Feasting On The Hunger Games

Ever since the Twilight series was adapted into a franchise of dire teen-friendly movies, Hollywood has been attempting to capture the public's imagination once more with the next big, youth-fiction thing. We've had Beastly, I Am Number Four and Red Riding Hood all failing to recapture that elusive spark, mainly because they're not very good. Now, along comes The Hunger Games, an adaptation of the first book in Suzanne Collin's youth orientated science fiction trilogy.

Given the dire nature of the films that have filled the needs and wants of the demographic so far, Hunger Games is startlingly excellent. This is great, all round film making from top to bottom which seeks to service Collin's source story than the drippy romantic urges of some naive adolescents. Bringing on writer/director Gary Ross was a smart move by the producers since his was the mind behind Pleasentville, a great piece of thought-provoking fantasy, which was told in a style dictated to by the story as opposed to the dubious imagination of a music video director's vision.

Hunger Games is handled with maturity, not dumbed down for an audience weaned on Transformers or Twilight films. The directoral style is varied and often experimental, often recalling the pre-Star Wars work of George Lucas on THX 1138 (which also dealt with an oppressive, futuristic dystopia) and the writing smart enough to allow for restraint in the dialogue, bravely preferring to let the visuals inform the audience.

The cast is equally impressive. Woody Harrelson brings a roguish nonchalance to the hero's mentor, Donald Sutherland brings authority and a serene, cold-hearted ruthlessness to his Presidential role, Elizabeth Banks is fantastic as the most shallow rich-person in the world while Wes Bently is Wes Bentley (meh!). Liam Hemsworth gets to stand round brooding manfully, but at least he's got 10 times the screen presence of Taylor Launtner in this kind of thing. Josh Hutcherson is pretty low key in what is essentially the male love interest role...but his performance pretty much suits the role he's playing. But this is Jennifer Lawrence's film from start to finish. She's already proven she's got the acting chops from her Oscar nominated performance in Winter's Bone, but she really steps up the pace to demonstrate she's got the charisma and star wattage to carry a blockbuster motion picture. Her Katniss Everdeen is both strong but vulnerable, skilled but flawed and impulsive yet patient. It's her eyes we discover this fantasy world through and without being able to empathise with her, the drama (of which there is considerable quantities) would just fall completely flat.

The post-apocalyptic world Katniss inhabits is simply designed yet utterly believable, the CGI strong although seldom needed, the action tense and gripping and the narrative along the lines of The Running Man or Rollerball is compelling.

Ignore the hype and the fact this is adapted from novels aimed at a youth audience. This is a serious film, intelligently made, spectacularly acted with a mature subject matter and themes. Like all good science fiction Hunger Games passes comment over the world we live in such as youths being sent off to do combat for its government for an unnecessary cause, oppressed undemoratic government oppressing the masses, shocking, manipulated reality TV to distract the masses from the real problems of society as well as drawing attention to the ever increasing wealth divde between the ultra rich and the distressingly poor. In many ways the timing of The Hunger Games release is apt in part because it becomes firmly part of the Occupy generation.

Of course many will either be unaware or choose to ingnore the warnings contained within The Hunger Games, it is after all the survival tale of a resourceful young woman, but it is comforting that young people are choosing to watch something this insightful in their masses.