The Hunger Games (DVD REVIEW)
The Hunger Games
DVD Review
by Kam Williams
Screen Adaptation of Sci-Fi Best Seller Arrives on DVD
Picture
a post-apocalyptic North America left devastated
by a combination of fire, famine, drought and wars. The U.S. has collapsed only to be
replaced by a centralized, totalitarian regime run with an iron fist by the
President (Donald Sutherland) with the approval of effete elites barricaded
inside the wealthy Capitol.
That pampered class remains
blissfully insulated from the ongoing suffering of the citizens trapped in the
country’s dozen outlying districts. For, since an attempted coup 74 years
earlier, the government has been punishing the proletariat by staging an annual
fight to the death in the wilderness in which each district is represented by a
boy and a girl.
The 24 participants are chosen by
lottery and, as the story unfolds, we find 16 year-old Katniss Everdeen
(Jennifer Lawrence) consoling her younger sister, Primrose (Willow Shields),
who has had the misfortune of having her name picked to represent District 12.
However, Katniss altruistically volunteers to take her terrified sibling’s
place, and soon finds herself shipped off by train to the site of the
nationally-televised Hunger Games.
En route, she and fellow District 12
entrant, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), are supposed to be mentored by
former-winner Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson). But the fatalistic
alcoholic only has discouraging words to share, warning them to, “Embrace the
possibility of your imminent death, and know there’s nothing I can do to save
you.”
Nonetheless, Katniss is determined
to survive the ordeal, knowing just how much her sis and widowed mother (Paula
Malcolmsen) might mourn her demise. Fortunately, the spunky tomboy already has
a host of survival skills at her disposal, being adept at archery and
camouflage.
Based on the first installment of Suzanne Collins’s popular trilogy of the same name, The Hunger Games
is a riveting, if gruesome adventure which definitely didn’t disappoint its
legions of loyal fans, a demographic every bit as rabid as readers of the Harry
Potter and Twilight series. While this eagerly-anticipated cautionary tale of
Orwellian dimensions does address a litany of timely themes ranging from greed
to loyalty to exploitation to corruption, it nevertheless remains, at heart, a
high attrition-rate, splatter flick designed to satiate the bloodlust of kids
weaned on gory computer games.
How
else would you describe a futuristic sci-fi revolving around a reality show
where humans hunt fellow humans purely for sport, spectacle and survival? The
Most Dangerous Game meets Lord of the Flies.
Excellent
(4 stars)
Rated PG-13 for intense violence and disturbing images.
Running time: 142 minutes
Distributor:
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Blu-ray/DVD
Combo Pack Extras: Game Maker: Suzanne Collins and the Hunger Games Phenomenon;
The World Is Watching: Making The Hunger Games; Letters from the Rose Garden;
Controlling the Games; A Conversation with Gary Ross and Elvis Mitchell;
Preparing the Games: A Director’s Process; Propaganda Film; Marketing Archive;
and more.
To see a trailer for
The Hunger Games, visit:
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