The Hunger Games with Jennifer Lawrence (Blu-ray)

Today I give you my honest impressions on the 2012 movie The Hunger Games based on a novel by Suzanne Collins and directed by Gary Ross. It holds a rating of 7.2 stars on IMDb. Sadly there was no extra content on the disc this time. The cast of this blockbuster is stellar. We have Jennifer Lawrence, for whom it was a breakthrough role, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Liam Hemsworth, Donald Sutherland, and Lenny Kravitz. The duration is 142 minutes.

The back cover synopsis: Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the Capitol of the Nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. Sixteen year-old Katniss Everdeen volunteers in her younger sister's place and must rely upon her sharp instincts when she's pitted against highly trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives. If she's ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Warning: spoilers ahead. The plot was a bit predictable to be honest. It's a teenage flick though, so I knew what I was getting into. The portrayal of lethal and televised game contest set in dystopian reality was convincing with clear parallels to contemporary talk shows in the scenes of pre-contest interviews with Stanley Tucci's character as a host. When the organizers changed the rules to allow two winners from the same district I found it hard to believe. And the way Katniss fell for Peetah was rather simplistic. Their kiss just happened all of a sudden, with no real build-up or anything that could really justify it other that he was just so vulnerable in that moment. Guy's sword wound also kinda healed magically overnight. In the end they had to face a pitbull-like creatures introduced for the grand finale. There was also a final boss fight with the last other contestant standing, which our newly-formed couple won. Nice fairy-tale story with a huge budget (estimated at 78 million dollars) and great cast. My rating: 6 out of 10, but still watchable and entertaining. Perhaps the book is better. I do own a copy, so I will give it a go when I finish Bad As I Wanna Be by Dennis Rodman.