Film Review: Hollywood Does Justice to The Hunger Games in 142 Minutes

Wed, 02 May 2012 13:56:08 GMT

By Eleanor Eagan

The Cover of the New York Times Best Seller

In 2008 Suzanne Collins, writer of the Gregor the Overlander fantasy series, released The Hunger Games . The novel, the first part of a trilogy, quickly became a hit. The writing style seems aimed at a younger demographic; the story is straightforward and an easy read. However, The Hunger Games has been popular among adults and children. As one reader said, the writing is addictive. The movie version, which premiered March 23, was an instant success. It broke box-office records for four consecutive weekends, most notably topping the release in 3D of the 1997 movie Titanic . And no wonder, considering the intense anticipation with which diehard fans awaited its release. “I was so excited,” said Talon Drown, a junior at the high school. “I had read all three books. They took over my life for four days. When I knew the movie was coming out I just freaked out. I ended up seeing it three times in theaters.” The Hunger Games has a fan base arguably as devoted as that of the Harry Potter or Twilight series. So turning Collins’ 374-page book into a movie that would satisfy fans could not have been a simple task. Because not everything in a book can be included in a movie, directors must decide what parts of a book to focus on. Gary Ross, who directed The Hunger Games, told an interviewer, “From the beginning it was the tone, you know because there’s a wide range of what the tone could be, my job as the director above all else is tone and to make sure that thing is harmonized in such a way that it lives within one movie and feels real. I mean the most important thing is that this feels real; the capital feels real, the culture feels real, the Games feel real.” Overall, the movie successfully captures the integrity of the book. It was far from perfect, but for a film adaptation of a book it did an admirable job. Everything from the intense poverty of District 12 to the lavish ridiculousness of the Capital was depicted skillfully. Ross’s focus was clear; throughout the film several details were left out, but some of the cuts were clearly necessary and for the most part they did not interfere with the continuity of the story. The movie’s run time is two hours and twenty-two minutes, a considerable length. Jennifer Lawrence played a convincing Katniss, capturing the stubborn independent nature of a girl struggling for survival, both before the Games and in them. Even as Lawrence put forth the hardened character, she managed to show the tenderness Katniss felt towards her younger sister, Prim. Josh Hutcherson’s performance left more to be desired. While he was successful in capturing some of Peeta Mellark’s more obvious character traits, Hutcherson lacked a certain charisma that Peeta had in abundance. He was a much less likable character in the movie than he was in the book. Overall, for a film based on a book, the movie was a success. However, The Hunger Games proves yet again that a movie can never be as good as the book it’s based on. While experiencing a story in a visual manner can be satisfying, a story shown in movie form will almost always be more one-dimensional and less powerful than its literary counterpart.