"Welcome, and happy Hunger Games"
The Hunger Games is set in a dystopic world in the nation of Panem. The country is split into 12 districts, where people live in poverty and the capitol where the people live a life of modern luxury. Every year the Hunger Games are held, partially to entertain the Capitol but also to punish the districts for past rebellions, and a male and female from each of the districts is chosen at random to compete to the death until there is only one left standing. When Primrose Everdeen (Willow Shields) is chosen her older sister Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers in her place. She is joined by Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) who has also been selected.
I was skeptical about this film at first as I'd read an interview with the author of the books stating that she hadn't ripped off the concept of Battle Royale. I still strongly disagree that she'd never heard of the Battle Royale films and think that this is basically those films for the Twilight generation.
However, I did enjoy the film. The concept of the future society is fantastic and the costumes and locations, especially those in the Capitol are amazingly creative and modern. The characters of Katniss and Peeta are likeable and played well. I found both characters to be quite realistic for such a big film. However, I didn't like the fact that we barely found out the names of the other tributes, let alone and information about the other districts or their stories. I assume there is more detail in the book or more information is to follow in the next films. Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) and Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) are also worth a mention and hopefully will be present in the next films.
Overall, I did like the film and it was a lot better than I expected. However, I did feel that it was a poor man's Battle Royale that caters more to a Westernised audience. I would recommend watching it and will be watching the rest of the trilogy as and when.
Rating: 8/10
