Lionsgate Films Presents: The Hunger Games

May the Odds be Forever in your Favor...

I was probably one of the last people to discover the cinematic version of "The Hunger Games" The title just sorta turned me off, don't know why but I was last to the party. And what a party it turned out to be, I'm reminded of The Fast and the Furious, I was the last to that party as well, and look what that turned out to be. When I watched this for the first time I was somewhat overwhelmed by the idea of what was actually going on, not so much because the plot it confusing, but just because the film was nothing what I expected it to be. It doesn't take me to tell you that this film was a blockbuster juggernaut, I'm going to do The Hunger Games and Catching Fire in a pair, so the next review will be the sequel. My only reason for reviewing this film is simply because I want to see if it blows me away with my critical eye looking at it the same way it does when I watch it for simple entertainment. I'm sure if this film gets anything less then a 5 outa 5 from me I'll probably be eaten alive, but I'll take that chance! May the odds be ever in my favor! So hey... Here... WE.. GO! 


 

 Now what first got me confused is that the twelve districts, District Twelve looks as if it takes place in the past. I couldn't figure out if the film took place in the past or the future. The film is simply explained in the first few moments, you think that would be enough for me, but no, I of course read too much into the opening explanation and had all kinds of questions, was it hard to understand? No, I just made it far more complicated than it had to be. As we walk through District 12 the home of Catness Everdeen, our heroine of the film, we see just how poor and full of poverty that District 12 really is. Catness however has a particular set of skills that makes her a fine hunter, she can pretty much shoot an arrow through the eye of a needle, does that sum it up for you? During this time it's called the Reaping, meaning they cant eat? I guess? Seems logical to me... So as we are watching Catness hunt in the wild like its 1888 we see a giant futuristic hover craft fly over head, confused? I was... 

Catness and Gale.. our two love birds of the film, discuss The Hunger Games, a brutal and well Stupid TV Show Game where every tribute from every district must compete in a battle to the death. Yup, till there is one left standing. This is something that the Capital looks forward to dont you know, the Districts... well they are less then enthused, and rightfully so. The capitol acts like the Hunger Games are some sort of great tribute to the past. To prevent an uprising, they have these "Hunger Games" Happy Hunger Games! and may the odds be ever in your favor! What a great and amazing world they live in. They live in fear of the Capitol and so "Belove" their Hunger Games. Still to this day the Hunger Games concept seems a tad odd to me, but this is the world we live in, and why are they called the "Hunger Games?" I have no idea, leaving me even more confused. But again, this is the world and I must accept it for what it is. They do a wonderful job of presenting this as the world that they live in, does it makes all the sense in the world? No... but that's not the point, this is the world they live in. It's no different than any fantasy world that is hard to relate to. 

So the Capitol says that "Freedom has a cost" which is an oxymoron, and the cost of that Freedom is "The Hunger Games" So by killing off two contestants per District till there is one sole victor, oh what a game this is turning out to be. Are you excited for them yet? I know I am! I wish I could play the Hunger Games... I'd kick some serious ass. Catness... Volunteer in her baby Sister's place so that she wont have to compete in the Hunger Games. Anyone, can volunteer "As Tribute" This all seems a bit tragic for those involved but those at the capitol...well they just get a big ol kick out of their TV show. Let's dig a little deeper into the psyche of Catness Everdeen. She is far from likable, the only people she seems to love is her own family, other than that she is kind of a bitch, pretty unlikeable, which wont help her in the Hunger Games because you need sponsors, to help you out, which is hard when no one likes you. So throughout the course of this film, they at least teach her how to fake it. Fake it till you make it right?

Now clearly we are all excited for what the FILM is going to bring us, some good intense action. But in the world they live in, people live people die, so they better start running. Enter, our good friend Haymech... (Played by Woody Harolson) He is their mentor, mentors had won the games at one time or another. Our first impressions of Haymech is pretty bad, he looks to be a drunk, who will be little help as a mentor to these young kinds. And in all my babbling I forgot that there are two tributes from District 12 the other is Petah Melloy (Im just guessing on the spellings of their names). Our two tributes are less than enthused with Haymech, he himself is not much of a people person, but once they get him talking he never shuts up. At first he fills them with confidence and tells them that they need to embrace the fact of the imminent death and that there is nothing he can do to help them. He does become more likeable as the film goes on, similar to Catness. Petah however, is very likeable indeed. Catness isn't thrilled with the fact that she needs to get people to like her in order to win the games. That's never really been her strong character trait. 

 Petah, he knows how to play the game, to get people to support him. Catness struggles in this area, but before we get to the Games, we get to know them a tad, Catness and Petah ride in on chariot of fire, that riles up the crowd, which is great because now they are clearly the most popular of all the districts. Again... Petah knows how to play the game... he appears to have mastered this game, the game of manipulating the crowd... he could be a pro wrestler. Now this is where things slow down a bit, prior to the Hunger Games, the pacing of the film seems to be a bit off. Next we see the tributes working on their training, this scene slows the pacing of the film down. Really the only important thing that comes out of this is, is showing just how accurate Catness is with her bow and arrow. She shoots the apple out of the mouth of a pig from about 100 yards away, which you would think would piss off the sponsors but instead gets her a pretty huge rating after what she did, even though she did it out of anger. Cuz... Well that's just who she is, she's kind of a bitch. 

I want to talk about these "Game Makers" The Hunger Games" Take place inside some sort of "Terror Dome" for lack of a better term. Now the game makers control all the elements within the game. From temperature, to the dangers throughout the dome. So it's not only the other participants they are fighting but the elements controlled by the game makers. What a dangerous game this is, these Hunger Games. And as I fill time talking about the games themselves, we are continuing to talk about the tributes and there within, slowing down, the whole pace of the film. If there is one flaw in this film, it's the pacing of the film. It starts off really slow, picks up just a little, and then slows down again. By the time we actually get to the Hunger Games we are well within an hour into a two hour film. Petah continues to play to the crowd by saying he is in love with Catness just make the crowd like him all the more, remember this part of the game, Petah has mastered. Now not that all this isn't needed it's just a pacing issue, I feel there are better more efficient ways to establish the characters and just what is going on. The games themselves have been explained not only in the opening title but several times over, the rest of this is, simply part that shows that this is all for the entertainment of people at the capitol. But they kind of beat this into your head a little too much. 

This goes on for some time, so much that I feel like I've said all there needs to be said about this part of the film, yet there is still much more left to go. It is worth noting that Petah plays to the crowd by saying that he has a crush on Catness, I should probably mention this because it's a pretty big part of the film, and they sell it as the star crossed lovers from District 12. Even though Catness is in love with Gale from the beginning of the film. But as Haymech says this is a "Television Show" and selling them as "Star Crossed lovers" will help them get over with the fans and there by get them more help throughout the games because the fans want them to stay alive. And here we go... The games... The Hunger Games are about to begin, and shit is about to get real. They put trackers in all the tributes arms so that when they die, well then the people watching will know about it. How wonderful right? But this is the world they live it, a bit of a distopia yes, but that's just the way it is. 

It takes about thirty seconds into the games for about 5-7 people to die. Why? Because they all run out to grab weapons rather than try to get to high ground. These weapons are to draw them out into a blood bath, pretty much everyone goes for them and even Catness who was warned not to by Haymech goes for the bow and arrow and is nearly killed but is "rescued" by someone who is just simply killing another tribute. Do things seem like they are getting fast and furious all of a sudden? Well that's the pacing problem I talked about earlier, it goes from slow to fast and back and forth several times throughout the film, if there is one thing that I would say this film did poorly it's pacing. Once in the 'Terror Dome" as I like to refer to it as, shit hits the fan rather quickly, but then slows down to the pace that it will for the rest of the film, slow and steady, not to fast, not to slow. Consistent. Which is what I was looking for earlier on. There were times we saw it slow and steady but then revert back and move up and down. Moving on to the games, they blow a a cannon which marks the death of a tribute till a victor is crowned. After initial bloodbath at the beginning of the games we have six dead, and with two tributes per district that makes 24 tributes so we have a ways to go. This is where the pacing of the film finally finds it's mark and keep with it till the end.

There is alot going on here, lets go back to the game makers. There job is to make the games more difficult for the tributes, even more difficult than killing each other. They have twelve gone in the first eight hours. And there is an alliance forming. The alliance includes Petah, who is infact drawing them away from Catness, why? I'll give you one guess... and I'm not gonna tell you! Ha! Once Catness gets too close to the edge our beloved Terror Dome, the game makers send her back into the center by creating a wild fire that includes well balls of fire that blow at her, some way to force her back into the games. I wonder if the game makers are allowed to kill the tributes, because they come close a time or two. If the game makers can kill the tributes then what is the point of the games at all? With the game makers having so much influence on the game, why do they have the game's at all? It makes the games pretty much predetermined to a certain extent. So... Hunger Games? You just wait till "Cabin in the Woods" Which pretty much follows the same concept as the Hunger Games but that's another story for a different day, look for that following "Catching Fire".

The Alliance follows Catness to a point where she climbs a tree, Petah can do nothing to save her at this point other than to tell them to wait for her to come down. The Alliance falls asleep at the bottom of the tree, and Catness finds a hive of "Tracker Jackers" a form of genetically created wasps that will, kill you of course I wont get into exactly what they are and what they do, they are just nasty mother fuckers. Catness does get stung a few times, but survives, but she kills the others and she takes a little nap, while Petah left his group in the night. Catness steals the bow and arrow from one of her dead combatants and now she is ready to kick some serious ass. Well, once she wakes up from her Tracker Jacker nap. Catness, luckily has an ally in a little girl named Rue who helped her survive her Tracker Jacker scare rather than kill her in her sleep. Spoiler Alert: The two become allies but ultimately she can't save Rue when shit hits the fan. Getting back to Petah and Catness, while they arent the star crossed lovers they claim to be, they do become great friends because of these games. 

Another alliance forms... all these alliances seem a tad odd to me since only one person can survive. Catness does a great job of stalking the others who have stalk piled all the "goodies" but they protected them by burring mines all around them. Catness does what she does and blows the shit all to smithereens. Serves the fuckers right taking all the shit and stock piling it. Catness' ears are ringing from the blow and everything goes silent as the alliance start to turn on one another. Let the alliance kill each other, pretty good planning. What ends up happening during the Hunger Games is the exact opposite of what the capitol wants, they begin saluting their fallen tributes, not fearing the Capitol and because of this there is alot of riot control going on within the districts. Now Hehmech tells the game maker not to kill Catness simply because they will create a marter. Obviously he is doing this because he is their mentor but none the less he gets through to him. So suddenly they amend the rules that there can be two victors if both reside in the same district. Guess where this is headed, they want to give the fans something to ruit for. 

Catness finds Petah in his AMAZING camo blending in as a rock pile, and I mean Amazing, no one would ever find him. But he's injured, so Catness helps him get well. What he find out as we go is there there is a love triangle beginning through all of this. Both Petah and Gale have feelings for Catness and why not, she is probably the least likeable person on the face of the planet, but hey, she's pretty, so what can ya do? So Petah and Catness are now the only TEAM left in the games, and of course with the amended rules to the games they can both win. That is, as long as they don't amend them yet again, and why would they do such a thin? Because the game makers are assholes thats why! Did I give away spoiler again? Whoops... Poop, oh well, most of my readers will have seen this film already anyway, since I was probably the last person on the face of the planet to see "The Hunger Games". 

We get down to the "Finale" where it's Petah and Catness pretty much against one other person, if Petah and Catness win, they go home. But if Petah and Catness LOSE... well that's a bad day for everyone. Of course our game makers are never for a fair fight so they send off these dog, wolf, panther, like beasts after them, again, if the game makers can just kill whoever they want, then what is the point of the games? After a stand off with the final participant, Petah and Catness are the only ones left standing. Which means... you guessed it! The rules change again! What? You didn't guess it? Damn... That sucks. So what do they do? They decide no one wins, they are goth going to die, both eat the poison berries. So what do the game makers do? THEY CHANGE THE RULES AGAIN! So not to look foolish with no winner. Stupid Game makers, so they present the winners of the 74th annual Hunger Games... Catness Everdeen and Petah Melloy, 

Final Thoughts: 

The story telling in this film is second to none, which is why it became the blockbuster that it did. My only issue with the film is the pacing of it. Once we get to the games it, moves a steady pace throughout, which is what we look for. The acting is great, they do a wonderful job of creating a world that while is a tad strange, is believable. I've heard plenty of people tell me that the books are better, which only tells me that the books must be a hell of a read, however me with my condition I have a hard time reading. The movie was wonderful from beginning to end. It moved a little too slow in the beginning, and like I said there were pacing problems throughout the film but not enough to drop it more than just a half star in my mind. Is it an absolutely perfect film for what they were shooting for? ALMOST I hope the odds are ever in my favor when I give this film a VERY strong... 

Final Rating:

4.5 outa 5