Contrary to my initial opinion of it, The Hunger Games is
not just another Twilight rip-off. This is, of course, a wonderful thing.
It is apparent right from the start of the movie that its
tone will be far darker than that of most movies based on young adult novels.
This is ultimately its greatest strength. I’m not going to waste any time
talking about the plot of the movie, or why it makes for a compelling story. If
you don’t know it, Wikipedia can be helpful with things like that. First things
first, though. The acting in this film is simply spectacular, and it would be
an understatement to say that Jennifer Lawrence is apparently not an overrated
actress. She perfectly captures the role of Katniss. The supporting actors
certainly do a fine job in their roles, but it’s Lawrence who really steals the
show here. As I said before, the film’s greatest strength is its dark
atmosphere, and it isn’t afraid to kill off even major characters. This works
wonders for it. In many places, it hits hard. The pacing is shockingly good for
a movie that basically consists of a girl walking through miles of woods and
trying to not get killed. It never lingers on one subject too long, and keeps
things moving fast, but never feels rushed.
If you know anything about the plot of The Hunger Games and
its sequels, you’ll know that they certainly have a good deal of emotion in
them, and this carries over into the film spectacularly. The film’s realism
helps it. It’s often moving, and it always keeps the viewer involved. It would
be wrong of me to go without mentioning James Newton Howard’s score. While it
may not be wonderful on its own, inside the film, it is excellent. One of the
film’s only weak points is that the end feels very abrupt, and if I had not
known going into it that there would be sequels, I might have assumed it was a
stand-alone film. Another problem is that it doesn’t always highlight the larger
events occurring outside of the arena. We don’t always feel the tyranny of the
Capital as much as we should, and this leads to the stakes not being quite high
enough in places. However, these problems were present in the book, so
ultimately I can’t criticize the film too much for them. Ultimately, The Hunger
Games is an excellent film and is well worth watching. I’m giving it 4/5 stars.
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