The Hunger Games. Rated M (mature themes and violence). 142 minutes. Directed by Gary Ross. Screenplay by Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins and Billy Ray. Based on the novel by Suzanne Collins.
Verdict: Exceptional story-telling in this cinematic game-changer.
It is impossible to recall a recent film as engrossing as this absorbing, complex, richly-layered piece of cinematic story-telling. Defining, precisely, what it is about The Hunger Games that makes it so entirely watchable, will be the subject of the many conversations about its many extraordinary qualities that are guaranteed to result from the first viewing. What is unarguable, however, is the extent to which its deeply-affecting and profound cultural impact is in the process of challenging the rules of cinematic engagement around the world.
In a post-apocalyptic world, the inhabitants of once thriving communities are contained within 12 numbered ‘districts’ that are governed from a central metropolis known as ‘The Capitol’. As punishment for their roles in the uprising against the central government, each year a boy and a girl from each district is selected to participate in a televised ritual known as the Hunger Games. The 24 young contestants (known as ‘tributes’) must outwit each other in a fight to the death – until there is only one survivor – in an ‘outdoor’ gaming environment ruthlessly monitored and controlled by the producers of the annual event. What they weren’t counting on was the tenacity of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) who sets out to not only survive the gruelling contest, but to beat them at their own game.
Fearlessly acted by the superb Ms Lawrence (Winter's Bone, pictured), Ms Collins’ Katniss Everdeen is a magnificent creation. More Alien’s Ellen Ripley than Sex in the City’s Carrie Bradshaw, Katniss is a startlingly original heroine who is completely of our time: a stunning contradictory mess of sullen disenchantment with the world and the ability to take more than her fair share of responsibility for finding the solutions to her constant dilemmas. The film works as well as it does because it refuses to subjugate this determined young women’s rite of passage into what has become an increasingly disturbing trend of one-note, romantic yearnings or aspirational fake-it-till-you-make-it tragicomedies.
The ensemble, including Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Elizabeth Banks, Donald Sutherland and Woody Harrelson, provide strong support to Ms Lawrence, while Philip Messina’s (Erin Brockovich, Ocean's Eleven, 8 Mile) production design beautifully accounts for the story’s many diverse and demanding environments. The game’s environment, manipulated from a state-of-the-art studio and enclosed within an opaque dome onto which ‘results’ are callously projected, is brilliantly realised.
Mr Ross (Seabiscuit, Pleasantville) and cinematographer Tom Stern (Gran Torino, Changeling, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River) play hard and fast with the story’s physically demanding challenges, while exploiting the grotesque flourishes of ‘reality television’ and our greed and celebrity-obsessed age with ruthless precision. The overall result is a film that will be one of the most talked-about films of the year – if not the decade.
This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.
The film doesn't really get going until they actually do get to The Hunger Games, but when it does get started up its entertaining, tense, unpredictable, and very well executed from Gary Ross. I also couldn’t believe that this was his 3rd film after other flicks such as Seabiscuit and Pleasantville, which are both good but are different from this one. Still though, great jobs from everybody involved and I cannot wait for the sequel. Good review Geoffrey.
ReplyDeleteHi Dan, and thanks for dropping by. I agree that the set-up took a little longer than I was beginning to feel comfortable with, but by the time we got into The Capitol, I was prepared to accept the extent to which they used as much time as they did to establish character – especially Katniss. (I loved the Peter/Katniss bakery sequences as well, which were beautiful pieces of exposition.) In the end, I think the film uses the extent of its run time really well, and I am pleased it has taken the time it has to tell its story.
ReplyDeletePS. The point you make in your review about having not read the book(s) is always an interesting one. I haven't read them either – and with few exceptions, it is more common for me not to have read the books that are being turned into films. It was obvious (not only from the time they were taking but the detail of the story-telling) that they were being loyal to something quite rich and layered. I am actually quite glad I didn't know what was happening (going to happen). It made the cinematic experience of it all much more interesting.
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