Ah the Hunger Games, where to even begin. In an effort to stay current on pop culture happenings I broke down and paid to see the the Hunger Games in the theater, in Georgetown no less. Having never read the books my main draw was Jennifer Lawrence. She definitely hasn't supplanted Carey Mulligan or Greta Gerwig on my favorite up and coming actress list, but I really like her a lot. I saw her first in a tiny role in the Burning Plain a couple years back and again in a surprisingly good X Men First class, but nothing was as impressive as Winter's Bone from 2010. Lawrence carries that entire film on her back, a film that made less than $14 million worldwide, but was what I thought, the best film of 2010. She lost the best actress nom to a crappy Natalie Portman in Black Swan, who wasn't even the best actress in that film, in a field that included Kidman, Bening, and Williams.
I had a pretty good idea of what the Hunger Games would be all about, and was hoping for a bleak dystopian view of the future like so many classic 1970's films. I saw that there were some pretty solid actors appearing in minor roles, some great like Woody Harrelson and Stanley Tucci, some barely there like Toby Jones and Donald Sutherland, and some ridiculously over the top like Lenny Kravitz and an unrecognizable Elizabeth Banks. It had the makings of an enjoyable but most likely formulaic Hollywood action film.
It's not that bad actually. The acting is either over the top like Tucci and Harrelson, or way too bland, like most of the other characters, but nothing yell at the screen bad. I knew the huge draw of the books going into the film and the audience reflected the demographic, with one young lady literally on the edge of her seat throughout the second half of the film. The problem with getting any book to the screen of course is what to cut out, luckily never having read the books this wasn't a huge issue for me but has apparently ignited several debates among the die hard fans. My only real problem was that it took too long to get to the actual Hunger Games themselves, and once it did get there, the ending came way too fast and tacked on. In addition, as with any of these film franchises, I felt like I didn't get a whole movie but rather a third of a film, like watching the first half of the Harry Potter finale.
The most confusing thing was how Gary Ross managed to land writing and directing what is sure to be a blockbuster trilogy. Sure, he's written popular films in the past, Big, Dave, and even the classic Mr. Baseball, but he has basically disappeared for a decade. His last directing work was Seabiscuit and Pleasantville, and those were years ago, neither showing a penchant for heavier material like Hunger Games.
As a big Hollywood film, I enjoyed it, I didn't go in with lofty expectations, and came out entertained. I actually liked the not so subtle commentary on our voyeuristic and media driven society, and the reflections of our reality TV obsessions. Thankfully these points weren't labored upon too much. I pulled for the main character Katniss the entire way thourgh the film as she progressed from unwilling participant to generally dominating badass. This film isn't going to win any of the talent awards but I left happy I went, and that's really all you can ask for.
