(Open season on... teenagers)
CAST: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Donald Sutherland, Wes Bentley, Lenny Kravitz, Willow Shields.
DIRECTOR: Gary Ross
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and one really fucked-up reality show straight ahead
IT'S LIKE THIS: The whole time we were watching THE HUNGER GAMES, one thought was going through my mind: "Hmmmmm... why do I feel like I've seen this shit before?" And, no, it's not because the movie is based on the bestselling books by Suzanne Collins because I haven't read them. Nope, there was another reason why the twists and turns of THE HUNGER GAMES were as familiar to me as the chest hair patterns on Chris Evans' chest: it reminded me of the ground-breaking Japanese flick from 2000 called BATTLE ROYALE, itself based on a novel by Koushun Takami.
Basically, THE HUNGER GAMES is BATTLE ROYALE - but with Americans and lot of bad fashion and even worse hairstyles (more on that later). Essentially BATTLE ROYALE is set in a grim future where Japan regularly abducts 50 or so high school students and dumps them on some isolated island to duke it out mercilessly until only one schmuck is left standing.
Like BATTLE ROYALE, THE HUNGER GAMES is set in the distant (Lord, I frickin' hope so) future, where the United States has been broken up into a shitload of districts after a cataclysmic civil war. Based on how the current city-dwellers dress themselves, the war must have been fought not to over slavery, but over the right to wear the most laughably ridiculous clothing this side of a Barnum & Bailey circus or a clown conference.
With the war over, the horrendously-attired dipshits who run the country in The Capital believe they can prevent another uprising from ever occurring again by staging what they lovingly refer to as, ahem, "Hunger Games". Unlike BATTLE ROYALE, there are only 24 contestants culled from each of the districts, and they are not dumped on an island, but in some computer-controlled wilderness where, yes, they duke it out mercilessly until only one schmuck is left standing. Deja-fucking-vu.
Anyhow, our heroine is Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), a lass from a particularly poor district. Katniss is hell with a bow and arrow, and hunts squirrels to support her mother and beloved sister Primrose (Willow Shields). They live a meager existence that is punctuated occasionally by "The Reaping". And by "The Reaping" I don't mean that wacky Hilary Swank movie about the Apocalypse from a few years ago. I mean a really messed-up lottery by which a boy-girl pair is chosen from each of the 12 districts to participate in the games. Sure enough, Katniss has to step forward and volunteer (sacrifice) herself when Prim has the rather unfortunate and dubious honor of winning the lottery the first time around. Not exactly the Mega Millions jackpot, eh?
Before you know it, Katniss and fellow "winner" Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) are whisked off to the capital where they must confront the following: (1) a lot of jacked-up hairstyles; (2) a lot of eye-gouging fashions; and (3) what passes for the Most Ghoulish Press Junket ever. Basically, Katniss and Peeta are forced to go on talk shows to sell themselves for the sake of acquiring "sponsors" - essentially high-powered folks who will pull strings during the games to help their survival. So, in other words, they should not only be warriors, but whores as well. Oh, and in addition to pretending they are Brad and Angie promoting their next flick, Katniss, Peeta, and the rest of the Lucky 24 must undergo rigorous training sessions to prepare for the "kick-off".
So... who will survive "The Hunger Games"? Katniss? Peeta? One of the others? Will the lessons imparted by their mentor (and past winner) Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) save Katniss and Peeta? Or is she pretty much going to have to depend on herself and her bow-and-arrow skills? Will Katniss see Prim and their mother ever again? And will she have to kill Peeta in the process? Will Peeta have to kill her? Can there truly only be one? Will our eyes ever recover from all that awful hair color and ghastly couture?
Whatever. At least BATTLE ROYALE had some normal hairdos and costumes. I may never look at clowns the same way ever again.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: I haven't read "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins, but I'm told the film is a fairly faithful adaptation of it. Echoing previous "survival game" films like THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, THE TENTH VICTIM, ESCAPE 2000, and BATTLE ROYALE, THE HUNGER GAMES is probably the most glossy and mainstream entry into this sub-genre. And the one with the highest budget. Not having read the book, I can't say if the film is more or less entertaining than it.
As these movies go, THE HUNGER GAMES is a tad above average. It's considerably more polished than THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME and ESCAPE 2000, but it doesn't have the raw, edgy unpredictability of BATTLE ROYALE, the film it is most similar to. Indeed, the last half of this film is not as strong as the build-up to it. The first half of the film that covers the "training" and "marketing" that the Tributes have to go through is more compelling than the "games" themselves.
While the latter part of the film has some interesting elements (such as the birds that mimic the sounds below them, and the studio-controlled forest fires), the scenes of Katniss, Peeta, and the rest of the Tributes hunting each other down are curiously restrained. They are further hampered by the fact that we have seen this type of scenario done many times before, and more excitingly. Especially in BATTLE ROYALE.
Fortunately, Jennifer Lawrence holds the film together with her star-making performance. The mark of a true star is how they can continue to tell you something about the character they're playing even when they are not saying or doing anything. Even when Katniss is simply sitting down and looking pensive, Lawrence conveys a lot about her. And she is even better in her dialogue scenes, holding her own against more experienced stars like Woody Harrelson, Wes Bentley, and Elizabeth Banks with a combo of icy directness, raw intensity, and hidden tenderness.
As the male leads, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth are solid, with Hutcherson understandably getting more to do as Peeta than Hemworth's Gale. At least in this installment. I'm told Gale gets more of a showcase in the later stories.
In the end, THE HUNGER GAMES is a decent entry into the "Survival Games" sub-genre that is elevated above the average mark by some intriguing set-up setpieces, and a truly riveting performance by Jennifer Lawrence. It's no BATTLE ROYALE, but then again, what is?
