The Hunger Games
Opens Friday at Dunbar, The Park and Scotiabank
With Harry Potters magical reign ended and Bella Swan about to head into the twilight for good, the time is ripe for another teen-lit-inspired blockbuster.
But it would be foolhardy to dismiss The Hunger Games as merely another teen flick or a sequel-spawning moneymaker (there are four films planned). The dystopian version of a future that pits a have minority against the have-not majority resonates equally with taxpaying grown-ups and loyal teen HG fans. Indeed, on a recent flight, I observed three adults reading books in the series, while the remainder read about the films star, Jennifer Lawrence, who graced the cover of the in-flight magazine.
Suzanne Collinss The Hunger Games has sold more than 23.5 million copies in the U.S. alone, crossing the age demographics mentioned above and hurdling gender barriers, too: its a weapons-filled fight to the death among 24 teens, where the biggest competitor just happens to be a girl.
Lawrence plays Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old living in bleak, impoverished District 12. In order to keep her mother and sister Prim (Willow Shields) from starving, Katniss uses the skills her late father taught her, by hunting out-of-bounds with her friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth) for game to sell on the districts thriving black market.
Once a year the struggle for survival is interrupted by mandatory viewing of the Hunger Games, in which a boy and girl from each district of Panem between the ages of 12 and 18 are chosen by lottery to compete in a fight to the death. The Games are meant to remind the districts of the ancient thwarted rebellion against the omnipotent Capitol. There is only one victor, and its been decades since District 12 had one.
When, against great odds, Prims name is drawn, Katniss volunteers to stand in her stead. The boy chosen from her district is Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), with whom Katniss shares an early history. The pair is whisked to the Capitol, the vision of frivolity and excess, where a team of garish stylists (led by Lenny Kravitz) waxes, teases and dresses them for the viewing masses.
After a brief training, where Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), a mentor from District 12, manages a few words of wisdom in his rare moments of sobriety, its off the the arena. Half of the players are killed off in the initial bloodshed, while Katniss runs for the forest. The arena is an enviornment carefully controlled by technicians and the head gamemaker (Wes Bentley); fireballs and killer bees are deployed whenever the action lags, hidden cameras record every moment.
Katniss only hope for survival is to change the script to save herself and others. These early hints of rebelliousness are sensed by the menacing President Snow (Donald Sutherland).
The action is more or less constant, interrupted by the behind-the-scenes look at gamemakers manoeuvering, as well as commentary by two on-camera experts (Stanley Tucci, in blue bouffant, and Toby Jones).
Director Gary Ross is limited somewhat by the PG violence, which is implied rather than splashed all over the arena, but the brutality still comes across.
The film is anchored by Lawrence, whose 21 easily passes for 16, and who finds the perfect balance of hardness and vulnerability.
Parallels between Panems governmental corruption and our present-day civil unrest cant be denied, but its our shared appetites for real and exploitative entertainment that is most evident. There are calls for Survivors outwit, outplay, outlast to get more gritty, while were fed a steady diet of ultimate fighting and housewives pulling out each others hair. If no one watches, then they dont have a game, says Gale in The Hunger Games. How far would gamemakers have to go to make you turn the channel?
