The Hunger Games (2012) Dir: Gary Ross
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I can recall reading this book, by Suzanne Collins, as a teenager and absolutely loving it. It had action, rebellion and a really interesting dystopian premise. When the film came out, I enjoyed it a fair bit too. I've seen it a few times, but not for a few years now. I figured it was worth revisiting now, to see what I'd make of it as an adult.
Someone told director Gary Ross that the camera could never be still, even for a second - it was nauseating. It genuinely made the film hard to watch at times, especially the first half an hour. On this point, there were so many examples of needlessly quick and jarring cuts from one shot to the next - it was not good.
The CGI - mostly in the first half of the film, but also a little towards the end - was definitely a little dated, which seems strange to say, but it's easy to forget this film is over a decade old now. I don't remember being bothered about it before, so I decided to give this film a break, in this regard.
Onto more positive points, I think that the film did a good job of translating the story of the book over to the screen. It features a great deal of the information and details of the book, without sacrificing much in the way of pacing. The film is relatively long, but it only really drags in the second act.
I realise it's taken from the book, but, for what it's worth, the film's narrative was well driven. In spite of its length, I never felt like there was much wasted screentime, beyond some brief shots here and there. I think the only part of the story which really let me down was the climax, which slightly differs from the book, and loses a lot of the emotion gained in the written version as a result.
Jennifer Lawrence was solid, although I can't help but feel like she bordered on a little wooden at points. However, those moments aside, I thought she was pretty good. She was quite convincing when displaying fear and desperation, which really helped her performance out nicely.
I must admit, I was never a particularly big fan of Josh Hutcherson in this franchise - I can't quite put my finger on what it was. He never felt that convincing to me for some reason, and I don't think he had much chemistry with Lawrence, who definitely outshone him throughout the film.
There were some quite entertaining performances from the supporting cast, with my favourites being Elizabeth Banks and Stanley Tucci. Though definitely less impressive, I also enjoyed the duo of Woody Harrelson and Donald Sutherland.
Finally, I'll give some quick mentions to some of the other notable names amongst the relatively extensive cast; Lenny Kravitz, Liam Hemsworth, Wes Bentley, Toby Jones, Alexander Ludwig, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jack Quaid, Amandla Sternberg, Willow Shields and Paula Malcolmson.
Overall, I think there were some elements I enjoyed just as much or more than when I was younger, but equally I saw a lot more negatives than before too. However, all these factors balanced out, leaving me feeling more positive than not. It will be interesting to see if that feeling carries over to the sequels.
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