This is in no small part due to the work of Oscar nominee Lawrence. Light and fluffy this is not, but it is continually fascinating and involving.
It's effective, added to by showing a close-up of so many of these doomed kids' face in death, underlining what is happening here. But Ross is instead able to make things more abstract - flashes of weapons being used, blood splattering, screams - which convey the horror of what is happening without showing it in graphic detail. The Hunger Games is about kids killing each other, and it would be difficult to not get an R rating (which is unnecessary and would exclude a bunch of the book's core fanbase) if you wanted to portray this onscreen, shot in a traditional manner. The other big upside to using shaky-cam here is when it comes to the violence. The pseudo-documentary style helps sell that this is, in fact, a place where people, even distorted ones, actually live. Katniss and her fellow District 12 residents are poor and downtrodden, but the citizens of the Capital are in a much more fanciful, outwardly "sci-fi" setting, and embrace garish, over the top (and just plain goofy) clothes and styles. The world of Hunger Games is one of extremes. Fortunately, for the most part, the technique calms down as the film goes on and shooting it this way does add to the film in certain ways, as Ross presumably intended. It takes some getting used to here and there are moments in the film where Ross goes too far with it as things get too, well, shaky, to a distracting extent. I'm sure there will be a lot of debate about the fact that this film uses "shaky-cam" techniques, with that documentary-like, handheld feel seen in everything from the Bourne sequels to Friday Night Lights (and of course, even more extremely in several "found footage" films). Ross doesn't give the film a glossy, romanticized "Hollywood" feel, but rather plays everything very realistically and stark, as Katniss must endure these outrageous and horrible scenarios. This is a grounded, thoughtful and sometimes quite emotional film, with its dark scenario given due weight. As a fan of the book, it's with huge relief that I can say co-writer and director Gary Ross gets the tone of The Hunger Games right. Forget that this isn't breaking new ground (the old adage, "there are no new stories", holds ever-true here), because what's important is that Collins (who co-wrote the screenplay) has crafted an enthralling tale, centered around an extremely engaging, easy-to root-for protagonist. No, The Hunger Games is certainly not using an original concept – and no, I'm not talking about Battle Royale, but rather stories going back much further than that, from The Running Man to Death Race 2000 to, hell, Spartacus (which, lest we forget, is based on actual events) in which those in power force those who are not into bloodsport as a sick form of entertainment. Along with her District's male contestant, Peeta ( Josh Hutcherson), she is whisked off to the Capital for a bizarre bit of pampering and celebrity treatment… all leading up to the time when she, Peeta and 22 other kids will have to kill each other. When Katniss' little sister, Prim (Willow Shields), is chosen to compete, Katniss does what comes instinctively and volunteers to take her place. As a way of observing - which is to say, punishment and way of reminding everyone who's in charge - the anniversary of a failed rebellion the Districts attempted decades before, the Capitol holds an annual event called the Hunger Games, in which each District chooses a boy and girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to compete in a contest with one simple, core rule: Be the only person left alive at the end and you win. Luckily, The Hunger Games answers that question with a resounding yes.īased on the novel by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games focuses on Katniss ( Jennifer Lawrence), a teenage girl living in "District 12," one of the fenced-in Districts in what was once America but is now under the ever-smiling, ever malicious thumb of The Capitol. As with any project of this kind, the question is whether all of this hype is towards something worthwhile. Arriving with a ton of hype and anticipation, The Hunger Games certainly isn't lacking for attention.
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