Review of The Hunger Games (2012) by Leanne L — 23 Nov 2014

This is a good action, sic-fi thriller which, refreshingly has a really strong female lead. Set in an America of the future where society has been fractured and subjugated by a ruling elite, each year, the districts must send two young people to fight to the death in the gladiatorial Hunger Games.

Teenager Katniss Everdeen volunteers for the games in order to save her younger sister and travels to the capital city in order to begin her training in readiness for the combat. What I really enjoyed about this movie was the visual spectacle of the city where the citizens wear flamboyant costumes and outlandish make-up that echoes the Wild West.

This, for me gives the movie a unique and enjoyable setting and is a vast contrast to the scenes set in the home district of Katniss and the outdoors of the games arena. There's a fair bit of implied violence in the action as the game players are variously dispatched but this is well handled and is never gratuitous.

Jennifer Lawrence is well cast as Katniss and there's a great supporting turn from Woody Harrelson as her hard-drinking games mentor and Elizabeth Banks as her uptight publicist. At nearly two and a half hours, this is a long movie, but it never drags and there's more than enough action and spectacle to keep the interest of the viewer.

I had shied away from watching this film for quite a while, not wanting to become sucked into yet another teenage franchise, however, I was pleasantly surprised by The Hunger Games and will certainly make the time to watch the rest of the series.