Review of The Hunger Games

Tonight I experienced the film adaptation of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, starring Jennifer Laurence, Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Hemsworth and Woody Harrelson. The film premiers in the UK on the 23rd March 2012. I have to begin with the fact that I have read the books and I am a massive fan, I was really looking forward to this film and I was very curious about how they were planning to adapt it so that it's screen worthy .

I am going to begin with how they have adapted the novel. Obviously with every movie adaptation of a novel, there are changes to the story, characters, settings ect, and with The Hunger Games, this is no exception. For those of us who have read the books, straight away we see that they have a major change to the story, which doesn't seem important in the first movie, but will become apparent throughout the next installments. Now the alteration of the origins of Katniss' Mockingjay pin is the first big change to the story, it gets rid of characters from the novel and changes the origins of the feeling of rebellion (which becomes more apparent in 'Catching Fire'), however I do believe that at the end they do recover themselves, but they will have make more alterations to the next installments in order to make them flow the same way that the novels do. Other variations include changes the way certain characters die and little bits were cut out, other bits added in, things like that. Personally I think people would enjoy this movie more if they haven't read the book, it's the same with the likes of Harry Potter and Twilight. I'm not saying that fans of the books will totally dislike it, because it does successfully capture aspects of the novels that connect with the readers and I had people behind me sobbing their eyes out, so they film makers must have done something right.

The best part of the adaptation is that they did not go with using Katniss' narration to tell the story like in the novel. In the novel this works really well, because the reader experiences everything she is going through, and understands her much better as person. It makes her more likable. However if they had used it in the film then it would have been two hours of listening to Katniss talk to herself. So I like how they tried to tell the story as much as possible through actions, flashbacks, general story telling ect. I especially like the game show commentary panel type thing that they use instead of Katniss' narration to describe the likes of the Trackerjackers, and showing us the game keepers control rooms so that we see them controlling the games, rather than just seeing things from Katniss' perspective.

Personally, I think it's the 12A rating that took away a very important part of the books, which is the violence. The violence is what makes the games feared throughout all the district, and in the movie, there's hardly even a speck of blood. I know for a fact that 7-9 seconds of the movie was removed because they thought it was too violent for the rating they wanted. They wanted that rating, purely so that they could increase their potential audience. Basically, it's the same situation as with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, anyone who had read the book was expecting a blood bath, with epic battles and deaths of long loved characters, but when the film came out with its 12A rating, pretty much all of it vanished, disappointing a lot of people. Even if The Hunger Games was given a 15 rating, it would have been so much better! They could have done the deaths properly, more vividly and make it much more entertaining. On the other hand, I can also understand why they reduced the violence and gave it a lower rating, and that is because the film didn't manage to bring in the attention of the public who haven't read the novels. From what I have seen over the internet, most who haven't read the novels, say they aren't interested in the movies, and probably won't go and see them. So giving it a lower rating, increases the chances of it being more appealing to younger generations and families.

Now it's time for me to move onto the film itself. It successfully establishes the order of the districts, showing that certain ones are better off than others and that each has a specific role. The tone of the film does begin quite slowly, it does take a while to get into the story. As for the casting, Jennifer Laurence and Josh Hutcherson work well as Katniss and Peeta, however they failed to present Katniss' confusion for Peeta's feelings for her in a  way which is simple for the audience to understand. Liam Hensworth doesn't really have the chance to prove himself as Gale, but we get more of a chance to see his character develop in the next installment. Woody Harrelson was a good choice for Haymitch, but I don't think he was presented well; you can hardly even notice the fact that he is an alcoholic (driven there by his horrific experiences during, and after, the games). We get a hint of the real Haymitch, but in the end it is overshadowed with scenes of him being the hidden savior, which although is an important part of the story, his alcoholism is essential to his character.

The games themselves, on screen, were much more condensed than they are in the book, which is a plus because it keeps the pace up. The chemistry between Katniss and Peeta develops really well throughout and the whole idea of them being trapped and controlled by a higher authority drives the story. Although I have complained about how it varies from the novels, the games themselves are really well done, and are easily what makes the whole experience worthwhile. In my opinion the ending is slightly anti-climatic, but I think I only believe that because I was expecting something more like how the games are ended in the book, I imagine that anyone who hasn't read the book, or who just has a more open mind than I do, will enjoy it.

There are a lot of cool scenes throughout, the whole films is a nice mash up of action/survival scenes, and scenes that tug at your heart strings. There is a lot right about this film, but also a lot wrong, and by that I mean that there are certain things that easily could have been rectified in order to create a better end result. Without taking its adaption from the novel, it is a highly enjoyable film, that no will create a large fan base similar to those that follow the likes of Twilight. Even though I have complained a lot about the way it has been made, I will definitely be going to see Catching Fire (which is currently in the writing stages) and Mockingjay (which is being split into two films, does that ring any bells...cough Harry Potter cough Breaking Dawn). 

I would highly recommend giving The Hunger Games a chance, it is something new and it's a lot of fun. 

I'd give The Hunger Games a 7.5-8/10 .