The Hunger Games (2012)

Extremely hesitant about the making of this film, as I am with all great books that are reproduced on film. Casting is very strong, with standouts like Stanley Tucci as Cesar the host and Woody Harrelson as Haymitch. I had another candidate in mind as Katniss, but Jennifer Lawrence isn’t a bad choice, despite being too old for the role.

District 1 looks more like rural Kentucky than what I envisioned when reading, but the capital city shines in all its CGI glory. The film stays true to the book for the most part. The pacing is great. They do an adequate job leading up to the actual game. The hair, makeup, and costumes of the capital citizenry was spot on.

But my biggest concern, aside from the game environments looking stupid, was them watering down the kid on kid violence to Harry Potter levels. Now I knew this had to be a PG-13 film as I was reading the book. That didn’t stop me from dreaming of what a hard R version might be like though. Imagine the brutality of the Japanese Battle Royale, with the acting, source material, and production value of a Hollywood picture. It could be amazing.

So what did we get? Cutaways. Lots and lots of cutaways. A blade flashed. Cutaway. Blood flies. Cutaway. Body falls. It’s a shame studios don’t release multiple rated versions so appropriately aged audience members can choose to see the one that fits with their moral compass. (or level of blood lust) Still, they showed as much as they could get away with and I commend them for it. A solid effort overall. I’m curious to see what they do with the next game environment and Capital City siege. The next two books will be harder to convert.

Rating: B-