“They just want a good show, that's all they want.”
Gale
Hawthorne.
Script Logic; 1/2
Pace; 1/2
Acting; 1/2
Aesthetic; 1/2
Originality & Intention; 1/2
Final Score; 5/10
Just to be clear: I am not ‘down’ on the Hunger Games
just because it’s popular.
I actually really enjoyed everything leading up to the
games themselves; the satire on television and X-Factor style celebrity was
both well observed and pensive. Shame then that the whole thing falls apart
half-way through, descending into absurdity and contrivance.
The script has a number of very irritating plot flaws, even if
you accept the surreal nature of the setting, and the majority of the acting
from the younger cast is amateur at best. Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen alone seems able to act,
although she looks far too well fed to convince as someone who routinely has to
scavenge for food.*
The CGI is pretty weak, and looks as though it were created
for a mid-range TV show, undermining the fantastical elements of the story. The violence is diluted and bloodless to the extent that the it ceases
to be shocking very quickly- which is a major problem when you’re passing
yourself off as a critic on violence and not just an adventure film- and without
the strength of its own convictions the story has very little to say for
itself. By taking the ‘safe’ and more palatable option, the film undermines its
whole point, as if to say “yes, violence is bad, but here’s some we’ve edited
so you can enjoy it”.
…And holographic mutant dogs is just plain stooo-pid.
*I do not mean
Jennifer Lawrence is fat. It occurred to me that simple-minded teenagers (or, as I call them, Twilight fans- joke) might misconstrue
what I said, so just to be clea; I only mean that it looks as though she has a
healthy diet, and not that her character is on the brink of starvation. That is
all.
It suffered a lot for the adaptation to film. The book got quite gory, but was able to remain a kids book. The film had to dilute the on-screen nastiness to retain its younger certificate.
ReplyDeleteAs for the dogs, in the book they were genetically engineered combat beasts that had been spliced with the DNA of the dead kids (for the horror factor)
I can only review how this works (or fails) as a film, I've never read the book. If the film has to be diluted then it should perhaps not be made, because in doing so it sort of looses it's meaning and almost becomes the thing it sets out to damn.
ReplyDeleteI also take issue with the rule-bending and the evil government's response to the (spoilers ahead) 'suicide pact'. Still,I'll bring that up in another post...
ReplyDelete