STARRING: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh
Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci,
Donald Sutherland, Wes Bentley, Toby Jones
2012, 142 Minutes, Directed by:
Gary Ross
There’s
a rule that any defense of a film that begins with “If you had read the book . .
.” automatically fails. A movie must to be able to stand on its own since most
viewers will not have read the book . . .
However as with any rule
there’s an exception, and in this case the exception is when most of the viewers
will have read the book. Recent examples include the
Harry Potter
series, The Lord of the Rings and
Twilight. To that must now be added The Hunger Games.
The first of an expected three
films based on the phenomenal trilogy by Suzanne Collins,
The Hunger Games is a near perfect adaptation that should satisfy fans of
the books and, perhaps, win them new adherents. Nonetheless, as with the other
examples, there will be those who haven’t read or disliked the source material
who will detest the film as hard to follow, boring, bad filmmaking, etc. This is
not meant as a slam. This reviewer loved the Harry Potter books and
movies, hated the Tolkien books and their adaptations, and never read the
Twilight series and thinks watching paint dry is more exciting than seeing
it on screen. Consider this fair warning.
The Hunger Games is set
in a future North America where the nation of Panem is divided between the
elites in the capital and those living at subsistence levels in the twelve
surrounding districts. Years before there was a revolt that was suppressed and
now, each year, the districts must provide two tributes – two teenagers – who
will fight to the death in a tournament. Not made clear in the movie is that the
victor/survivor wins additional food for his or her district for the coming
year.
"One of the best film adaptations in recent years!"
The heroine of the story is
Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) who volunteers to fight as a replacement when her
younger sister is selected in the annual reaping. Katniss is one of the most
fascinating teenage girls in modern pop culture. She’s smart, tough and
independent, but she’s also insecure and not quite ready to tackle the intrigues
of the adult world. Lawrence, who came to notice in the art house hit Winter’s
Bone, is sensational as Katniss, ably carrying the weight of the film on her
shoulders.
In many ways the story is a
metaphor for adolescence, which explains why this dark, dystopian story has been
such a success as a YA novel. The adults make conflicting demands on Katniss and
it’s not always obvious who has her best interests at heart.
The surly and usually drunk
Haymitch (a wonderfully cast Woody Harrelson) serves as mentor to Katniss and
fellow tribute Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), since he was the last victor from
District 12. The president (Donald Sutherland) is only interested in maintaining
power, and a feisty underdog teen champion is the last thing he wants. TV
personality Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci) uses his flashy interviews with
the contestants for his own purposes. Only her fashion coordinator (Lenny
Kravitz) seems to really care.
Director Gary Ross (Pleasantville,
Seabiscuit) has done a tremendous job transferring the novel to the
screen. The screenplay (worked on by Ross, original author Suzanne Collins, and
Billy Ray) compresses the story losing some minor characters and plot points. It
stumbles primarily in assuming too much knowledge on the part of the viewer.
The fact that the various fauna
– like the mockingjay and trackerjacks – have been created by the authorities to
suppress the districts is not made clear. Thus Caesar actually has to do an info
dump for the audience to explain the appearance of the trackerjacks, and the
appearance of the feral mutts in the film’s climax lacks the impact it had in
the book.
So, if you’ve read the book go
see
The Hunger Games and enjoy one of the best film adaptations in recent years.
If you haven’t, you might want to read it beforehand or, at the very least,
bring a teenager along to answer your questions.
There’s
a rule that any defense of a film that begins with “If you had read the book . .
.” automatically fails. A movie must to be able to stand on its own since most
viewers will not have read the book . . .