The Hunger Games<\/i> is good. It hits you in the gut. It’s well-acted. It ought to get Oscar nominations for costume, art direction, and sound editing, as well as another best actress nomination for Jennifer Lawrence. Lawrence is<\/i> Katniss Everdeen. Woody Harrelson is a perfect Haymitch Abernathy. Josh Hutcherson (once I got past him being noticeably shorter than Lawrence) is an appealing and believable Peeta Mellark. The young actresses playing Prim and Rue are spot on.<\/p>\n
It’s a really very, very good movie — but not great. I have to agree with the reviewers who’ve noted there’s something missing — a little passion, a lot of outrage that it doesn’t quite have. After all, this is a about a decadent, tyrannical government that forces teenagers to slaughter each other for its own entertainment and to cow the populace. We should be leaving the theater burning with a “tear down the wall, m———r!” spirit.<\/p>\n
I didn’t see that. Except in Katniss’s eyes. <\/p>\n
Also (particularly in the beginning) there’s a lot of “shaky-cam” work and a dizzying number of cuts that don’t add anything but vertigo and annoyance.<\/p>\n
Still, I was engaged and never bored through its entire 2-1\/2-hour length. I think this is a “see it in theaters” movie, as opposed to a “wait for the DVD” movie simply because (as water lily wrote in a comment) even if you don’t go to theaters, you make exceptions for anti-government movies. And this is surely that.<\/p>\n
There is one scene, where a lovable young character dies and Katniss raises a hand in defiance to the cameras she knows are observing the games — and an entire district goes mad with rage. <\/p>\n
There should have been more moments on that level. I suspect there will be in movie two. In the meantime, though, this movie will do. It lays the groundwork. And if it can’t be called great, it’s surely worth an afternoon or evening of your time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Hunger Games is good. It hits you in the gut. It’s well-acted. It ought to get Oscar nominations for costume, art direction, and sound editing, as well as another best actress nomination for Jennifer Lawrence. Lawrence is Katniss Everdeen. Woody Harrelson is a perfect Haymitch Abernathy. Josh Hutcherson (once I got past him being noticeably shorter than Lawrence) is an appealing and believable Peeta Mellark. The young actresses playing Prim and Rue are spot on. It’s a really very, very good movie — but not great. I have to agree with the reviewers who’ve noted there’s something missing —…<\/p>\n