MOVIE REVIEW: The Hunger Games

Film: The Hunger Games
Director/Stars: Jennifer Lawrence (Actor), Josh Hutcherson (Actor), Gary Ross (Director)
Watched: March 28, 2012
The film: Of course this is one of the most anticipated movies of the year, particularly for book lovers. I have to say that it executed effectively and faithfully as a translation. The story is identical to the book, although reduced of course. At a meta-level I thought that the pre-arena period, although a tad too long, was actually slightly better than in the book, and the area slightly inferior.
Overall, it lacks the true visceral intensity of the novel. Not that it isn't well done, or isn't engaging, but I sensed a restraint or hesitation on the part of the filmmakers to commit to the full reality of a bunch of teenagers killing each other in the woods. The movie is superbly cast. Jennifer Lawrence is great and does a fine job acting to fill in the missing narrative voice. She can't make up more than some of the distance, but she does as well as any actress could. Interior connection and emotion is a strength of the novel format. Film can't compete.
But it does do better at grand scenes. And I thought the costumes and makeup of the funky 19th century nano-punk world very effective. Perhaps not realistic, but certainly entertaining to look at. The adult actors are all good. Donald Sutherland is boilerplate but pitch perfect as President Snow. The sometimes annoying, sometimes fun Woody Harrelson leans toward fun. Lenny Kravitz is great as Cinna. Katniss' mom kinda sucked.
The movie feels medium budget. The effects serve, but occasionally seem a little cheesy. This is just an observation, and for the most part, not a detraction. An exception involved Catniss' two flaming outfits. Maybe it's just the concept brought to life, but they fell pretty flat. The director does employ an interesting overall stylistic approach. By combining minimalist scoring, a sort of Appalachian feel (underscored literally by the soundtrack), and loose handheld shots, the film comes across as "underproduced" or "not very Hollywood." This was an effective stylistic choice. He manages to squeeze a bit of genuine emotion out of us at the appropriate moments, like the death of Rue.
A couple nitpicks: The secondary tributes (basically everyone but Catniss, Rue, and Peeta) felt indistinct and underdeveloped. No one got very dirty. Come on, if you are living for a couple of days in the woods fighting for your life, you get really grimy and smelly. Hell, camping as a kid we looked downright gross without any homicidal incidents. Even as she's dying, Rue's cute little fro looked all perfect. The film felt to me like an 8/10, but if it had fully embraced the dark and nasty side, it might have been a 10.

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