Color Force, Larger Than Life Productions, Lionsgate,

Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Wes Bentley, Toby Jones, Alexander Ludwig, Isabelle Fuhrman

In the future, the U.S. has collapsed and is replaced by Panem, a country divided into 12 districts. Every year, 24 young poeple are selected by lottery, one girl and one boy from each of the 12 districts to compete in the Hunger Games, where they are placed into an arena and forced to fight to the death. Only one winner can come out of the forest arena, but that person will be showered with gifts. When Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence)’s little sister is selected, Katniss volunteers to take her place and fight for District 12, the poorest of the districts. In a four day training excercise with her mentor, Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) the ill prepared Katniss heads out to fight to the death against those much larger and better trained than she. She will need all her wits and skills to survive in a game where as many die from exposure and hunger as from the other contestants along with Peeta Mellark (Josh Huntcherson) the male counterpart from District 12 and an uneasy alliance they form.

This film, based on the first of a trilogy of books by Suzanne Collins is tearing up the box office! There is a good reason. It is a wonderful story told in a beautiful motion picture. This is a perfect story with heroes and villains, martrys and saviors, good and evil. The casting in the film is just about perfect. They went through dozens of well known actresses before choosing Jennifer Lawrence, and they made the right choice. She is nearly perfect in her portrayal of Katniss. There are some other characters that are also stunning choices. Woody Harrelson is great as Haymitch, the smart-alec hard drinking mentor who blows Katniss off until he realizes that she really does have some skills. Stanley Tucci is Ceasar Flickerman, the long suffering host of the Hunger Games, and a TV personality trying to find drama and humor for the camera in his pre interviews with the tributes. The cinematography is stunning, and the views are spectacular. Most of all, it’s highly believable, and they took a real life approach to the situation rather than depending on our suspension of belief. It seems like it could have really happened. The bad guys are bad, and the good guys are good. Of course the capital is the worst, and Donald Sutherland is the President, and doesn’t ham it up with evilness, but plays a totally believable leader who thinks he’s doing the best for his people, even though something has gone awfully wrong here.

This is a great adventure drama, and one everyone young and old is likely to enjoy. It’s a very good story, and one I highly recommend catching in the theater if at all possible. It’s bound to be a topic of every conversation, so you might as well check it out so you can join in the discussion! I loved it.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Movie Review - The Hunger Games (2012) {PG-13}, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

1 Comment so far »

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    Ed's Review Dot Com » This Week on DVD – 8/14/2012 said

    August 14 2012 @ 11:02 am

    […] The Hunger Games [Click here for Ed's Review] […]

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