A film review by Craig J. Koban April 3, 2012 |
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THE HUNGER GAMES
Katniss: Jennifer Lawrence / Peeta: Josh Hutcherson /
Gale: Liam Hemsworth /
Effie: Elizabeth Banks / Haymitch: Woody Harrelson / Cinna: Lenny Kravitz
/
Seneca: Wes Bentley |
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A once great nation turned into a post-apocalyptic hellscape. A totalitarian government that oppressively rules over its impoverished denizens with a cold and heartless detachment. A gladiatorial death match contest featuring humanity's downtrodden that serves as the entertainment-opiate for the upper class masses. And at the epicenter of all of this is a hero of singular determination that rises from humble beginnings to become the champion of her people. If all of this sounds like
very, very familiar material to you that's as old as the sci-fi
genre itself while watching THE HUNGER GAMES, then you're not alone. The film - helmed by PLEASANTVILLE and SEABISCUIT director Gary Ross,
based on the massively popular 2008 young adult
sci-fi novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins - takes place in
an unspecified time in the distant future when what was once North America
has become known as Panem, an Orwellian regime that has been divided into 13
districts that are all ruled over by the central "Capital".
We learn that the districts once rebelled decades in the past, but
were easily crushed by the iron fist rule of the Capital. As part
of an ever-lasting peace settlement, the remaining districts that were
left unscathed after the uprising were forced to participate in yearly
“Hunger Games”, where young people between the ages of
12-18 are selected by lottery to participate in a battle to the death
reality show that is mandated viewing for all citizens.
During what’s known as “the Reaping” two tributes
(one girl and one boy) are chosen from each of the remaining twelve
districts. In order to win
the contest 23
adolescents must be killed, leaving only one alive and standing. During the 74th annual lottery selection, a young 12-year-old girl named Primrose Everdeen (Willow Shields) is selected from District 12 to participate, but her 16-year-old sister, Katniss (WINTER'S BONE's marvelous Jennifer Lawrence) can't bare the thought of her younger and more innocent sibling facing what will be most certain death. Like a true selfless heroine, Katniss volunteers to serve as tribute in Primrose’s place. From there she is accompanied on her journey to the Capital by the male tribute, Peeta – not to be confused with P.E.T.A. - (Josh Hutcherson, the very fine young actor from THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT and BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA) and when they arrive they are trained by Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), a former games survivor, and are given image makeovers from Effie Trinket (an unrecognizable Elizabeth Banks) and Cinna (the more recognizable Lenny Kravitz). It seems that the people of the Capital like their young victims being served up to the slaughter to be approachable, likeable, well groomed, and camera and TV-ready. Katniss
is initially lukewarm to the idea of making over her image to appease the
blood-thirsty Capitalites, but she begins to slowly understand that part
of her ability to potentially survive the games unscathed is to become a
fan favorite beforehand, which will lead to sponsorship that could pay
off well while in the deadly contest. When Katniss, Peeta, and the 21 other tributes are finally
unleashed in the winner-take-all battle of ultimate survival, both
Katniss and Peeta make calculated choices to avoid the initial savagery of
the games in order to secure their existence.
When things become dire, though, Katniss decides to enhance her
stature with the viewers and feigns a romance with Peeta (who has secretly
loved her for years), but when she begins to have genuine feelings
for her fellow tribute, unavoidable sensations of dread creep in: after
all, in order for her to win, she must kill her new love. THE HUNGER GAMES does many things right, like the manner that it compellingly reverses the typical gender roles for action-heavy sci-fi films like this (Katniss is clearly the hero of the piece, whereas Peeta is the damsel, so to speak, that needs saving and protection). The actual build-up to the games in question is also genuinely suspenseful, not to mention that we get an intriguing juxtaposition between the Capitol and district life. The emotional, physical, and economical miseries of the districts – made up of bombed-out and cheaply rebuilt villages that could have been discarded set pieces from THE ROAD - is sharply contrasted with the sickening and flamboyant decadence of the Capital's elitist citizens. The Capital is like a metropolis laden with an upper ruling class that gorges on rampant and excessive materialism and disturbingly feeds off of the suffering of the district people, both in and out of the games. The
performances themselves are strong from the eclectic and
well-assembled cast. Particularly
memorable is Harrelson's turn as his frequently inebriated ex-Hunger Games
combatant who manages to be a mentor as well as a voice of reason to his
new tributes. I also liked
Banks as Effie, the PR lady, a woman so decked out in mind-blowing colors,
grandiose wigs, and caked-on makeup that she would make Lady Gaga envious.
Stanley Tucci appears as the TV host, of sorts, of the games, who
uses his slicked back mane of blue-dyed hair and lecherous, pearly-white
grin to fanatically and enthusiastically build up viewer interest in the
games with the dutiful zeal of a circus ring master.
His faux-congeniality with the tributes is arguably the film’s
most creepily sinister element. Then,
of course, there is Lawrence herself as Katniss, and even though she is
perhaps far too old to play a convincing 16-year-old, the former Oscar nominee gives this film its searing heart,
soul, and dignity amidst all of its corrupt chaos. Lawrence coveys a Katniss that’s an elegant beauty and a
backwoods-like tomboy that’s fuelled by her own inner drive, admirable
fearlessness (especially considering what she is forced to endure), and
physical abilities (she’s a futuristic feminist-empowered Robin Hood
with a bow and arrow). Lawrence
is just the right type of young actress to showcase Katniss as a young
hero of susceptibility and authority; she emotionally grounds the film
through and through. It's also refreshing to see a female hero
that's not totally reliant on anyone else but herself
to make it out of dire and anxiety-plagued circumstances. Bella in
the TWILIGHT films was an obnoxious and flirtatious tease as far as role
models go, but Katniss is the real deal as a worthy figure
of young female viewers' hero worship. Yet,
THE HUNGER GAMES falters from a standpoint of thematic and narrative
innovation. Deep down, the
overall premise here has been done time and time again (aspects of the
film’s reality TV obsession can be seen in THE TRUMAN SHOW
and THE RUNNING MAN; its Big Brother-inspired and government-from-hell is
right out of 1984; and its underlining concept of young people being
forced into live-or-die government sponsored battles bares a startling
similarity to BATTLE ROYALE). The
script itself is also pedestrian when it comes to the romance in the film
between Katniss and Peeta, which feels both tacked on and stilted in ways
that made TWILIGHT borderline
unendurable at times (the latter film series went out of its way, though, to be a
romance melodrama, but THE HUNGER GAMES does not really require this
aspect). Furthermore, THE
HUNGER GAMES offers up assembly-line villains in the form of
simplistically evil tributes that makes the plight and requirement of
Katniss to kill them in the games that much more conveniently
trouble-free. The film could
have been much more interesting if, say, all of the tributes were
frightened and uneasy individuals that did not want to murder each other. Gary
Ross is not an action director, which is abundantly clear through most of
THE HUNGER GAMES. When he is
not rendering district life with rough and loose camera work – leaving
very few required scenes of visual stillness - that becomes more glaringly
distracting by the minute, he then captures the chaotic violence and
frantic mayhem of the games’ battles with a hyperactive
shaky cam aesthetic that visually devolves the film into borderline
incomprehensibility. Spastically
moving the camera and editing sequences without much care as to pacing,
fluidity, and coherence often underlines a novice director’s lack of
competence with laying out the action to generate suspense, but Ross is no
rookie here. The only other
rationale for these headache-inducing choices was to perhaps maintain the
film’s PG-13 rating: when you can’t make heads or tails of what’s
happening on screen, it becomes easy for the violence and carnage to be
hidden as well. Nonetheless, I'm sick to death of this
technique. Note to all action directors: KEEP. THE. CAMERA. STILL. Lastly, there is the central irony and, in many ways, hypocrisy of THE HUNGER GAMES itself. The film and its source material are meant to be pointed commentaries and criticisms on omnipotent governments that influence and rule over its audiences with its organized mass murder sprees masquerading as a reality TV game show; it wants us to find its forced teen-on-teen savagery as distasteful and depraved. Yet, THE HUNGER GAMES as a film wants us - especially during its long sections during the games itself (this film is far too long at 142 minutes) - to be taken in with its orchestrated pandemonium that has kids as young as twelve being served up for the bone mashing and artery spewing slaughter. The film becomes almost a contradiction of itself in the process. Yet, it's not a film without merit: Lawrence imbues it with a sincere and genuine heartbeat and gives us a credible and likeable screen heroine in a teen-centric romantic fantasy that’s not of the Kristen Stewart pout-and-furrow-her-brow-endlessly school of acting that dominated TWILIGHT (sorry, but comparisons between the two franchises seems unavoidable). That, and THE HUNGER GAMES captures its class disparity with darkly satiric and proficient strokes. I just wished that the film was less compelled by its perfunctory teen romance and predictable plot machinations and instead put more emphasis on being thoughtful and contemplative with its tributes, all of whom are being forced against their will into impossibly stressful situations (many of these tributes seem far too relaxed during their pre-game preparations than they should be considering their insanely high odds of not making it out alive). As far as blockbuster event films go, THE HUNGER GAMES should appease its legion of ravenous, die-hard literary fans, but for the rest of us agnostic viewers, it’s more of a middling example of speculative science fiction at best. |
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