Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Lenny Kravitz, Donald Sutherland, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks
Directed by: Gary Ross

Today, I finally saw the movie, “The Hunger Games”, which is adapted from novel by Suzanne Collins. Here is my review:

Plot/synopsis: In a dystopian future, the totalitarian nation of Panem is divided between 12 districts and the Capitol. Each year two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal retribution for a past rebellion, the televised games are broadcast throughout Panem. The 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors while the citizens of Panem are required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss’s young sister, Prim, is selected as District 12’s female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart Peeta, are pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives.

This film is getting mixed reviews. You either loved it or hated it. I’ve read the first novel, and I would take the time to defend the film, on why I loved it so much. Yes, it was a great film. You can’t compare this film to the “Twilight” franchise, ’cause this is a different story and style.

Other reviewers and fans are also comparing this film, to “Battle Royale” (which I haven’t yet seen), and Stephen King’s “The Running Man” (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger). I don’t see how you can compare, “The Hunger Games”, to those other films. The way I look at “The Hunger Games”, I see the story being heavily inspired by “Lord of the Flies”, the William Golding novel.

I think, “The Hunger Games”, was pretty faithful to the novel. Everything in the film was pretty dead on, I thought. Jennifer Lawrence was perfect casting for Katniss, and I can’t see anybody else playing that character. I also thought the other casts did a great job. I was most impressed with Donald Sutherland’s (also Kiefer’s father) performance. I also liked Woody Harrelson and Lenny Kravitz in the film. Who knew Kravitz, the rock star could act? I thought Elizabeth Banks’s character, Effie Trinkett, was pretty scary and evil looking, made you want to hate that character.

I thought the movie had some pretty good action, and there was a little blood & gore as well. Lot of explosions too! Anyway, I also thought the movie followed the story from the book pretty well.

My only complaints are the camera were pretty shaky throughout the action scenes, plus, there were some scenes that had some pretty weird camera effects that I found unnecessary. Other than that, I thought the movie was great. It pisses me off that people would want to compare, “The Hunger Games” to Harry Potter, Twilight or any other of the big franchises for kids. Suzanne Collins is no J.K. Rowling or Stephenie Meyer people. Suzanne has her own story.

The whole point about “The Hunger Games”, is not only that it’s a dystopian futuristic story, about a bunch of kids competing in a game, it’s a story about “survival”, period. Suzanne wanted to give kids a story about survival. I thought it was a great movie, and there is nothing wrong with it.

Score for “The Hunger Games” = **** (4 stars as in “excellent”)

Kev