The Hunger Games

Based on the book by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games follows Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen as she’s drafted into a brutal fight-to-the-death against two dozen fellow citizens – with the film detailing the character’s ongoing efforts at staying alive. Filmmaker Gary Ross has infused The Hunger Games with a low-rent, curiously uncinematic feel that immediately alienates the viewer, with the hands-off atmosphere perpetuated by the director’s continuing use of such hackneyed devices as shaky camerawork and extreme closeups. (It doesn’t help, either, that star Lawrence delivers a consistently competent yet wholly uncharismatic performance, which ultimately prevents one from wholeheartedly connecting to her character’s plight.) There’s little doubt, however, that such issues pale in comparison to unconscionable deliberateness with which the narrative unfolds, as the egregiously slow pace heightens the movie’s myriad of problems and ensures that the midsection, which primarily revolves around Katniss’ solo attempts at surviving, is nothing short of disastrous (ie it’s just dull, mostly). It’s ultimately the inclusion of a smattering of admittedly positive elements that prevents The Hunger Games from becoming an all-out disaster, with, for example, an early sequence involving Katniss’ decision to volunteer in place of her little sister packing the emotional punch that one might’ve expected (and hoped for). The end result is a seriously disappointing adaptation that’s never able to reach the electrifying heights achieved by its literary predecessor, with the movie’s abject failure certainly not boding well for the next two installments in the series.

** out of ****