MOVIE REVIE:

Hunger Games
by Piolo Navarro

The film Hunger Games is a futuristic adventure which takes

place in a poverish district of Panem which evil Capitol forces to send
male and female tribute to participate in an annual event Hunger
Games, along with the other 11 districts contending representatives.
It is cast by Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, Willow Shields as
Katnisss little sister, Primrose, the reason why Katniss is forced to
participate in the Hunger Games. Liam Hemsworth is Gale Hawthorne,
Katnisss best friend and hunting mate who helps Katniss family in her
absence
while Josh Hutcherson is Peeta Mellark Katnis male
counterpart from their district to contend in the Hunger Games who
develops true love for Katnis.
Elizabeth Banks plays Effie, the
designated Hunger Games representative to the District 12 who
ushers Katnis and Peeta to the game. Woody Harrelson plays as
Haymitch , a former winner of the Hunger Games but who is a
complete mess of a person who mentors for Katniss and Peeta. Dayo
Okeniyi and Alexander Ludwig are Thresh and Cato, the greatest
threats, most feared and dreaded contender in the game.
The story mainly evolves in Katniss Everdeen who is a such a
good older sister and very loving to her fatherless family that she
hunts tough with her bestfriend Gale just to put food on their table. It is
a yearly event that the Capitol of Panem holds the Hunger Games as a
reminder of the war between the Capitol and the districts where the
first won and the latter defeated. It has been a surrender agreement
since then that each of the 12 districts forcibly sends one boy and one
girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the
annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death in the wilderness, on live TV
where only one can win. This is to entertain and intimidate the country
to not anymore consider any forms of rebellion in the future. It is
Katnisss little sister who is selected by lottery to be the tribute and so
Katniss volunteered instead in Prims place. The male representative is

Peeta Mellark to whom Katniss family once owe for saving them that
day from extreme hunger when he gave them bread, being the son of
a baker. Right at the onset televising the game, the two realize that a
love angle interests and electrify the viewers so they have to play to
the cameras so they be favoured too by more supporters and sponsors
and get high chances of surviving, although Peeta really has feelings
for Katniss. To appeal more to public, rules of the game is even
changed that two people from a single district can now win giving hope
and drive to the two. Despite the camaraderie, dirty, awful, terrorizing
and bloody game, the two eventually are able to outwit the rest of the
contenders. But towards the end, the rule is put back to having only
one winner leaving Katniss and Peeta desperate to just end both their
lives. Left with no choice but to have a winner to keep the tradition, the
game finally decides to declare both as the winners. The Capitol takes
it an act of defiance but for their safety, Katniss try to convince
everyone that it is just out of desperation of losing Peeta and not a
rebellion.
Looking closely to how the movie is shown on screen, it can never
be denied that watching it is far way entertaining than reading the
book especially for those who barely take reading a pleasurable
experience and an easy task to do. But those who have watched are
most likely going to be interested giving its book a try. Casts give
justice to their roles and are able to convincingly bring to life
everyones character especially Jennifer Lawrence.
Her acting is
phenomenal! Woody Harrelson, plays the drunken mentor Haymitch
equally well. Its success is also attributable to good costume, set
design and film direction. Viewers can actually feel the horrifying
moments and fully empathize to the peoples rage against authority in
the movie never wanting to live in a culture like that. People who
worked for this certainly did this best wanting viewers to watch some
more in the immediate future. Time constraint in film showing was
never an issue to realize the gist and the important element in the
story No wonder, Catching Fire , its sequel soon followed. It is really
impressive.

On the other hand, it seems that cinematography is a bit of a

problem. Most of the fight scenes are blurry, which seems to be due
to shakey camera. This hinders to actually show the action and details
going on. But according to some, it is done on purpose to appeal the
younger mass viewers. At least, not much of disturbing violence and
bloodshed is seen.
Overall, it is a great movie experience.
I am highly
recommending all, especially the young ones to give this movie
literary piece a try. More than the great movie experience is the lesson
anyone can learn from when we are at the point of our lives we need to
make choices, weighing survival against humanity and life against
love.