The Hunger Games

I think by now almost everyone on this planet has heard of the Hunger Games. It has been breaking box office records for weeks! And, countless of interviews with the cast, the author and the fans of the movie and the books have been aired or printed in all major TV networks and print media.

The movie, which is based on the book of the same title by Suzanne Collins, tells the tale of Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mallark (Josh Hutcherson) in a post-apocalyptic world whereby the world as we know it has been divided into 12 districts and is controlled by the Capitol aka the government/high society people.

Katniss and Peeta are from District 12, the poorest district. Every year, the Capitol organises The Hunger Games, in which one female and one male, called Tributes, from each of the district, will be selected to participate in the games and only one can survive. It is game where the children have to battle to the death in order to emerge as victor. When Katniss' sister, Prim, is selected, Katniss decides to volunteer in her sister's place in order to save her sister. Katniss also has a best friend, Gale (Liam Hemsworth), who agrees to protect her family while she is away or if anything happens to her.

Anyway, they are then whisked off to the Capitol to meet with the other Tributes and each team has their own mentors and stylist. Haymitch, the sole survivor of the Hunger Games from District 12, played by Woody Harrelson becomes Katniss' mentor and Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) becomes their stylist and sort of like a father figure and confidante for Katniss.


The Tributes of the 74th Hunger Games

 So, basically, the movie is about how they both try to survive and emerge as the winner of the 74th Hunger Games while also fighting feelings that soon develop between the two main characters.

Overall, it really was an entertaining movie even though it started off quite slowly in the beginning. One disturbing fact was how sadistic the game master in the movie was. The game master basically manipulates the Games in order to add in excitement for the viewers of the Capitol without any thought of how the people in the Games are only children. Of course, when they killed each other, it was done/filmed in fast motion so as to avoid the gory-ness and the fact that they are still children!!

There were a few "awwwww"  and "jump-out-of-the-seat" moments as well. For those wanting to watch the movie only because of Liam Hemsworth will be disappointed as there wasn't much of him at all. Probably in the next two sequels, he'll play a more prominent role. Though there was not much of screen time for Lenny Kravitz, he did a pretty good job and gave a lasting impression. I hope there is more of him in the next movie.

For me, it lived up to all the hype surrounding the movie and I am definitely looking forward to the sequel, Catching Fire. After the movie, I actually googled the following books to find out what happens next! =)

So, if you haven't jumped onto the bandwagon yet, I suggest you hurry and catch this movie before it is taken out of the cinema!

Signing off for now,

Pa-alam!!