one standing gets to go back home, but if the 3 days are up and there is more than 1 standing then the collars will activate and nobody wins. This movie showcased what a person is capable of if put in such situations and with the mild dramatics of school life being given the license to kill, we are able to see who was the bullied and who were the real weaklings.

The Hunger Games is an annual event in which 2 are selected from each district (Boy & Girl from the age range of 12-18) to participate in a game of skill, chance and death. Much like reality TV and the worlds desire to watch horrible things, this event is televised and has been a huge success running into its 74th year. The one we root for is Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) a 16 year old who had to grow up fast after the death of her father, Who volunteers to participate in the brutal event after her little sister is picked and would obviously be the first one dead come kick off time. Hunger Games is a slightly different approach. Now unlike the aforementioned Japanese classic, The kids ARE taken with their knowledge and are sent to be fed, trained and well tarted up for the cameras for interviews to get the audience behind them with their back stories, personalities and fighting skills.

Behind the scenes is the character of “Head Game Maker” Seneca Crane ( played by the dark eyebrow-ed Wes Bentley). Who is basically the shows director who has to make sure everything is up to par not just with the audience but with the network exec or the President by the name of Snow (Played by the slowly aging Donald Sutherland. Who makes it clear that if these games are not better than before and are kept in tight control then Crane will be canceled well his life will be.

Now here comes the part most of you will want to know about (Well the guys mainly). Yes there are some mushy tween love moments, Hell it can't be avoided I mean it is a franchise with a strong female lead and it for some damn reason has to have a love interest or in many cases a love triangle, it is not touched on too heavy like the so called “Vampire” trilogy (that was turned into 4 movies and just won't seem to end), but just to warn you it is there and also it is shown with hilarious reveal that Katniss has more balls than the boys when it comes to pain.




So what did I think of this movie, well since I did not read the books (It takes a lot for me to read these days, nothing has been the same since Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.). I didn't think it was a total waste of time, the development could have been trimmed just a bit but all together it was not a bad movie. I looked at it as this, much like entertainment stolen and brought here (amongst other things we have taken in the history books) This is like an Americanized version of Battle Royal in a sense of a tv exec seeing this show from Japan where they passed a law to kill off kids to stay in power and thought to himself “Hey, we can do that, this would be a ratings goldmine” and were to take it up to the network execs and they say “We love it, but we need to change some stuff up, instead of gassing them how about we just pass this law and make it known that they can be selected and have to go, oh also we can't just give them random bags of stuff how about they all run towards it they can grab food, water or weapons, But lets not fit them with exploding collars, lets just add obstacles, Oh also we ned to interview these kids, get the audience behind them, If I were to watch something like this I wouldn't be able to care about a kid getting killed unless I know about them. Well let's see how we can avoid buying the rights, and send it down to production. Good Job Collins.”

So in closing, Check out the Hunger Games if you are a girl who loves a strong female character, or a guy who loves a strong female character (Or Jennifer Lawrence in tight gear, Oh yeah side note she is 21 but is playing 16, flip a moral coin on that one and see where it lands.)