By JULIEN MERCED C. MATABUENA
To gain the sympathy of viewers and potential sponsors, Peeta and Katniss were pegged as a pair of star-crossed lovers – or are they?
MANILA, Philippines – The film adaptation of popular young adult dystopian novel "The Hunger Games" is more like, say, "Survivor" with an extremely violent twist—more, in fact, than, say, the similarly-themed "Battle Royale" (a 1999 Koushun Takami book that's also been made into a movie in 2000).
When Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games" book reached the reading masses in 2008, people had been quick to point out its striking similarities to Japanese author Takami's novel released almost a decade prior. The comparison comes as no surprise since both books, in their very essence, presented the idea of having an annual spectacle that brings a group of teenagers to one place so they could murder each other until one remains.
But whereas "Battle Royale" is raw and kills to eliminate the young and rebellious population that the government has grown to fear, "Hunger Games" is more systematic and glamorized, killing off the young ones to serve as a lesson for the uprising that happened in their country decades earlier.
The Hunger Games is a yearly event that happens in the fictional nation of Panem. Panem is said to be located where North America was before an undetermined apocalyptic event happened hundreds of years into the future, and is divided the powerful Capitol and twelve poorer districts aptly named Districts One, Two, Three and so on. Because of an uprising by these districts against the Capitol, its officials decided to hold the Games to serve as a reminder of their insolence. As if the bloody games isn't enough, there's actually an extensive media coverage of the events, from the "reaping" (the selection of two "tributes" per district) until the very end of the Games itself. While the citizens at the Capitol treat the whole thing with fun fare, turning the ghastly event into a beauty pageant-slash-football-game-slash-circus complete with interviews with the tributes, commentaries and evaluations, the people at the districts are forced to watch everything.
You would expect, coming into the theaters, that "Hunger Games" will be all blood and gore. But surprisingly, more than half of the movie focused on the events before and after the Game. This is good because it allowed the establishment of the characters, especially of the protagonists, District 12 tributes Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). Doing so also enabled even those who weren't able to read the
book to understand the background: there was a text-based explanation in the beginning on the history of the Games, another video played during the "reaping" to explain the same some more, and additional scenes showing the conversations between Panem's President Coriolanus Snow and the games' Gamemaker Seneca Crane not only about the Game but also on Katniss. There was also a short flashback scene, presented as Katniss' hallucination brought about by tracker jacker (a breed of genetically-altered wasps) poison, where the absence of her father was explained.
And during the Game itself, there was less gore than expected. Perhaps the most extreme scene already was during the start of the Game, where splashes of blood were seen as some bloodthirsty tributes mercilessly killed the weaker ones. Unlike most action flicks, "Hunger Games" can be described as quiet in that it seems to have less dialogue and less screaming. It's probably what you'd call the repercussions of having a PG-13 rating; still, the movie was able to capture the excitement of the Game owing to the very
active camerawork employed, among others.
With a character-driven novel/movie such as "Hunger Games," Lawrence, who some of you may remember as Mystique in "X-Men: First Class," was perhaps the perfect Katniss because she was able to translate on the big screen her strong-willed yet humane character. Finally, here's a female protagonist who's able to stand up for herself and break all stereotypes. Hutcherson was good as Peeta as well. Though his character was considerably weaker than Katniss' in some ways, Hutcherson made up for it by making his Peeta likeable. Of course this flick has a love angle, but it was presented in just the right amount because the movie really focused on the Game, Katniss and her ideals.
On the technical side, aside from the camerawork, "Hunger Games" boasts of a good production design. The Capitol was futuristic and its citizens, colorful and eccentric. The CG effects were just as good, especially in those scenes that showed Crane's staff as they manipulated obstacles from a studio control room.
In sum, if fans of the book can overlook certain revisions, additions and removals, this Gary Ross-directed "Hunger Games" will prove to be an enjoyable adaptation. Non-fans and other casual moviegoers would be able to appreciate it as well.
"The Hunger Games" starts screening on March 22 in theaters nationwide. It also stars Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Amandla Stenberg, Donald Sutherland and Wes Bentley.
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