Hunger Games

There have been many movies based off books, such as Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and even the dreaded Twilight started off as books once. At the turn of every year, it seems that they claim one of these books would be the next big movie, the next big thing that get people talking, the thing that could sell millions. This year, the world has Hunger Games fever, with the release of the movie coming out today. With all the hype it received, I naturally became curious, and read the book, and was impressed, and then proceeded to see the movie. How did it do?

The premise for the story is actually an unique,but depressing one, to be honest. After a rebellion, a treaty stated that each District would offer up two tributes, a boy and a girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen, for the Hunger Games, a televised survival fight between all of the contestants, and they fight each other to the death and the forces of nature, until one is deemed the victor. At the reaping, or selecting of the tributes, of the seventy-fourth Hunger Games, Katniss' sister, Primrose is selected as tribute. Katniss steps in for her and becomes the first ever voluntary tribute. Along with Peeta Mallark, the boy tribute from her district, they head to the capitol to compete in the seventy-fourth Hunger Games.

The story its self is something unique to teen fiction now-a-days, due to the paranormal romance craze, so this brings something refreshing to the table. Granted, the story was not without its romance, but it played both a major role and a minor role; it was a huge factor in the games, but it did not overtake the story. The romance between Peeta and Katniss was cute, but it wasn't portrayed seriously nor adorably. I think they tried to add some romance between Katniss and Cinna in the movie that wasn't in the book, but little stuff I can forgive.

Along with adding little romance, the movie also added bits and pieces of additional information that was not in the novel, such as the Gamemakers controlling the terrain of the Arena that the contestants fought in, and the the hosts of the show adding in their commentary, elements that were not in the novel.

The acting for this movie was one of main things that irked me through out the movie. It was dry, flat, and awkward, at best. It had so many awkward silences, and the characters were just staring off into space. Peeta, although a "main" character did not really act, and was about as lively as a piece of cardboard. Katniss was a bit better, but she still came off flat. The rest of the cast was barely memorable in my opinion, except for Haymitch, who had to be one of the best actors in this cast, even though he was barely sober half the movie.

The other thing that bothered me was the musical score for the movie. Where I thought there should have been music to fill in for the awkward acting there was none. I come to the movies not for awkward silences between the characters; I come for good music and liveliness. The musical score was barely memorable either;it was almost dead and it could have been greatly improved.

I do blame one factor alone for the poor execution of the movie: the way the book was written. The book was written from the first person, so we experience everything that Katniss feels and sees when she sees it. While I love books told like that, in movie execution, it fails in my mind due to the fact that in the movie you have to show the whole world, not just from her point of view. When you broaden the field of vision, you loose some things that were evident in the novel, such as internal monologue, and explanations behind some of the things in this world. While they tried to do some explanations through the telecasters of the "show," it lost its effect and made the movie feel like an overall T.V. show, which was not the effect the book gave off.

Overall, I was not pleased with the movie, and I was expecting a lot more from the cast and the movie its self with all the hype it received. It received a lot of hype, saying it would be the next big thing; in my mind, it is not worth the hype. A decent movie overall, with nothing standing out about it besides the premise of the movie due the fact it is dark enough to grab someone's attention without them sayings a horror movie and it is aimed at mostly female teenagers, and it isn't Twilight or romance in general.


                                                  May the odds be ever in your favor