The Hunger Games is a film that really pushes the limit of what a film can accomplish. It's dark, edgy, frightening, and if you haven't heard the plot, like I didn't, turn away now, the more mystery in the film, the better. It has it's flaws, and it also has lots of controversy, but in the quality department, this film delivers. The movie follows a 16 year old girl named Katniss, about a few hundred years into the future, where North America has been divided into 13 districts, and a capitol, which rules over them all. So these 13 districts decide to have an uprising, but it fails, and District 13 is completely obliterated. The capitol decided that for the rest of the districts, they would pick a boy and girl between 12 and 18 from each district, and make them fight to the death. Only 1 person out of 24 will survive. Katniss is a girl from district 12, who's sister, Prim, is picked to be one of the contestant, but Katniss volunteers in her place, and I can't reveal anything after that, because the less you know before watching, the better. The plot is actually done really well and revealed gradually, so it's mysterious and well done. Sometimes the plot feels a little far-fetched and silly, but for the most part, it's entertaining and engrossing. The characters are really well done, and they were probably done better here than in the book! I love the book more than the movie, sure, but this is one of the few things the movie improved on. The characters in the book were great, sure, but Haymitch was just a normal drunk, and Peeta was just a whiner. Heck, even Katniss seemed like a jerk in the book! But in here, everything is done with more care and interest. Katniss is strong willed and cunning, but here, she actually seems like she likes Peeta. In the book, she does it for sponsors, which makes her less likable. Peeta is more brave in this movie, in the book, he was just annoying, and as for Haymitch, in the book, he was just drunk, nothing much else, but in the movie, he's actually intelligent, yes, 90% of the time he's drunk, but he knows when to smarten up. As for everyone else, they're pretty much the same in the book and the movie. The acting was really good too. I was surprised, usually with a movie adapted from a book, the actors chosen usually can't deliver, but they did amazing here, especially Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss. Everyone fit with their characters, and I didn't see anyone who didn't exceed my expectations. However, with these characters came controversy. Many people call the film "Racist", with several cast members being African-American. I don't want to go into detail with this, but let me just say the movie is not racist, it does not portray these people in a stereotypical way, and the only people who called this movie racist were newspaper workers who are looking for something to write about. Finally, let's talk about the OTHER controversy; The cinematography. Oh boy, so many people hated the whole "Shaky camera" aspect in this movie, and I have a few points to make about it: 1. The shaky camera has been done before, like The Hurt Locker, and with success, so why complain now? 2. The shaky camera actually adds fear and worry towards many scenes. 3. They needed the shaky camera to keep the violence minimum, so it could be rated PG-13. However, I do admit, the action in this movie sucks, just because of the cinematography. Heck, in the first action scene in the movie, the "Bloodbath", you can barely tell what's going on! However, the focus isn't as much on the event of "The Hunger Games" as it is the two major characters, Katniss and Peeta. Still, it's something it should have been improved on. Now, it's time for the "Best and Worst of The Hunger Games". The best of this movie has to be it's pace. Half the movie is build up towards the games, and the second half is the games. This way, you learn more about the characters and the actual games before you even start the games. I know 12 year old girls would be like "It was too long", but I personally enjoyed the suspense and hope they do the same thing for the sequel (Even though it has a new director). The worst thing about this movie is the cinematography, like I said, though it makes things seem more quick and compelling, the actions scenes are just horribly done. In conclusion, this movie has flaws, but trust me, it also has a lot of mystery and shock value. A must watch.
5/5
