There are
two names that define recent young adult literature: Harry Potter and, more
irritatingly for those of us who aren’t tween girls or their middle-aged
mothers, Edward Cullen (or Bella Swan, if you prefer). Now, at last, another is
breaking into their ranks: a sixteen year old girl with a braid, a bow and enough
spirited determination to conquer the world. Meet Katniss Everdeen, the girl on
fire.
With Harry Potter having officially come to
an end and the world eagerly anticipating – or dreading – the release of the
last Twilight movie, Gary Ross offers
us his fine cinematic adaptation of The
Hunger Games. The first chapter in Suzanne Collins’ bestselling trilogy,
this sci-fi thriller depicts a dystopian future where teens are forced to fight
to the death by a totalitarian government. The director of Seabiscuit brings Collins’ story to life with a serious-minded
verve and intelligence that distinguishes it from other young adult-oriented
fare. Assembling an almost pitch-perfect cast, he treats the source material –
and its fans – with a respect that feels increasingly rare in an industry that
often seems to value easy money and marketability over true quality, especially
when it comes to potential franchises.
The
temptation to churn out a cheap, lazy cash-grab a la the Twilight movies must’ve been there, given that audiences would’ve
flocked to the theaters regardless, but the filmmakers evidently cared about
the movie beyond its obvious box-office potential. They take the pulse-pounding
intensity of the books and successfully translate it to the big screen, staying
true in spirit but displaying a great willingness to tweak and embellish the
story when necessary. Among other changes, by expanding the point of view
beyond Katniss, the movie offers a wider perspective, something new that could
not be found in the book. It feels like a genuine, stand-alone movie rather
than a paint-by-the-numbers adaptation, a distinction that the Harry Potter
movies, for all their artistic merits, never quite mastered. Aside from some
memorable performances, those films never provided anything that the books
didn’t. Furthermore, The Hunger Games
does a good enough job of establishing its characters, story and tone
internally that it should work for those coming in cold as well as long-time
fans. As someone who has read the books, though, I could be drastically wrong
about that last point.
Instead of
going for sweeping and epic, Ross smartly focuses on the intimate, human
aspects of the story, using a sometimes shaky camera and concise editing to
create an almost documentary-like feel. Though these techniques can be
tiresome, they work well here and are employed only during appropriate moments,
such as the initial bloodbath at the Cornucopia, rather than throughout the
movie. Ross pays as much attention to the quiet scenes, such as a moment near
the very beginning where Katniss comforts and sings to her younger sister Prim
before leaving to hunt, as he does to the action scenes, which are sporadic and
avoid self-indulgence, neither glorifying nor glossing over the violence. The
music, composed by T. Bone Burnett, eschews the bombastic punk rock one might
have expected in favor of a sparse, folksy vibe that reflects both the rustic
simplicity of Katniss’s District 12 roots and her inner desperation as she
fights for survival; a few techno beats are thrown in as well whenever the
action moves to the more advanced, futuristic Capitol. The costumes and sets
also help realize the world of Panem in vivid detail while lending a greater
degree of believability to the more outrageous elements of Collins’s
descriptions, particularly when it comes to the over-the-top fashion tastes of
the Capitol residents.
At the
center of it all is Katniss Everdeen, played by a forceful but artfully
restrained and nuanced Jennifer Lawrence, who appears in nearly every scene
and, coupled with her Oscar-nominated performance as the similarly
strong-willed and independent Ree in Winter’s
Bone, is establishing herself as a consistently compelling actress and a
screen presence to be reckoned with. Passionate, complex and quick-witted, Katniss
is willing to do whatever it takes to protect the people she loves, even if it
involves violence or means putting herself in danger, but she doesn’t descend
into the emotionless, sexless (or sexed-up) killing machine cliché that seems
to pass for a strong female character in action films nowadays. She’s a heroine
worth rooting for.
Though
Jennifer Lawrence is undoubtedly the star of the movie, she’s joined by a host
of talented, well-chosen supporting actors. As Peeta Mellark, Katniss’s fellow District
12 tribute and sort-of love interest, Josh Hutcherson displays the appropriate
amounts of charisma, sensitivity and conviction; he’s come a long way since he
first appeared in movies like the mostly forgettable Will Ferrell vehicle Kicking and Screaming and Zathura and continues to prove himself
to be one of the most promising actors of his generation. Elizabeth Banks is
almost unrecognizable under heavy, purposefully crude makeup as the shrill,
peppy Effie. Woody Harrelson and Stanley Tucci are both as magnetic as always in
the respective roles of Haymitch and Caesar Flickerman, host of the Hunger
Games telecast.
Movies
geared toward young adults or teens tend to be dismissed as escapist, mindless
fluff not worthy of more serious consideration. Though it’s hard to tell
whether The Hunger Games will break
this mold and be embraced as fully as the Harry
Potter series was, it has an edge and intelligence that make it hard to
resist. Sure, there are more pointed, hard-hitting social critiques out there,
and it isn’t as bleak or gritty as some might have liked, but as engaging
entertainment that doesn’t just ask viewers to turn their brains off, it more
than delivers.
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