"HOPE. IT IS THE ONLY THING STRONGER THAN FEAR!"

*President Snow (The Hunger Games).

Let's pretend.

You are the overlord of an evil empire, and (for whatever malicious justification you deem motivational) you hold a yearly tournament. The surrounding lands offer up teenagers to compete in a fight to the death, where by the winner earns much needed food for their starving homeland.

Very simple idea, all hinges on the fact that only one teenager can win. Right?

Firstly, you'd expect each of the areas to have some sort of training program to increase their chances of victory, but that's beside the point...

Here's the problem:

The public quite like two of the protagonists, who are coming to represent something of a rebellion amongst the lands you want to keep under the heel of your oppression. And wouldn't you just know it? despite your best efforts (including rule changes, stupid fireballs and ridicules mutant dogs) these two have managed to reach the final together...

Wait, there's no problem here! All can continue as normal. One winner, that's always been the rule (and why you'd ever need to change that is beyond me).

So what if they have a suicide pact? That's perfect- you turn them from being a symbol of freedom and righteousness  into selfish teenagers, who'd rather die than bring food home to their loved ones. Skewer their image. They're hardly going to be popular after that.

If you let these kids get away with this shit once, that's it- the floodgates are open. Next thing- you have a whole bunch of whiny kids sitting around in the arena refusing to fight. You need to come down HARD. Even if everybody takes a lethal dose of something (marmaite, raisinberries or whatever) all at once, technically one person will survive longer than the others. A winner doesn't necessarily have to remain alive.




On a final and unrelated note, I thought a nice (and very cynical touch) would have been if Peeta faked the whole love-story as a way of surviving the game, beating the system on its own terms and pulling the wool over the eyes of his teammate. Hell, even Haymitch might have been aware of his ploy. The talk-show, the missing lessons- all part of a desperate long-game to make it through to the final, whereby he would never have really killed himself when pressed. That would have been a kicker. In my head at least, that's what happened...

THE HUNGER GAMES; Carlisle's Final Word.

“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.