By HANNAH DUNN-GRANDPRE – Variety Editor
“We salute your courage and your sacrifice and we wish you Happy Hunger Games,” announced President Snow to the tributes and entire crowd, marking the beginning of the annual “games” of the nation of Panem.
Based on the extraordinarily popular first installment of The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins, the film is set in post-apocalyptic North America. Panem is divided into 12 districts, each of which mustsacrifice one boy and one girl, between the ages of 12 and 18, every year as “tribute.” The 24 tributes fight to the death in a violence-filled, tournament-style battle, leaving one adolescent left alive as the year’s victor.
For some who prepare for the Games throughout their young lives, it is an honor to be chosen, but for most it’s a death sentence. Either way, the capitol uses the disgusting practice as their main source of entertainment and forces each of the districts to watch and celebrate the games and consequential deaths.
The film centers around 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), a citizen of one of the nation’s poorest districts, District 12. Despite her oppressive circumstances, she is a survivor, breaking laws to keep her family members, who are some of the only people she truly cares about, alive..
After volunteering to take the place of her much younger sister in the games, Katniss is faced with leaving her family and best friend, Gale (Liam Hemsworth), behind to go into the arena with 23 other competitors who are all out to kill one another.
Let’s not forget the fairly unbalanced romance between Katniss and the boy tribute from her district, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), which comes across perfectly on screen. In an interview just before the games, Peeta declares his love for Katniss. Then, in order to put on a good show she feigns reciprocation.
Although the love and protection Katniss felt when volunteering to take her sister’s spot in the games was apparent, as was the tumultuous relationship between Katniss and Peeta, the portrayal of the rest of Katniss’ relationships to various characters was certainly not as strong.
Her long-time friendship with Gale was cut down to just minutes; her anger toward her mother for not providing for them to the best of her ability consisted of a single scene; her alliance with other tributes in the arena, which played a huge part in the books, only skimmed the surface of what it had the potential to be. However, these were understandable flaws considering the movie was already so long.
The two-and-a-half hour film kept a quick pace, staying as true to the books as it could, much to the delight of fans everywhere. Constantly keeping the audience engaged, the emotions were continuous, whether it be tears shed over the death of your favorite tribute, giggles at scenes of Katniss and Peeta’s drunken mentor, Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), or screams of terror from the horrific obstacles placed in the arena by the game makers.
Whenever midnight premiers are sold out in a matter of hours, expectations rise sky-high. The Hunger Games was definitely able to meet those expectations. While it may draw a similar crowd, it won’t ever be able to touch the Harry Potter films. However, this is a nice distraction as we mourn the end of the Potter era.
Check out the official trailer:
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