Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Hemsworth
Director: Gary Ross
Ratings: 3/5
Are the odds in your favour? Umm… Kind of…
By Priyanka Ketkar
Life is actually about survival of the fittest... But what if your life was a reality show and the only way you win the show is to stay alive till the end. Sounds familiar? No, no, this is not the story of Steve Austin's The Condemned nor is it Jason Statham's Death Race; this is the story of a book-based movie directed by Gary Ross- The Hunger Games.
The future of our world seems to be doomed or at least that is how movies like to show it...with a dictatorial, mental government, forcing the poverty-ridden or slave-like population to struggle and strive for just a piece of bread. Similarly set in a future where the centre of all the districts, The Capitol, holds ultimate powers and riches. And it holds a severe terror-like control over its districts. Each year one young boy and a young girl are offered as tributes by each district and these 24 youngsters are pitted against each other in a fight for survival. This is a game; created, manipulated and viewed live on TV. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) are from the same district- District 12. Katniss knows she has to win for her little sister and Peeta knows that he cannot win. Yet both ride equally high on hope and on good wishes by their well-wishers.
Right from the beginning, the end is very predictable. You know what is going to happen and in fact even how it is going to happen. What then helps us sit through the entire movie? The acting of course. Jennifer Lawrence although most of the time tries to put up the act of- "I am not good at expressing...I am not good at making friends..." she does it convincingly. Peeta Mallark is wasted and so is Liam Hemsworth (I hope these guys have some good roles in the sequels to this movie...i.e. if there is any). Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley and Elizabeth Banks are superb in their roles and are absolutely compelling.
The story and the concept of this movie are meant for teenagers but somehow it does so, not in a childish manner but in an extremely matured way. This poses as a compliment as well as a problem for the movie as it lies somewhere in between. On one hand, it is too idiot-proof, while on the other, it attempts to deal with emotions on a matured level. For me, since I have seen a similar concept (the survival part) in The Condemned, this one was a very half-hearted attempt to show that struggle for survival.
Although there is a love triangle looming on the horizon, neither Katniss and Peeta nor Katniss and Gale share a very exciting chemistry. The attempted love scenes between Katniss and Peeta, in a cosy cave don't create as much heat as we would've liked. Another let down is the length. The movie is already very long and although it creates a lot of anticipation in the beginning while building up a strong base, it slumps in the second half making the movie feel longer than it is.
"If we stop watching it, they will have no show and they will stop all this..." says Gale to Katniss in one shot and that is applicable to even the audience of this film. For those who are disgusted by such a concept should rather avoid it instead of digging into the morality of showing such a concept on-screen. Fact is, everyone likes the "kill to live" principle, the audience of that TV show as well as the audience of this movie. So, for the sake of experiencing a neat narrative with brilliant performances, go for this one.