THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Everyone fights for what they believe in. But sometimes, you never know what you’re fighting for until you start it.
PLOT
Based on the titular Suzanne Collins novel, The Hunger Games takes place in a dystopian city known as Panem, that holds an annual broadcasted fight to the death tournament. 12 districts, that were once a total of 13, must select two tributes, a boy and a girl from the age gap of 12 to 18 in public 'Reapings'. The story takes place in what is now the 74th annual of the titular event and 12 year old Primrose Everdeen from District 12 is picked, but her 16 year old sister Katniss volunteers to take her place. She would join the male tribute, fellow 16 year old Peeta Mellark. Katniss remembers him for giving her two loaves of bread when she was starving at the age of 11, deliberately burning them from his family bakery. They would be taken to the Capitol after saying goodbye to their loved ones. Peeta would say goodbye to his mother, whereas Katniss says goodbye to Prim, their widowed mother Carine (Paula Malcolmson) and childhood friend Gale Hawthorne. The latter would give his own advice to give the world a good show, even though chances are slim for her to survive. The two tributes would then be escorted by chaperone Effie Trinket and the only live winner from D12 Haymitch Abernathy, who acts as their mentor. The latter’s main advice is to make the sponsors like them in order to provide life saving gifts during the event. At the Capitol, they train to compete with their various skills: Katniss would practice with her archery, as she used at home to provide for her family. As for Peeta, he practiced camouflage thanks to his artistic skills he learned from baking at home. The two would even get personal costumes designed by stylist Cinna. He helps them leave a good impression on sponsors by dressing them in black unitards with synthetic fire, breaking the tradition of D12 themed coal miner outfits. This would give her a signature nickname, The Girl on Fire. Katniss & Peeta would even hold hands in unity to act proud of their involvement. They would then have separate evaluations to better benefit sponsors. Katniss would get their eyes when shooting at them when they were ignoring her archery skills. This would get her a score of 11, whereas Peeta gets a score of 8. The former’s score does not please the Capitol’s President, Coriolanus Snow, due to how she acted rebelliously. On the last night before the event, all tributes would be interviewed by host Caesar Flickerman. Katniss seems to get the attention of the audience with a red dress that also had synthetic fire, while sharing how she vowed to win for Prim. Peeta would seal the deal with attracting sponsors by confessing he has a genuine crush on her, surprising her and the world. Hours before taking part of the games, Peeta would confess to Katniss how scared he is because he doesn’t want to change who he is if he wins or loses. By morning, they part of the game and casualties quickly occur as expected. Within one day, 13 tributes are annihilated: an unnamed D3 female (Kalia Prescott), both D4 tributes (Tara Macken & Ethan Jamieson), a D5 male (Chris Mark), a D6 female (Kara Petersen), both D7 tributes (Leigha Hancock & Sam Ly), a D8 male (Samuel Tan), both D9 tributes (Annie Thurman & Imanol Yepez-Frias) and a D10 female (Dakota Hood). As Katniss hides in the forest themed arena, she would spot Peeta align with Careers, tributes who trained their whole life to compete in the games: Glimmer (Leven Rambin) & Marvel (Jack Quaid) of D1 and Cato & Clove from D2. Katniss would still try to keep her distance, but that would change when Head Gamemaker starts a forest fire to draw her out to the competition. She would then have to hide in another tree to avoid them going after her. As Peeta suggests to wait her out, Katniss would get unexpected an alliance from 12 year old D11 tribute Rue, who directs her to a nest of venomous wasps dubbed ‘tracker jackers’. Everdeen would use this advantage to drop it onto the Careers, which kills Glimmer. As she dies, the Girl on Fire takes her supplies and is insisted by Peeta to retreat. Due to being stung as well, she would pass out but Rue helps her recover and befriends her in the midst of their fight for survival. While she recovered, a D10 male (Jeremy Marinas) was killed as well. Both tributes from opposing districts would come up with a distraction to destroy a stockpile of supplies claimed by the Careers. Katniss would destroy it in surrounded mines while Rue causes a distraction. This situation would cause the death of a D3 male (Ian Nelson). When Katniss returns to Rue, the latter gets caught in a trap and just when she frees her, Marvel shoots her with a spear. Katniss would retaliate by shooting him with an arrow, but it would not undo the death of her friend. Out of respect, she adorns her body with flowers, which causes a riot in District 11. This would again displease Snow as he knows the games were meant to give a false sense of hope to prevent another revolution. As the game continues, Haymitch convinces Crane to allow two winners of the same district. When this change gets announced, it inspires Everdeen to look for Peeta. When she does, she would find him severely injured. As she has him hide in a cave, she kisses him which continued to grant the sponsors’ attention. She would then go out to the horn shaped cone, Cornucopia, to get medicine, only to get attacked by Clove. Surprisingly, the latter would be killed by Thresh of D11, sparing the former out of respect to Rue. After Peeta recovers, Foxface (Jacqueline Emerson) of D5 would die of consuming berries, unaware of it containing nightlock poison. When another night emerges, Crane sends mutated beasts dubbed ‘Muttations’ to bring the event to a close. It seems to work as the creatures kill Thresh and would draw Katniss & Peeta to Cato. The remaining three would fight for their lives on top of Cornucopia. Cato would try to kill Peeta until Katniss shoots his hand, giving Mellark the chance to push him off the cone and have him devoured by the muttations. Everdeen would shoot him one more time to put him out of misery. By the last morning, Crane would revoke the rule change and go back to being one victor. Not wanting to kill the other, both Katniss & Peeta consider eating the berries so that there would be no winner. Before they could digest them, Crane goes back on his change and declares them co-victors. Although they would be praised by their district by the time they go home, Haymitch would warn Katniss that her defiance will make enemies. The film would end with Snow having Crane killed, forcing him to eat the same berries, before determining his next course of action. THOUGHTS
With Harry Potter and Twilight reaching a conclusion, it was time for another fantasy book series to shine in the big screen and boy did this one ever. Director Gary Ross is able to get the engine started in making a film that is going to open your eyes in a big way. This genre is known to have twisted dystopias, and this one had to be up there as one of the most shocking ones to exist. One in which teenagers are in a fight to the death tournament being portrayed as entertainment for the wealthy is twisted as fuck and it surprises me how they pulled it off. Even with a PG-13 rating, this is a setting that ain't with the faint of heart. The production/costume/makeup design and visual effects that make the said dystopia is incredible, feeling so distinguishable from past franchises. Every costume a character wears is glued to my brain, every glimpse of this fictional civilization is intriguing and the visual effects of the unreal becomes real before our very eyes. It's one thing to have fire on a dress and notice a handful of touch screens/holograms, but I definitely respect how creepy those damn mutts appeared as described in the book. James Newton Howard shares a score to present there is something grand to behold but far from pleasant. Even when his score wasn't playing, the silence succeeds in being deafening, reminding us of cruel stakes at hand. Looking back, I think this film and its followups succeed in being watchable to this day for its realism in showing how power is too dangerous in the hands of few instead of many. Within a minimum amount of time, the legendary Donald Sutherland makes a tremendous impact for portraying Snow as a very manipulative leader, something you would expect from an ideal villain. He acts this way because he believes the way he leads the world is the only way, making him blind with power at this point in life. Using the games to give false hope has to be the ultimate power move because it is a feeling that is not always enough to spark a rebellion. With that being said, it's shocking to see others believe in the same beliefs as him. Stanley Tucci definitely gets under your skin for being a visible propagandist, supporting the game while surprisingly making the tributes feel at ease. The real kicker though is Crane because Wes Bentley makes him overconfident on how to run the show and doesn't take the same precautions Snow would make. Had he thought twice about the berries, he would still be alive. You already hate the guy for being bloodthirsty as these events progress, the way he manipulates the action, so he definitely doesn't have sympathy by the time he meets his demise. While this story shows how power should not belong to the greedy, it also tells us how love and sacrifice are the greatest aspects in life for bringing out the best in human beings, a message that is captured from one of the greatest protagonists to ever be written. Jennifer Lawrence was Hollywood's biggest trend in the 2010s for the range she displayed throughout and the role of Katniss has arguably made her a household name because she had us adore this character for the selflessness she displays from the start and the fierceness she uses when the going went rough. No matter how flawed some would see her, she would back it up with the loyalty she had for those she cared about. Rather than judge her, all you can do is praise her for volunteering for her sister without hesitation, knowing damn well she doesn't deserve to be in that predicament like past and present tributes. The biggest surprise that came from this unlikely adventure of hers is the amount of friends/allies she would gain. Josh Hutcherson quickly has us hooked with Peeta for the generosity alone, a trait in which he keeps with him before and long after this journey. He proved it when he gave Katniss needed bread and kept on when helping her retreat from the Careers. He had a crush on Katniss this whole time because he is in awe on how dedicated she is to take care of her family. While she doesn't feel the same for him as of this entry, she respects for his own selflessness and she returns the favor during the game. While they could've not prepared for the consequences that came their way for their defiance, there is no shame to be made on them for their defiance with the berries. Thanks to it, they found a loophole for the first time that could necessarily end a cruel era. At home, Katniss had at least one friend who knew her better than anyone. Liam Hemsworth has us respect Gale for portraying him as a practical figure who shares his own sense of loyalty towards Katniss. Knowing her for so long, you already know he loves her for making him want to work harder and be there for his own family. Of course it bothers him when she kissed Peeta because he doesn't know her the way he does, setting up a love triangle that was way more interesting compared to what was done in Twilight. Resuming to Panem, there were such a handful of characters that were colorful in their way. Woody Harrelson had us click with Haymitch quick because he presents him as one who acts quite surly due to how he has shame in having to do what he did to survive, hence drinking his sorrows away. However, he backs up his wisdom for the most part when sharing the necessary advice the tributes needed to survive. He knows how the system works and he teaches them how to be favorable. He's even successful in being a persuasive guy since he convinced Crane to change the rules. With Katniss & Peeta both being able to survive, the man deserves respect going out of his way for them, giving them a chance he couldn't get. Lenny Kravitz also has us appreciate Cinna because he plays him as one who is passionate with his line of work, while also seeing Katniss' humanity and helps her express that with minimum hesitance. He calls her the Girl on Fire not for his outfit, but because he knows how big of an impact she is making. The one character that had to have caught everyone's eyes was Effie due to being colorful with her wardrobe compared to everyone else. To me, that helps Elizabeth Banks present her to be quite flighty because she mostly has a positive attitude despite aware of the stakes. What she does bring to the table storywise is that she respects the impact Katniss makes despite being such a risk. Since there were 22 other tributes, there had to have been others that caught my eye, and there was definitely a few that did. The scariest part of the game was the Careers since those teens were blindly loyal to a cause they never needed to represent. Isabelle Fuhrman definitely creeped me out as the sadistic Clove, but it was Alexander Ludwig who shocked me the most as Cato. The guy was a true savage because he was able to kill without hesitation. What made him a tragic figure is that in his final breath, he realized he didn't have to take part of this since he volunteered. Haymitch was intimidated by him from afar because he knew what he was capable of and luckily, there was one less threat to worry about. Although there were enemies in the game, it was a relief to see Katniss find common ground with others outside her district. We definitely respected Thresh thanks to Dayo Okeniyi accurately making him an aggressive yet kind hearted individual, it is Amandla Stenberg who stole our hearts as Rue. She does it so well because like Willow Shields' Prim, we know she's a kid who has such warmth and doesn't belong in such a predicament. Because of her youth, you know Katniss sees her sister in her and chooses to protect her as long as she could. Her inevitable death is the saddest moment of the franchise at this point because it revitalized her compassion, giving her a stronger drive to survive. It also triggered District 11 deeply because they finally grew tired of a conflicting system and were willing to demand change. Without it, there's no telling what could've happened by the end of the game. This movie may have met my expectations, but I can still admit there are things that could’ve made more sense and/or could’ve been done better. Like for instance, Katniss gives up too easy to hunt for the deer when she could’ve thrown a rock at the birds just like Gale would. I also think the Capitol should not have been surprised of seeing fire on Katniss’ outfit. I know it’s bizarre to see it on someone and they don’t know it’s synthetic, but they should know what fire looks like a mile away. I then wonder how did Rue get above the ceiling with no one noticing? It would be one thing for Crane and the sponsors to not say anything for the sake of their own amusement, but the guards should have noticed way before Katniss. I don’t want to be uptight about continuity errors, but was there really a reason for Rue to have betting odds from 60-1 to 7-1? Since this movie ain’t about her, it’s a shame we don’t know what she did to have an improvement like that. I even thought it was weird for Haymitch to mention Cornucopia only minutes before the game actually starts. Katniss should’ve been told about that long before training started. It was cute for Cinna to sneak in the pin so that Katniss can represent her sister, but I’m surprised her gear wasn’t checked for contraband in advance. Snow is the kinda guy who hates any sign of rebellion and if he saw the pin before the game, he totally would’ve confiscated and destroyed that thing. And how did the Careers not see Katniss when she got into the shadows of the forest? Cato should have just when he killed the D3 male. That moment is dumber than Cato trying to climb up a tree with a sword at hand. I even thought it was crazy for Foxface to not get all the supplies left at Cornucopia for herself instead of just the one. That would’ve helped her starve the others out without straight up killing them by hand. Other than that, this film remains entertaining for what it is. In conclusion, The Hunger Games is one of the best fantasy films ever made for crafting surreal suspense in an environment that can be close to reality. If fantasy novel adaptations are your preference, see this now.
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