The Hunger Games

What it's about:

Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the evil Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in The Hunger Games. A twisted punishment for a past uprising and an ongoing government intimidation tactic, The Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which "Tributes" must fight with one another until one survivor remains.

Pitted against highly trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely on her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy.

If she's ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

What we thought:

Aaaah, another book to movie adaptation.

I've said this before, but I'll say it again. It's always something that raises our hackles and leaves us fearing the worst, but somehow, we were still hoping for the best. 

As an avid reader and book purist, I'm almost always wary of watching movies based on novels because, the number of times I've been disappointed by a film adaptation of a book have by far outweighed the amount of occasions that I've genuinely been surprised and impressed by one.

The Twilight franchise is certainly an example of a book-to-movie gone wrong, and after watching those movies, I swore never ever to become excited about another Young Adult novel being adapted to film again.

At least not until I saw that Suzanne Collins's best-selling trilogy was being brought to the big screen.
 
I admit that I went in with very low expectations, but in the end The Hunger Games, while not without its share of flaws, was a movie that definitely surprised me.

Set in a distant and dystopian future, the movie sees Jennifer Lawrence in the role of Katniss Everdeen, a teenage girl who volunteers as a tribute in place of her younger sister, to fight to the death in an annual  and brutal reality game show consisting of 23 other tributes. 

The premise of the novel is a lot more layered than it actually sounds. The backbone of the story doesn't just rely on the fact that 24 teenagers are being placed in a controlled environment and forced to kill one another.

Rather, the movie (the first in a trilogy), focuses on the bleak and underlying reasons for the game in the first place.

The emphasis here is the bubbling-under-the-surface commentary about government control, socio-political issues and the communities that are forced to watch in horror as they have to sacrifice one of the children (two from each district) to a game that was created in order to punish them for the sins of their fathers.

The game kicks off following a preliminary opening ceremony, which takes place in the grand Capitol.

Directed by Gary Ross, the movie brings the contrasting scenes of the districts to life, rather accurately portraying a similarly bleak environment against the glamorous backdrop of the Capitol.

The atmosphere is a strange mixture of anticipation and of abject horror as bets are placed on lives, while families endure heart-stopping moments of horror as they watch their children die, live on TV. 

What enhanced the movie (and wasn't featured in the book), was the back and forth moments between the games and the commentators. For those who haven't read the book, this will definitely come in handy as explanations of certain aspects of the game are provided.

What the movie also gets right is the casting.

Again, I couldn't help but be skeptical about who they cast, especially Josh Hutcherson who plays Peeta, the male tribute from District 12; but I was quickly proven wrong. Both Jennifer and Josh proved to be remarkably comfortable in their roles, and they do indeed stay true to the characters in the book.

Surprisingly enough, the movie is quite long, which resulted in a few scenes being either trimmed down or cut out completely. In spite of this, the movie stuck as close to the book as possible, and whatever changes were made worked for the better of the movie, rather than against.

My only gripe?

The importance of the last fighting scenes and the giant dogs were lost in the edits. Those who've read the book will certainly understand what I mean, which is why I would highly recommend reading the book first.

Overall, The Hunger Games is a welcome adaptation of a book to movie, and one that definitely deserves the rave reviews it's been receiving.