The Hunger Games

With Harry Potter over and the 'Twilight' saga about to finish, teens need a new series to bring them to the cinema. This looks to be the one.

I need to begin by saying that my expectations for this film were incredibly low before going to view it. There are so many films based on young adult books that have been major disappointments, so I did not raise my hopes that this was going to be any different.

I will begin with the positive. I think that the film looks good. The production design, make-up and costumes look spectacular. The cinematography is excellent and the film looks great overall. Gary Ross' team has done an excellent job in that department.

My main problem with the film is the subject matter. The idea of a society's ruling class rounding up children and forcing them to perform in a battle to the death for their own amusement is one of the most appalling things I have ever heard of. And the fact that a story like this is aimed at children is even more sickening. If it was adults and the film/books were aimed at adults I would not have a problem with it. Adults can deal with these issues. The fact that a society can take children and force them to fight this way is deplorable. What makes it even worse is the the way these children are treated before the tournament. Dressed up and paraded like playthings before the people who then clap and cheer. I find that evil. Pure evil. I could come up with many real world comparisons to this and you would find them objectionable. But people are drawn to this in droves, especially children. We have had many similar films in the past like 'Series 7'; 'Running Man and 'Battle Royal'. These all had the same story of people forced to fight each other for the amusement of others. Granted the violence in these other films was a lot more brutal but still the subject matter is adult and was not aimed at children. I understand that it could be viewed as a metaphor for aspects of society, but I think there are better ways to do it that are more suitable. Much like 'Twilight' a brutal subject matter has been soften to appeal to children. While there is a hint at insurrection in the film, I'm surprised that it has taken 74 years for anyone to rebel against this barbaric ritual. I know that if I was chosen I would have committed suicide before I even entered the arena. Perhaps we will see more of the rebellion in the other films.

My other problem was with the number of contestants. I think having 24 competitors was too many and made the film drag unnecessarily. It would have also made it more thrilling if there were less as we would have a chance to care more about the contestants and become more emotionally involved.

Jennifer Lawrence is certainly an excellent actress and she does a decent job here. I found her character a bit too subdued. I'd have liked her to have a bit more fierceness to her considering the situation. Josh Hutcherson is very good as well. Woody Harrelson is excellent as a former contestant. I'm a big fan of Elizabeth Banks and found her hilarious in this role. Her outfit and make-up were wonderful too. Stanley Tucci play the smarmy TV host really well. Adding to the already evil behaviour of these people. I loved seeing Wes Bentley back on the big screen too.

If you are going to make a film about a story like this you need to go all out and have the brutality of the subject matter match the way the story is told. Making it tame for a younger audience is awful.