The Hunger Games

Summary:  Based on the literary sensation by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games follows the story of teen girl Katniss Everdeen.  This takes place in a fictional future age where America is no longer American, but a country called Panem.  There are twelve districts, and every year, two teenagers from each district will be forced to participate in The Hunger Games - a fight to the death on national television.  It's the Capitol's way to keeping people in line.  One boy and one girl are chosen as tribute by lottery.  When Katniss's younger sister is chosen, Katniss volunteers in her place.  The rest of the story follows her journey into the arena, alongside fellow District 12 tribute Peeta, a boy she has known her whole life.

OaTs:  I'll start by saying that I loved the book.  The movie was one of the best and most faithful adaptations of a book I have read.  Jennifer Lawrence was perfectly cast as Katniss.  She had a quiet strength about her that the character demanded.  Katniss is a wonderful role model for teen girls out there, much unlike fellow literary sensation "herione" Bella Swann from Twilight.  Katniss takes charge of her life, not waiting on anyone to rescue her or do things for her.  She takes care of her mother and sister since her father passed away.  She's a dependable, courageous, strong young woman who girls and women of all ages can respect and look up to.  And Jennifer Lawrence brought all of that to the table.  I really liked her performance.

Woody Harrelson and Lenny Kravitz were horribly underused in their roles as Haymitch and Cinna, two of Katniss and Peeta's confidantes.  They were surprising casting choices, but absolutely perfect once I saw them on screen.  Hopefully we'll see more of them in the movies to come.

It was a truly faithful adaptation, only making changes when necessary.  For instance, the Mockingjay pin that Katniss's friend gives to her in the book is a very important symbol in the books to come.  It may seem minor in the first book, but you wouldn't be able to leave it out because of its meaning in books two and three.  (The pin is featured on the poster above.)  Instead of having a friend give it to Katniss, therefore introducing a character that isn't really necessary, they have Katniss find it in a shop.  It makes more sense.  In a book, you can easily create backstory and include characters for small amounts of time.  When a minor character pops up in a film, it's much harder to tell the audience who they are without including them for a longer amount of time.  A small change, but one that I noticed.  Since it has been a while since I have seen it, I remember there were other differences, but I can't remember what they were.

All in all, I really enjoyed it.  I think I could have enjoyed it more had I not read the book, but that's not important.  Thank you, Gary Ross, for being faithful to the source material, and creating the world's first real blockbuster featuring a female lead.  I can't tell you how much that means to me.  Really strong female roles are hard to find in mainstream film.  It's about time a female carry a film to blockbuster status.  Batman be damned.  (But I still love Harry Potter.)

Score:  8/10