hfkj
Hunger Games movie Review
By:Domenic Careri
Full disclosure, I'm a fan. I've read the first book. It contains post-apocalyptic action, rebellious teens and mutant half-breeds and I was powerless to resist. And the heroine, Katniss, is the anti-Bella. Sure she's caught in a love triangle between Peeta , the white-bread baker boy, and Gale, the moody-loner-keeping-the-home-fires-burning. But it was Katniss' voice that puts the series head and shoulders above Bella's tale of self-sacrifice. This is a young woman who fights for herself and her family. Yes, in the few spare moments when she's not running for her life or avoiding tracker jackers, she ponders her choices. But survival is the priority.
Liam Hemsworth stars as Gale Hawthorne in the film. (Alliance Films)
Yet, now, as the blockbuster book is set to become the biggest film of the season, all I can see are the missed opportunities. For fans that know the material, it's fine.
At this moment in history, with the up-to-the-minute themes of the rich and the poor, the 1-per-centers, and our world being filtered through reality TV, The Hunger Games had the potential make a lot of people uneasy.
Just for a moment imagine what a Paul Greengrass or Kathryn Bigelow could have done with this. (Turns out director Steven Soderbergh did some second unit directing on a small riot scene -- a scene that is one of the few moments in which the movie approaches the potential of the books.)
Instead, producers turned to Gary Ross: the master of movies that settle over you like a warm blanket just out of the dryer. Remember, he is the writer of Big, and director of Seabiscuit and Dave.
This is the man they entrusted with author Suzanne Collins' dark dystopian vision. Why? Because Ross delivers a family-friendly, PG-ready version of the gladiatorial death match. It's the Hunger Games with the sharp edges smoothed off. Because when you're handling the adaptation based on $16 million in book sales, you don't take
By:Domenic Careri
Full disclosure, I'm a fan. I've read the first book. It contains post-apocalyptic action, rebellious teens and mutant half-breeds and I was powerless to resist. And the heroine, Katniss, is the anti-Bella. Sure she's caught in a love triangle between Peeta , the white-bread baker boy, and Gale, the moody-loner-keeping-the-home-fires-burning. But it was Katniss' voice that puts the series head and shoulders above Bella's tale of self-sacrifice. This is a young woman who fights for herself and her family. Yes, in the few spare moments when she's not running for her life or avoiding tracker jackers, she ponders her choices. But survival is the priority.
Liam Hemsworth stars as Gale Hawthorne in the film. (Alliance Films)
Yet, now, as the blockbuster book is set to become the biggest film of the season, all I can see are the missed opportunities. For fans that know the material, it's fine.
At this moment in history, with the up-to-the-minute themes of the rich and the poor, the 1-per-centers, and our world being filtered through reality TV, The Hunger Games had the potential make a lot of people uneasy.
Just for a moment imagine what a Paul Greengrass or Kathryn Bigelow could have done with this. (Turns out director Steven Soderbergh did some second unit directing on a small riot scene -- a scene that is one of the few moments in which the movie approaches the potential of the books.)
Instead, producers turned to Gary Ross: the master of movies that settle over you like a warm blanket just out of the dryer. Remember, he is the writer of Big, and director of Seabiscuit and Dave.
This is the man they entrusted with author Suzanne Collins' dark dystopian vision. Why? Because Ross delivers a family-friendly, PG-ready version of the gladiatorial death match. It's the Hunger Games with the sharp edges smoothed off. Because when you're handling the adaptation based on $16 million in book sales, you don't take