The "Hunger Games" Franchise

[StevePulaski]

The Hunger Games (2012)
Directed by: Gary Ross

Rating: ★★½

Suzanne Collins' novel The Hunger Games has been garnering a significant amount of fame with teenagers everywhere, and has a devoted legion of fans who have already seen this film at one of its notorious midnight showings. I have never read the novel, but knew much about it going in. Going out, I might've known less. If that's possible.

The film is simple, moderately effective entertainment, but slow, a tad incompetent, and a bit overblown in some areas. The film centers around the nation of Panem, which has replaced North America. It is a totalitarian nation, with its government inflicting harsh punishments and dictatorship this way and that. Every year, they hold an event called "The Hunger Games," where two people, a male and a female from each of the twelve districts of Panem, battle to the death until one remains. It is done to further assure the Capitol has any and all authority, and that they can do what they want, when they want. No question.

The girl chosen from District 12 is Prim Everdeen (Shields), younger sister of sixteen year old Katniss (Lawrence) who volunteers to take her place. The boy chosen from the district is Peeta Mellark (Hutcherson), who has had a life-long crush on Katniss. Both are taken from the district to train relentlessly for the games, which involve mainly practicing their archery skills. By far the most entertaining character in the whole film is Haymitch, portrayed wonderfully by Woody Harrelson, the only living victor from District 12. He mentors both Katniss and Peeta as they enter the most grueling task of their life.

Let's start with the landscapes and the cinematography. When we see them, they are wonderful. Breathtaking and consuming. But director Gary Ross seems to enjoy seeing them through a shaky, indistinct position. It may not be his own fault, just his lack of credible experience. A good portion of the film and its battle scenes are captured with a shaky camera, possibly to add to the idea that the action is so fast-paced and non-linear the camera can't keep up. Even during some of the regular scenes the camera remains this way. It would've been nice if The Hunger Games could capture its battle scenes in a calm, collective, and controlled manner, but instead, it favors the route of incoherency and disjointedness.

From a stylistic approach, the film is rather nice to look at. We do get well-deserved backstory on how the country operates and functions, but we don't learn enough about our leads. Also, these characters are being grossly toyed with in this nation. Does anyone try to rebel or overthrow the government? Or are they so oblivious to the idea of dictatorship and develop a strong contentment for this world. It seems illogical, when you think about it.

The Hunger Games has its areas of strength. For one, its female leader is no priss. It's so rare to see women take charge in sci-fi adventure films, especially ones that follow this sort of formula. Jennifer Lawrence is strong and beyond capable as the role of a strong woman, victim to unfair circumstances, and manipulated by an unfair society. It's nice to see that the series looks at her as fearless and fit rather than a whiny, uninspired female caricature. Hutcherson, too, is very good and the two work together nicely when they can.

But this is pretty standard in the field of adventures, in areas excluding its plot and acting. It lacks any sort of commentary on totalitarian societies, and doesn't seem to break new ground with the material it has. I sat debating on why the series has reached such a rare level of popularity with the masses. Is this the groundbreaking, extra-special, page-gripping novel that everyone is reading? The book had to be more than predominant scenes of archery and hectic instances of action. There had to be more depth and attraction to a novel so popular. What we are left with is somewhat sufficient, but droning for a two and a half hour film, including tacked on, roughly seventy minutes of buildup to the games themselves. The Hunger Games isn't bad, but it's redundant and winded, with much of the end being rather quiet and seemingly void of progression. Audiences are likely to enjoy it, but I'm sure fan reception will be all over the place. The film just seems too basic and limp, considering the book was a smashing success.

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland. Directed by: Gary Ross.

[StevePulaski]

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
Directed by: Francis Lawrence

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) travel on a district-wide tour after winning "The 74th Hunger Games" in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Rating: ★★½

I'll be the first soul to admit the wait between the first Hunger Games films and its sequel wasn't a particularly grueling one, and I likely could've went another year without even giving much thought to the characters or the setup. The first cinematic installment was plagued by questionably unsteady direction, clearly diluted political and social commentaries, violence with little impact, sterilized emotion, and a female hero who appeared more as an archetype or a character on a pro-women propaganda poster rather than a character with practical motivations and a believable persona to her.

I reassured myself that this kind of material could resonate with me heavily after watching Kinji Fukasaku's tremendous Battle Royale, a film that still stirs up controversy and one that finds its way in conversations about its similar contemporary The Hunger Games. I was hoping that after a director change, a huge increase in budget, and a cast that has gotten a bit older that The Hunger Games: Catching Fire wouldn't be the same lukewarm endeavor like its predecessor.

I'm beginning to learn that with film, and life, no expectations equate to no disappointments. Catching Fire is a modest affair, with occasional highpoints exploring the politics of a land's government and its inherently corrupt system, but is too often burdened by hokey instances of humor, eye-rolling dialog and emotional sequences, and dreary survivalist sequences that have the feel of a video game.

We are reacquainted with Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), last year's winners of the legendary "Hunger Games" along with her close-friend and sometimes-boyfriend Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). At the beginning, Katniss is scolded by President Snow (Donald Sutherland) for her actions in the games because now, numerous districts are rebelling and civil unrest is prominent within much of the Panem community. Katniss and Peeta now embark on a district-wide tour, giving a speech about their victory and such, while trying to prepare for the next "Hunger Games" when everything seems to be in disarray. Katniss seems to be roadblocked by a love triangle with Peeta and Gabe (Liam Hemsworth), a strict government, and the thought that the world of Panem is on the verge of an implosion.

The first half of Catching Fire is surprisingly strong with its examination of a narrow-minded government and further exploration into their devious actions. I was kind of shocked as to how much I was intrigued by the setups, as the first one scarcely captivated me. Writers Simon Beaufoy and Michael Arndt make the exploration more rooted in politics and social commentary, showing the consequences of Katniss and Peeta winning the last "Hunger Games" and the luxuries that come along with it. It would also be cruel to say that the series' new director Francis Lawrence doesn't come in at a critical time for the series as well. The second film is usually where the stakes become higher, the conflicts become deeper, and the characters become more fleshed-out and this challenge is one he handles very well. He also knows how to direct very spacious, complex landscapes such as the open wilderness and a massive Colosseum; something the original film's director Gary Ross struggled with, as much of his camerawork was shaky and unnecessarily unsteady.

However, after about an hour of solid insight into the government of Panem, the film follows the relatively bland and tiring method of its predecessor by making its "Hunger Games" focus of the film nothing more than a survivalist video game of sorts. When it is discovered how exactly the chaos ensues and when certain forces will be summoned to attack, it reminded me keenly of how my friends and I use to play outside when we were children. We would run all around the backyard, making up our own fictitious characters, and pretend there were either monsters, zombies, or some other damned force of nature after us. We'd invent such things as poisonous fog, unique creatures, and violence wilderbeasts, similar to the kind in Catching Fire, straight out of our imaginations. It was so improvisational it was ridiculous.

I bring this up because the method Catching Fire uses to include these asinine features feels like the improvisational tactics my friends and I used as children. Now, it's a tactic I simply don't care for. It feels like run-of-the-mill fantasy filmmaking where things just happen and questioning them means you have far too much time on your hands.

I suppose, however, I could deal with the film's frantic inclusion of various forces of nature compared to the onslaught of instances in this film that either don't belong or fall flat in their goal. Consider the scene when former "Hunger Games" victor Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), Katniss, and Peeta are all in an elevator and a woman comes in to request her dress be unzipped just so she can stand naked in front of the three to be the apple of Haymitch and Peeta's eye. Or how about the scene when an accident is almost fatal and Peeta and Katniss need to relish their existence once more by holding each other and crying in the wilderness. The scene falls completely flat because, believe it or not, Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson don't seem to have the emotional aspect of their acting down. Many of their movements are shockingly cold or just have the inability to provoke sympathy. And let's not forget all of this is captured within the boundaries of a young adult novel.

It's a no-brainer that those who love the Suzanne Collins' trilogy and the original film will be among the first in line to see Catching Fire and propel the film to hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. This is a fact that cannot be challenged. After two of these films, both of which pretty similar except for the second time around things got off on a better foot for at least a brief time, I truly don't relish the thought of venturing out to see the series' conclusion twice in theaters (just like the concluding chapters of Harry Potter and Twilight, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay will be split into two parts). There's one more thing I can say positively about the film and that it's infinitely superior to the recently-released parody film of the series The Starving Games and, the more I think about it, the more I'd gladly venture out twice more to watch the series conclude than have to sit through five minutes of that film again.

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Phillip Seymour-Hoffman, and Donald Sutherland. Directed by: Francis Lawrence.

[StevePulaski]

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014)
Directed by: Francis Lawrence

Liam Hemsworth and Jennifer Lawrence.

Rating: ★★

I've made my lukewarm opinions about "The Hunger Games" film franchise rather apparent in my reviews of the last two films. While being enjoyable for a short period of time for their action sequences during the actual games and the appeal of Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen, the previous two films have always found a way to include some sort of feature that prevents me from giving them positives reviews. The first film was burdened by mediocre direction, which felt almost constantly off balance or unsteady in its videography, and the second film found itself including too many hokey sequences before descending into tiresome survivalist action.

"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1" is the first of the two part finale to this series, and can effectively be summed up as a two hour trailer for the second part. Being a film conducted in two parts, the first part is inevitably setup for the second part, which will undoubtedly be the climactic part of the two films. With "Mockingjay" being only ten pages shy of four-hundred, splitting the film into two films over two hours in length is a questionable decision. Taking a book that is already questionably long enough to sustain two parts and making the first part a dreary plod through exposition and talky setups is enough to make me lose the limited amount of appreciation I had for this franchise.

The film sees Lawrence reprise her role as Katniss, and reminds us of how Katniss destroyed the annual Hunger Games and essentially left her home of District 12 in ruins. After being relocated to District 13, Katniss, suffering from severe flashbacks and trauma, is recruited by President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore), a rebel leader, who wants to use Katniss as propaganda for a potential civilian unrest. On top of this newfound gig, Katniss is also trying to rescue Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) from the capital, who have taken him prisoner. Katniss blames old District 12 victor Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) for Peeta's capture, who promised to save him before her. The film follows Katniss's many battles with what seems to be some type of post-traumatic nightmares, her fragile emotional state, and her gig as a propaganda figure for the potential capital uprising.

For starters, any outcries of praise for Katniss being a dominate and strong-willed female character should dwindled to faint muffles after the complete character reversal we see occur in this film. Katniss, who has always been something of a cliche of herself or, at very least, an archetype, has no resorted to being a character who whines and cries powerlessly with every event. Never do we see the same determined and incorruptible force of a character we saw in the previous films, who is innovative and selfless, but instead one who is far less interesting and cursed with a weepy and fragile ego.

On top of that, we get dreadfully boring exposition in the way that talks about the rise in propaganda in Panem. What could've been rich with commentary unfortunately finds itself remaining stagnant in terms of simply existing and providing little payoff. Scenes involve Katniss, Coin, and a gaggle of other characters talking about potential civil unrest in the districts before we see Katniss having another traumatic nightmare inside a hospital, desperately crying out for Peeta. The film keeps circling itself in this manner, and it doesn't help that Lawrence, who, as I've said before, is a gifted actor when she's playing human characters in realistic environments, handles the emotional scenes with an evident element of overacting that neither intensifies or captivates but instead finds ways to offput.

The contents and existence of "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1" will be justified by the devoted fans of Suzanne Collins' book series as necessary for a complete adaptation, to which I do not disagree; we need elements of setup and narrative articulation not only for clarity but so the climactic parts can succeed on greater, more emotional levels. The issue is we don't need two hours and a separate film for the events, and what perhaps could've worked out at least adequately results in nothing more than a blatant cash-grab for a franchise Lionsgate clearly doesn't want to only be worth three films.

[StevePulaski]

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)
Directed by: Francis Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence slips into Katniss Everdeen one last time for the conclusion of The Hunger Games franchise.

Rating: ★★½

As I walked into a matinee showing of "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2," I couldn't help but take note of the diverse audience that made up the showing. There were people of all different ages, the youngest maybe seven, the oldest probably seven decades older than that, and the audience of about thirty was decidedly mixed in terms of race, as well. It wasn't until I sat down to endure the final part of "The Hunger Games" film franchise that this has been one of the most successful young adult novel film franchises since post-"Harry Potter," and after this film leaves the theaters, it'll be a while before another film intercepts the hype. The "Divergent" series is close, but doesn't have the staying power, the immense box office draw, nor the pop culture relevance "The Hunger Games" does, even now, when its popularity in terms of being the "gotta read" book has simmered.

Speaking as someone who has been entranced very little by this particular franchise, its conclusion won't make me shed any tears or lose any sleep. Since Gary Ross paved the way for the franchise in 2012, I've been cruelly underwhelmed in some regard by each film in this franchise mainly because young adult fiction isn't my thing; I like my literature with more of a gritty realism edge and "The Hunger Games" always seemed like it was capitalizing on a generation that found the idea of a government manipulating and taking advantage of its citizens new and unheard of. In each installment, the drama has either felt stilted and unbelievable, the action too dominant, the camerawork too uneven, or the overall effect and takeaway ideas stunningly minimal.

"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2" will not make a fan out of people like me, who were simply waiting to get this franchise out of the way and move on to better things, but to say it's entirely joyless and void of some discernible charm is a bit of a stretch. Picking up where the inert non-event of a first part left off, this film opens with Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) struggling to speak after severely straining her vocal chords in battle. After a few minutes, however, she more or less regains her ability to speak, like a main character in a TV show with a grave physical ailment that need be remedied in the blink of an eye to help move the story along, so that kind of traumatic opening is pretty foolish to include.

With that, the nation of Panem is in the mix of a brutal revolutionary war, with Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) proposing her plan to assassinate President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in order to fully settle all the governmental nonsense and class warfare that has taken place for decades. Katniss unites her closest friends, including Gabe (Liam Hemsworth), Finnick (Sam Claflin), Cressida (Natalie Dormer), and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), who is still experiencing severe mental problems and bouts of uncontrollable rage. Despite the fact that previous winners of the notorious Hunger Games, like Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) and Johanna (Jena Malone), control much of Panem and are uniting its citizens, large-scale change will not commence until President Snow is assassinated. Katniss and her band of followers also must find a way to avoid the boobytraps set by Snow and President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore), the new ruler and commander of Panem.

"Mockingjay - Part 2" plays much like a video-game when it focuses on action sequences; most of the combat in the film feels like the kind of predictable, cause-and-effect nonsense that prohibits a film's violence from being immersing to just plain boring. Being that this film is also PG-13 and meant for the people who were about thirteen or fourteen when they read the book, you can also be sure that desperately little is developed or really shown.

The romantic trite from both "Catching Fire" and the first part of "Mockingjay" is thankfully traded for more development towards the relationships of Katniss, Finnick, Cressida, and Peeta, and things become fairly interesting when we see that Peeta's dual personalities make him a ticking timebomb of a partner in terms of whether or not he actually wants to help Katniss or kill her.

If you manage to invest yourself in all the drama occurring in the film and the often poorly lit and unclear violence that interjects the latter, than "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2" is a worthy recommendation. My problem here is that at the conclusion of this franchise - which really should've been last November because splitting this film up into two parts resulted in nothing but two almost equally empty and forgettable films - is pretty anticlimactic and melodramatic, as Katniss goes from being a fearless warrior, a sniffling baby, and a content housewife in a matter of about three or four scenes. At the end of it all, the drama is never particularly compelling, the violence is all over the place and only sporadically interesting, and the fact that these two films combined is an affair over four hours is absolutely nonsensical.

I return to my point that I was probably never going to be a fan of "The Hunger Games" franchise after not particularly loving the second film, though it's probably the best in the franchise. I've never found much connection in this series, and find, for all the acclaim Jennifer Lawrence and Katniss get, that she plays a terribly bland character with little else other than an archetypal warrior presence attached to her empty description of being "courageous." But at the end of all of this, by the fourth film in this franchise, you should know if you want to see it or not without my help.