A new craze is sweeping the nation… and the world. Twilight posters are being taken down, books reorganized on shelves and new J-14 magazine pictures of hunky boys are being tapped up on bedroom walls. “The Hunger Games” debuted on March 23 to an estimated $155 million dollars at the box office, launching stars like Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth into global super-sardom.
The movie came in third behind “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II” and the “Dark Knight” as the largest grossing opening weekend ever and the hype is not dying. The movie, based on the book trilogy by Suzanne Collins, was the first installment following the life of Katniss Everdeen (Academy Award nominee Lawrence), a young girl who is thrown into a televised game show to fight for her life.
The anticipation for this movie has been long coming and, personally, I didn’t think it disappointed. We all know that a movie can never compare to a book; a movie will never be the exact same as a book or just as good. But Lionsgate did a solid job remaining as close to the book as humanly possible. Since the author helped produce the film and write the script, it truly was her vision to a “T.” Sure, they made some changes, but that’s a given and was expected and it didn’t totally take away from the story. Characters were taken out, such as Madge and little aspects were changed, like how Katniss got her historic Mockingjay pin.
The movie was exciting, the edge-of-your-seat anxious feeling that you get when you are watching and you desperately want to help the characters. Since you see the story through the main character’s point of view, you develop an emotional attachment to her. You want her to survive. You root for her. You watch, unable to help as she volunteers for her younger sister, knowing full well she is signing her death sentence. Every person in the audience cringes as she is surrounded by tracker-jackers and battles Clove at the Cornucopia. You desperately want her to fall in love with Peeta.
Speaking of Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), I personally didn’t think he was around much. The movie was very fast paced, even for over two hours, and I don’t think his character had enough time. Those iconic romantic scenes in the cave were still there, but they were shorter and not to their full extent. They took a lot of time to show things outside of Katniss’ world in the arena, showing clips of President Snow and Head Gamemaker Seneca Crane chatting in a garden, how lovely. But I think all of those clips, that showed people who hadn’t read the book and had no idea what was truly going on, were what shattered the illusion of living in Katniss’ bubble and therefore, the Peeta-Katniss romance (and whether it was real or not) was not addressed.
Whether you have been a fanatic about the books for years or you’re just stumbling upon the hype, it is definitely worth watching. It has an angle for every person to become attracted to. The girls have either a strong female character who is feisty and independent OR the romance/hunky eye-candy. The boys have the action scenes and the humor. The adults have all of the above, including the underlying commentary on our society and democracy. The movie was worth the $7.50 and the countdown has begun for the second installment “Catching Fire,” set to be released Nov. 23, 2013.
