The Hunger Games Review

On its opening weekend in the United States, The Hunger Games made $155 million. It became the third-best debut of all time (after The Dark Knight and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2) and earned the most that any non-sequel has earned in its first weekend, with hopes that the Lionsgate film could earn up to $400 million domestically, and that’s not counting overseas sales. The terrifying thing is that this film is only the first of four installations in The Hunger Games series.

What makes this feat all the more impressive is that this is a film that hardly breaks new ground. While certain quarters will grumble that this is just a watered-down version of Battle Royale or The Running Man, the fans of those films are by no means the target audience of The Hunger Games. Based on the series of young-adult novels by Suzanne Collins, the film sees America broken up into twelve districts and ruled over by President Snow (Donald Sutherland) who, along with the rich and privileged, is based in the Capitol. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers to compete in the Hunger Games, an annual event that sees a male and female between the ages of 12 and 18 chosen from each District as Tributes to battle to the death, when her younger sister Prim is chosen to represent District 12. Along the way she forms relationships with her mentor, a former Games winner (Woody Harrelson), her stylist (Lenny Kravitz) and, most importantly, her fellow District 12 Tribute, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). 

This film, the first of the series, looks as though it is going to more than fill the void left by the recent ending of major franchises. The fact that vampires, werewolves, witches, wizards and love triangles (though apparently this last gains greater precedence as the series progresses) are initially replaced with dystopia, brutality, satire and sci-fi means that it appeals to men as well as women. As a standalone film, however, it’s relatively hit-and-miss, though still a good evening’s worth of entertainment. While the central performances and direction are strong, with Lawrence channelling her Oscar-nominated role in Winter’s Bone, the film doesn’t seem able to strike a consistent balance on the subjects of morality and satire, by turns overly heavy-handed and frustratingly light, so many of the deep questions sci-fi often attempts to answer are skimmed over. For instance, the Tributes never really stop to consider their predicaments – with 18-year-old men being told to kill 12-year-old girls, how has civilisation dissolved so quickly? Do they not feel anything any more? In addition, the film’s final moments seem weak and rushed, as though director Gary Ross knows that, now the battle is over, his teenage audience’s attention has already begun to slip.

I have no doubt that The Hunger Games will clean up at various teen choice awards and probably make everyone involved a great deal of money, but it could have been so much more than it ultimately is. Whether the following films get better or worse clearly remains to be seen, but it has a lot more potential than anyone saw in the likes of Twilight, which became a parody of itself within three or four months of it first being released. The challenge for Ross is to find the balance between sci-fi satire and burgeoning romantic storylines – another four-film love triangle melodrama is the last thing anyone needs.

3.5/5