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    The Hunger Games

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

    "The Hunger Games" is well acted with solid characters and good art direction. If you think this is just another "people fight to the death for the audience's entertainment" film, think again. Set in a dystopian future, the country of Panem is divided in several districts, which serve the Capitol. In order to remind them of their subjugated position, each year one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 must leave their home and fight to the death in the titular Hunger Games. When Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) sees her sister's name chosen to participate, she volunteers to take part in the televised event in her stead. Joined by her fellow District 12-er Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), the two will have to hone their skills and use every trick at their disposal to survive.

    Jennifer Lawrence continues to deliver solid performances; if you're a fan of hers (as I am) you will be delighted to see her in a really meaty role. Katniss is full of self-doubt, but also has the courage, determination and skill to survive these games. In fact, I thought all of the other players did a convincing job, including the child actors. This means you will actually care about the characters and want to see them again (the ones that are left anyway) and when someone dies, it'll have some impact on you. Even the villains of the story have their moments of character development to show that they're not just mustache-twirling bad buys.

    An element that stands out in particular for me is the costume and art direction. To really show a clash of civilizations and the distance that this world has from ours the people of the Capitol have really outlandish costumes and manners of dressing. The costumes, hairdos, use of color, of exaggerated features (such as eyelashes that stand out way more than they should, or beards trimmed in outlandish ways) serve to show the difference between the 12 Districts and their rich oppressors, as well as to give us an idea of how far and removed from our time this story takes place. It does so without falling on typical science fiction elements like flying cars or other elements that have questionable plausibility. The costumes really feel like they could be worn by rich models and their artist friends who have nothing in the world to worry about. I could actually see some of these outlandish looks taking off and I'd welcome it. I enjoyed the "look" of this movie.

    I know you've been patiently waiting about the most controversial element; the violence. Is this going to be some kind of "Battle Royale" knockoff with teens and little girls getting slaughtered while the filmmakers wag its fingers at the audience like they did in "Gamer"? When it comes to the action and brutality just enough is shown. You see the ferocity and ugliness of these actions, without it ever going too far and feeling like an exploitation film. These are fights to the death, but they're handled tastefully and if anything, the film feels savage because you can feel the mixed emotions, or lack of hesitation in these young people and you have come to care about them as human beings because you've seen what they have gone through to get to this final battle arena, only to die while the world watches. The violence is well integrated into the story and it never feels like the movie was built around it. Even if you're not a fan of this type of film, with an audience watching as gladiators fight each other to try and win a prize, this is a smart story with good acting, some poignant drama and tasteful violence. You're sure to be itching to see more installments. (Netflix stream, January 8, 2013)

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    adamwatchesmovies@  9.7.2015 age: 26-35 2,867 reviews

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