With a dearth of movies aimed at PG-13 audiences of late, an offering like The Hunger Games has been long overdue. Better still that Jennifer Lawrence be cast as the story’s heroine, an actress that has strode onto the scene via an impressive, Disney-free path. Admittedly, many of the target demographic will be more familiar with her sexy teen mutant in last Summer’s X-Men: First Class than her Oscar-nominated performance in Debra Granik’s gripping Winter’s Bone, but with Suzanne Collin’s global bestseller being digested eagerly by the Twi-hard generation there is already a hungry audience for her feisty heroine.
Fortunately for those not familiar with the novels the plot isn’t hard to pick up at all; Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen is raised in one of a series of districts where every year a boy and girl are offered as tribute to the Hunger Games, a televised last man standing-style tournament that sees children forced to fight to the death for the glory of their future world’s repressive regime. When her younger sister is chosen, Katniss volunteers in order to save her, joining fellow contestant Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and leaving behind said sister and doting male buddy (NOT boyfriend, played by Liam Hemsworth) on a journey to the Capitol and her questionable fate.
The surrounding characters play between grotesque caricatures and likeable confidents in the run up to the games; Elizabeth Banks is garish and brash as Effie Trinket, the day-glo district representative, whilst Stanley Tucci as the blue-haired presenter of the Games and Woody Harrelson as drunken former contestant and Lawrence’s mentor Haymitch Abernathy, are oddly sympathetic for a pair of tools of the state that aid the coverage of an event where children are killed off for sport.
Though there’s obviously a passing resemblance, Battle Royale this certainly ain’t. Fans of the book may be disappointed at the dilution of its central terror and brutality. Aside from a core few, the contenders aren’t developed much and the scenes of violence are shot from a distance, with more left to be assumed than seen. Lawrence is impeccable as Everdeen, convincing as a sometimes desperate, sometimes powerful heroine. In a scene capturing her last minutes before entering into the tournament her reactions capture real anxiety as the seconds are ticked off. Hutcherson is agreeable also as the blushing second contender following in the shadow of Everdeen’s appeal and won’t look out of place on the front of tweenage schoolbooks.
The major flaw in The Hunger Games is the rushed final chapters. Right up until the point of the last few standing the pace has been just so, allowing time to develop some relationship with the characters and submerge into the urgency of the chase. Then the franchise factor rears its ugly head and what momentum has picked up so far is spun into submission, causing what should be a conclusion of epic proportions to fall pretty flat. Of course this is the first adaptation of a series of books but the cinematic experience shouldn’t suffer as a result which is exactly what happens here. Curiosity still lingers; Hemsworth’s fleeting appearances glaring lustfully at the Games on screen are obviously for more than sexy purposes and hint at his expanded role in later books but the impact of what should have been an exhilarating ordeal is sacrificed as a result.
That said, this is a thoroughly entertaining film to watch. The inescapable tragedy underlying the Games is captivating and it’s refreshing to watch Lawrence as a satisfying teenage lead compared to say, a miserable brunette who loves the undead and can only convey one emotion (and not a happy one at that). If Ross had only indulged in a more rewarding ending this would have kicked the blockbuster season off to an incredibly good start. Instead however we can look forward to a young franchise boasting a strong, wilful central character that makes you want to grab a bow and arrow, defy a totalitarian government and join a teenage love triangle.
