Hunger Games

"May the odds be ever in your favor"

Directed by Gary Ross

2012

Viewed March 2012

The Hunger Games takes place in Panem, a future post apocalyptic U.S.A. The country is divided into 12 districts. There was once an uprising against the Capitol that the districts serve and to remind the districts of their place the Capitol enacted the Hunger Games. Every year one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 17 from each district is chosen (some volunteer, but most are drawn in a lottery) to fight to the death in a televised event. Basically reality tv gone bad. The last person standing is given riches and fame. The story follows Katniss Everdeen from District 12 who volunteers to take the place of her younger sister whose name was chosen in the lottery. She sneaks out of the district and into the forest to hunt and therefore is very good with a bow and arrow. She is taken to the Capitol along with Peeta Mellark, the male tribute, where they are trained and then thrown into the arena. I am a huge fan of the Hunger Games book trilogy and therefore I was very excited to see the film. This film covers the first book and I think that they did an amazing job adapting it to the screen. I was worried that the PG-13 rating would take away from some of the brutality and fear that was in the book, but it really didn't. I haven't read the books in awhile so I don't know how closely it followed as far as the little details go, but it definitely followed the main plot points. There were things that were cut that I understand because of time constraints and they aren't necessarily missed in the movie. I have heard that if you haven't read the books that there are things that you don't get in the movie, but I think that they did a really good job of using the commentators of the Hunger Games as a way of explaining things (such as "those aren't normal bees, they're Tracker Jackers, here is what they do and where they come from" etc.) I also am now a huge Jennifer Lawrence fan. A