the Hunger Games

Unoriginal young adult book turned blockbuster movie? Can't wait… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I watched this last night. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it wasn't nearly as good as it could have been. Truth be told, I detest young adult novels. Well, they're fine for 12 year olds, but that's a couple decades ago so I'm not interested in that crap now. So having said that, I give a slightly biased review.

The story is derivative of the Japanese classic, Battle Royale. You'd be WAY BETTER OFF watching that film cuz it rules. Plain and simple. Beat Takeshi in a film about kids killing each other in a vicious blood sport? Way cooler than this young adult mumbo jumbo.

The costumes definitely reminded me of THX 1138 and Fahrenheit 451 at times. The score was decent. The cinematography was fine. The acting was alright. No big gripes. But the script and emotions were a bit stilted.

Overall, it just suffered from being skin-deep. It never got THAT intense, or THAT emotional, or THAT exciting. It just sort of safely plodded along safely telling the story. Kind of what you'd expect from a young adult adaptation, I guess. Safe as fuck.

I'm told the books are much better, but I'm sure they're not. Why? Cuz the film is over in 2.5 hours and then you're free from this crap, but the books take a lot longer to read. Save yourself the safe monotony of pseudo-futuristic love and politics and just watch Battle Royale and THX 1138. You'll be way better off for it. (Or read the Battle Royale novel. I should pick that up…)