All too often I'll see a trailer and think "wow, that looks really good," only to be left disappointed when I discover that said trailer contained the only good bits of the film!
I've been looking forward to "The Hunger Games" since I saw the trailer a few months back and for once I haven't been left wanting...
The "games" are a fight to the death between 24 young people selected from the 12 districts of Panem. The story centres around Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) who volunteers to take her younger sisters place as tribute in the annual Hunger Games. Taken to the Capitol to be trained and paraded in front of influential and blood-thirsty viewers, Katniss and the other 23 are then thrust into the wilderness with limited supplies in the sure and certain knowledge that only one of them can survive to become this year's victor.
Given the nature of the story I was a little perplexed at the 12a rating, so my husband and I were careful to pick a showing during school hours to allow us a child-free viewing, (something I'd recommend if you have any choice in the matter.) The story progresses at a reasonable pace with believable character development and some lovely performances from the likes of Woody Harrelson and Stanley Tucci. I was even pleasantly surprised by Lenny Kravitz!
As you'd expect the writers and director are careful to keep our heroine's hands relatively clean, in what could have been a blood-bath of a film. Thankfully, however, they weren't too shy of the necessary brutality elsewhere, showing just enough violence and gore to satisfy the storyline without pushing their rating up to a 15. All-in-all, it's left me hungry for more...
UK rating: 12a
Year of release: 2012
Genre: Fantasy, Action, Drama
Director: Gary Ross
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks
Rating: 4.5/5
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