5.

The Hunger Games

 

In a dystopian future, what remains of North America after the devastating war is now the twelve districts of Panam, and is controlled by the malevolent government in the "Capitol". In order to maintain a stronghold on the rebels and as a reminder of the people's failure, the government hosts a live television broadcast each year, where one boy and one girl from each district, between the ages of 12 to 18, is randomly selected to fight to the death, until there is one lone survivor. They call it "The Hunger Games".

 

After Katniss Everdeen's sister, Primrose, is drawn from the reaping, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She then, along with Peeta Mellark, district 12's male tribute, is taken to the Capitol to prepare for The Games.

I read the book that this movie was based on a few months before it released and it was one of the most gripping intense novels I've ever read. It was truly a good book and I had high hopes for the film. I have to say that they did a pretty good job on staying true to the book, for the most part.

Jennifer Lawrence nails the role of Katniss: she is an incredible actress- I'll even go so far as to say she may be the best actress of her generation; she gives the raw, real feel to Katniss that she has in the books. I've got to say I'm not the biggest fan of Josh Hutcherson, and him as Peeta... he actually did a good job playing the character, though. But I think maybe they could have gotten someone better.

 

There were a few things that differed from the books that I wasn't too happy about... and the "Girl on Fire" part was probably the most disappointing scene in the whole movie, it looked fake and it was done so unimaginatively. I was also disappointed with the showdown, which is now with some hound beast things, instead of mutations that appear as the fallen tributes in the book. And where's Cato's armor? Most of these issues were due to the somewhat low budget of the film -low for a blockbuster, anyways- which the sequel is rumored to have doubled (from the looks of the new trailer, which aside from Man of Steel's may be the best trailer of the year so far, that seems to be true). So, despite some appointments, I still really liked this movie a lot and actually aside from the Avengers have watched it the most out of 2012 movies (about 7 times I believe).

Overall, great film. Can't wait for Catching Fire, which is my favorite book in the series, to come out!

8.5/10