Suzanne Collins says that she was inspired to write her best-selling young adult novel “The Hunger Games” after channel-surfing one night. Footage from the Iraq war and scenes from a reality television show mingled in her mind. But it seems more likely — especially after watching the film adaptation of the book — that Collins stumbled upon yet another rerun of the film “The Running Man.”
Neither the novel nor the movie offers anything new; both are completely derivative. Collins has been open about some of her influences: stories about the Roman gladiator games and the Greek myth of Theseus. But besides the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie (itself loosely based on a Stephen King novel), there are more than mere echoes of “Battle Royale” (a Japanese novel also turned into a film) and even “Twilight.”
But that’s exactly why “The Hunger Games,” directed by Gary Ross from a screenplay he co-wrote with Billy Ray and Collins, is such a triumph. We’ve seen these people, these motives, these ideas before. Yet the film proves utterly engrossing for its nearly two-and-a-half-hour running time. Perhaps Collins is cleverer than some critics thought. Or maybe it’s that stories of power and rebellion — think “Lord of the Rings” — and life and death — think every action movie ever made — always feel relevant.
| On screen |
| ‘The Hunger Games’ |
| 3 out of 4 stars |
| Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth |
| Director: Gary Ross |
| Rated: PG-13 for intense violent thematic material and disturbing images — all involving teens |
| Running time: 142 minutes |
Even the look of the film itself is dated, though the action takes place in a future North America. The young residents of the districts, the blue-collar workers who are virtual slaves to the system, grimly dress like today’s college students day-to-day, and like men and women of the 1940s during the annual special event called the Reaping. This is how the Capitol gets its revenge: As a reminder and a punishment for a decades-old rebellion, the Capitol chooses a boy and a girl from each of the dozen districts to compete each year in the strangely named Hunger Games. Only one of the 24 will survive — with the proceedings shown on national television.
It’s that certain death from which Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) wishes to save her sister when she volunteers to take her place. Prim is only 12, so it’s the first time her name has been placed in District 12’s lottery. The 16-year-old Katniss, who will be out of the running once she turns 19, had better luck. She’s joined by her male compatriot and competitor, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), a sweet-natured boy who reveals he’s been in love with Katniss from the moment they met. She already has a soulmate, of course: Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth), the moody, manly guy with whom she goes illegally hunting.
Those in the Capitol, on the other hand, look like Marie Antoinette visited the 1980s. The Capitol has color. Not to mention plentiful food and drink: The overlords let the tributes, as the doomed are called, live before they die. Katniss and Peeta are mentored by a former District 12 victor, now a drunk, Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), a sympathetic designer who aims to make them intriguing enough to get valuable sponsorships, Cinna (Lenny Kravitz), and a government rep straight out of “Alice in Wonderland” played by Elizabeth Banks.
The tributes get just a few days of training before they’re unleashed on one another. And the mentors weren’t lying: It’s a total bloodbath. Someone told them earlier that most of the two dozen would die of natural causes. But nearly half are slaughtered by their fellow children/teenagers within the first seconds of the game. It’s brutal, but not as much as you’d think: Ross uses quick shots to suggest more violence than he shows. That’s obviously to give his film the PG-13 rating that will make it more money.
There is back story missing in the jump from page to screen: One character mentions 13 districts, but as only 12 compete, we don’t know what happened to the other one. The book indicates it was destroyed in the rebellion. And the sort of hackneyed dialogue you’d expect in a story full of common tropes is spoken now and then.
“Freedom has a cost,” one character notes. You have to be vicious to survive the Hunger Games. Yet Katniss always seems to have it easy: She doesn’t have to actively kill any of the good guys to become one of the final few. She’s too heroic a heroine to be realistic.
None of that really matters, though. There’s too much tension and terror here for such considerations to remain on the mind as the action unfolds quickly, if jumpily, on screen. “The Hunger Games” isn’t a masterpiece. But it’s finally given us a thoughtful action picture for the young and old alike.
