The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games has been talked about pretty widely since news of its release began to circulate, particularly by those who have read the book. I, however, have not read the book and so entered the cinema completely cold to the story. However, I had been exposed to the hype around this film, and I’m afraid that this may have upped my expectations.

Although this film was interesting, I didn’t feel particularly gripped by it at any point. I can understand why, if you’ve bought into the franchise, this film may capture you more than a standalone movie, but I certainly didn’t feel caught up in it at all. For those who don’t know, set in the future, the story tells of Katniss Everdeen, a girl from the districts, who takes her sisters place to fight in the Hunger Games. The competition is a fight to the death of 24 teenagers, a boy and a girl from each of the twelve districts. All well and good. Starring Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss and Liam Hemsworth as her blatant love interest Gale (though not explored in this film)  and Josh Hutcherson as her co-competitor from her district, the cast is relatively unknown, much as, I suppose, the Twilight cast once were.

The story itself is reasonable enough, but when it moves from the districts to the thriving city, the costumes frankly got on my nerves- seriously OTT. Having not read the books, I’m not entirely sure where blame lies here, but it just seemed a little beyond what was necessary for the story, and was actually pretty distracting.

In terms of the fight scenes and capabilities of the actors, these were all on pretty firm ground. Although being pitched at young adults, some of the deaths are actually pretty graphic and that’s not just me being squeamish.

However, the storyline was incredibly predictable and it was a real shame that there were no elements of surprise – although I suppose the vast majority of the audience may already have known what happens, so perhaps that’s not the point here. Either way, this film felt distinctly average and certainly not worth the insane amounts of promotion which it has received. 6/10 Kx

P.S I have to caveat this by saying that I didn’t buy into the Twilight franchise until film 3, so I may live to regret this review should I get caught up in the excitement down the line 🙂