The Hunger Games (2012) Review

Director: Gary Ross
Writers: Gary Ross and Suzanne Collins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Drama


2.5 Cookies

I wish that The Hunger Games was a movie that it could never possibly be. In my dreams, it would be just as dark, gritty, and disturbing as the fantastic, wildly popular book of the same name, but because studio movies are all about making money, that could not happen. The studio knows what it's doing - The Hunger Games raked in $155 million in its opening weekend, which makes it the third most successful opening weekend of all time - but all the money comes at a price. The Hunger Games could have been an absolute classic - instead it's overwhelmingly ordinary.

A word I keep hearing to describe the film, and I would have to agree with the adjective, is "fun." Yes, The Hunger Games is fun but that is exactly the problem. A movie about kids killing kids should not be fun. A movie about kids killing kids should make the audience leave the theater feeling like their hearts have been ripped out. Instead the audience leaves with a smile, probably discussing the  "hotness"  of the stars or how pretty the costumes were. In her novel, Suzanne Collins was able to create a horrible sense of despair and fear and develop a story filled with angst and dread. Director Gary Ross,  on no fault of his own besides the fact that he's a hack, fails to convey any of the tones that made Collins' books so powerful. If the book had an MPAA rating, it would be a hard R, which the movie should have been. Instead, the movie is Disney Channel.

Maybe the most disturbing thing about the violence in the movie, or lack thereof, is that by not showing it, it makes it acceptable. By the end of the movie over 20 kids are killed, but the audience won't even care. To ensure maximum profit, The Hunger Games had to be PG-13, but by softening the violence, the whole message of the story is lost.

Now,  Jennifer Lawrence proves that she is a flat out movie star as Katniss and her performance is the best thing about the movie but that is not enough to overcome the poor performance of Josh Hutcherson as Peeta. Unfortunately, Hutcherson is not able to carry the weight of such an important role. Liam Hemsworth has about seven minutes of screen time so his performance can barely be judged. Most of the other support is good, but the roles of many characters are drastically cut from what they were in the book. While the movie stays mostly faithful  the novel, small details and minor characters are forgotten, and those details are precisely what made the book so good.

Also, the overall pacing of the film is very weak, there is no character development, and the editing is terrible. The best editing is editing that you can't even notice, but at some points The Hunger Games has more unnecessary cuts than a fast paced music video. I don't know why it's edited the way it is, but I was distracted by it from very early on.

While the movie is entertaining and some of my negativity comes from the incredible high expectations I had,  I  still can't help but think of all the missed opportunities that Ross had to make this a truly special film. I guess we'll have to wait for the sequel and settle on "just ok" for now. You will be entertained though, so if that's all you're looking for, this is probably a safe bet.