The Hunger Games

Running Time: 142 minutes.

Media: Blu-Ray.

A friend of mine decided to do something rather silly for me when he loaded the Blu-Ray for the first time. Having not seen the movie on the big screen, I looked forward to seeing the film. My friend decided to switch the subtitles to Hungarian... Thus turning "The Hunger Games" to "The Hungarian Games"... I know, it was a bad joke, but to be honest it had no change to my thoughts on the film.

I have to confess, this movie was intriguing. It's medieval and at the same time, it's futuristic. It's full of normal people and also filled with... "freaks" for the lack of a better word... This clash of old and new, young and old, past and future... it pulls you in and grabs your attention.

The Hunger Games put simply is what would happen if the game "Mortal Kombat" had mated with the reality show "Big Brother". The film is set in what seems like a post-apocalyptic world where twelve districts in the nation of Panem every year send two tributes each in a fight to the death. Katniss Everdeen, played by the very youthful and very ravishing Jennifer Lawrence is one of the latest tributes to have been recruited into the Hunger Games, an annual fight to the death competition forced on twenty-four randomly picked kids, after volunteering herself to compete in place of her sister when she gets picked. Katniss is somewhat an anti-hero in this film, she doesn't want to be famous or be anyone's savior, she just wants to survive, live well with her family and grow old.

Lawrence, who is a blonde, dyed her hair dark to play the role of Katniss, embodies the role with all her being... I'm guessing she's read the books prior to starring as her nuances are pretty much how I had pictured as I read the first book. She's only 22, and already has managed to star in not only this movie, but a number of others including X-Men: First Class, The Poker House, and the somewhat controversial Mel Gibson movie, The Beaver. Some would say that Mel finally cracked with that movie because he's talking through a puppet... But I digress. Lawrence does hook and reel you in, and you find yourself living the Hunger Games themselves, as though you were an observer from within the playing field. I can see this movie franchise raking in big in the upcoming sequels based on her performance alone, with The Hunger Games: Catching Fire currently in post-production, and coming out later this year.

Josh Hutcherson, who plays the male lead in the film, Peeta Mellark, is a bit of an enigma; and I think this is simply because he's starred in a rather diverse miasma of B-grade films. I don't mean this in a bad way, but it's these films that have built up his filmography extensively; The Polar Express back in 2004, RV starring Robin Williams, Zathura, Bridge to Terabithia, and most recently the new Red Dawn remake, which is not so B-grade, but has so far collected a modest 43 million in the box office. Mellark, Hutcherson's character is the other tribute from Katniss's region of whom she despises at first but then kinda warms up to slowly once it's revealed he has a thing for her. And how complex does it get when someone who likes you ends up being someone who has the possible option of killing you in a forced competition in a post-apocalyptic Earth? If can get pretty complicated indeed. But somehow, Hutcherson pulls Mellark's character off rather well, albeit making him seem like a fairly timid but strong character within the film.

Secondary characters such as Haymitch, their mentor, played by Woody Harrelson give a little meat to the film. Harrelson in this film looks like Aragorn straight out of the Renaissance. I actually pictured the character from the book to be a bit older, uglier and crueler; but somehow Woody wins me over with his performance with his lax and somewhat inebriated character portrayal. Elizabeth Banks, who is an absolute hottie off-screen, is probably the closest thing to comedy relief as playing the part of Effie Trinket, Peeta's and Katniss's chaperone, who attempts to go one over Lady Gaga with her outlandish hair, makeup and wardrobe... She seems to represent the upper class in Panem's Capitol, but I think her entire goal throughout the movie is to not be taken seriously, which isn't hard to do... I found myself stifling bouts of laughter every time she came on the screen... I have to admit, it's rather sad to see her like this. I absolutely adore Elizabeth, she's talented, witty, and an utter babe - but this role kinda undermined her true talent.

There is a somewhat obligatory casting of Donald Sutherland as yet another person high up in the food chain with a slight hint of evil in his agenda... You know, I hate to say this, but Donald's been cast a lot in these types of roles of late, and when I say "of late" I mean, even before he played the role of X in JFK back in 1991. What is it about him that attracts these kind of roles? He's a strong silent type, granted, but is it the way he looks? He plays the part of President Snow, a somewhat elderly gent who is resistant to the possible uprisings of the remaining twelve districts within Panem, and wants nothing more than to see the districts trodden underfoot. He doesn't stay on for very long on screen, so hopefully we may see some further character development in the sequels.

Finally, I have to give kudos to Lenny Kravitz, playing the role of Cinna, Katniss's pre-competition stylist. I don't think  have ever seen Lenny without the nose rings, the wild hair and sunglasses until now... But, man, I am impressed, the man can act! And he does it so well... I had to re-read the start of the book and picture him playing Cinna, and it just clicks. It's a bit of a juxtaposition, seeing him very plain-clothed and toned down in comparison to who he is in real life and his known performance value, and then realizing that the outlandish side of Kravitz in the film is manifested in the wardrobe choices worn by Katniss and Peeta. I think this movie would not have been the same or as appealing without Lenny being cast in the film, as his character adds a considerable amount of emotionality and balance to the craziness and violence surrounding the rest of the film.

The death scenes are not as explicit as I thought they would be, having read the book prior to watching this. If anything, they were a lot more subdued than I had anticipated; I found a Coca-Cola ad inspired by the film to be incredibly gory in comparison. The timeline for the film doesn't jump around with respect to the book, so you don't go questioning the linearity of it, and the film towards the end leaving you with a sense that there is definitely something to follow. I enjoyed this film, but I can't say that I felt completely convinced to award this a full five stars. It feels like there is something missing, I'm not sure what, maybe a little more blood... But it is something worth seeing, and I'm sure with it currently raking in over $680 million in the box office that Suzanne Collins, the author of the book series will be pleased to know that she can retire comfortably in her gold-plated yacht for many years to come. The Hunger Games scores 4½ stars.