The Hunger Games

I’m very used to irritating movie-going experiences these days.  The advent of cell phones has dramatically increased the ways in which an audience can break your concentration in a theater.  I fully expected, at the very least, some chatter in the full house viewing of TheHunger Games.  But, to my surprise, it was a very reverential crowd.  My guess is they had all read the book and were fans of the movie before it even rolled.

I’ve only seen it once, but here are my takeaways from the movie.  There was nothing eye-rolling in the dystopian fantasy, unlike the Twilight series.  But, in that comparison, there is a truth that it clearly comes from young adult source material.  I was expecting some more intrigue from the games themselves, but I should have known they would be handled in a rather straightforward, uncomplicated fashion.  This is not to say the scenes weren’t exciting, but the solutions were a little simplistic.

And the most common solution for Katniss’ (the main character) problems appears to have a black character solve them for her.  I counted three different, glaring instances where she is assisted.  I’m not one to look into racism in film, but it became a little obvious.  I haven’t read the books (and I don’t plan to), but I have heard that isn’t the case in the written form.

That said, there are some genuinely funny moments.  Woody Harrelson owns the film in a supporting role as a former Hunger Games winner.  And speaking of winning, I didn’t expect the game itself to be over so quickly.  With the amount of money this film has raked in already, it’s a mortal lock for the two other books to be made to film.  And quickly.  I’m not sure if I’ll hit the theater for the next two, but I’ll certainly rent them to see how this plays out.  Overall, it was a good film.