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titlethehungergames

Based on the first book of the mega-hit trilogy written by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games is vying to be the next franchise for teens ready to move on from the Twilight experience. Directed by Gary Ross (Sea Biscuit, Pleasantville), the film wastes no time in announcing ‘Welcome to the 74th Hunger Games!’ Some time in the not-too-distant future, a country called Panem is about to televise it’s annual battle of the ‘tributes’; Panem has been divided into 12 districts and every year, as penance for past uprisings against the state, each must submit two young people, a male and a female, to fight in the Hunger Games. These twenty-four then set off on a journey of survival in which they must fight to the death in a vast, controlled environment where they are observed at all times by those who administer the Capitol.

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence, nominated for an Oscar for her excellent work in Winter’s Bone) volunteers to replace her sister Primrose (Willow Shields), who has been selected for the games. Leaving behind her friend/boyfriend Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth), Katniss is teamed up with Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), another member of the poor mining community which makes up their district. The two are mentored by Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), who is convinced Katniss has got what it takes to make it to the end, and gussied up by the resident stylist Cinna (Lenny Kravitz). In the meantime, the whole experience is being televised and controlled by Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci, resplendent in a blue bouffant hair-do with a chunky ponytail) and judged by the Capitol’s President Snow (a chilling Donald Sutherland). It’s reality TV gone overboard – think X-Factor with a death sentence!

This is a strange tale and a sanitized version of the novel. Why? Because it would not have earned a PG-13 rating in the USA (and therefore been forbidden to the very audience to whom the film is aimed) if it ramped up the violence, specifically the animal hunting scenes which are, apparently, much more explicit in the novel. Yikes! And this is for kids? It’s a very similar premise to Kinji Fukasaku’s terrific Battle Royale (2000) and that film was heavily criticised for its violence; it would seem that the filmmakers have learnt from Fukasaku’s experience.

Hunger Games has a guaranteed audience and no doubt it won’t be too long before the rest of the trilogy makes it to the big screen. It sports a stellar cast with a very watchable lead actress in Jennifer Lawrence, beautifully captured by Tom Stern’s impressive cinematography; Stern worked with Clint Eastwood on a number of his features. However, the production design by Philip Messina, costume design by Judianna Makovsky, and the work of the vast make-up department are major disappointments. Much of The Hunger Games looks like it was shot on the set of a Mardi Gras parade that has gone horribly wrong. None of this will make a scrap of difference to fans of the books. To paraphrase a line from the film, I can safely predict that ‘the odds [will] be forever in its favour’.

// SALT
moviereview colin fraser film movie australia review critic flicks



STUFF

CAST
Jennifer Lawrence
Josh Hutcherson
Willow Shields
Stanley Tucci

DIRECTOR
Gary Ross

SCREENWRITER
Gary Ross
Suzanne Collins

COUNTRY
USA

RATING / RUNTIME
PG / 142 minutes

AUSTRALIAN
RELEASE DATE
March 22, 2012
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Stacks Image 113