The Hunger Games

Genre: Action / Drama / Sci-Fi // Running Time: 142 minutes // Release Date: March 23, 2012
Cast & Crew at IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/

Overall Rating 6 out of 10

Synopsis: Set in the future sometime after the next big war, the story centers around a competition held every year pitting 24 children/teenagers in a fight to the death. Every year a lottery is held to select one girl and boy from each of the 12 districts of Panem for the Hunger Games, which are used to both entertain and intimidate residents into keeping the peace.

I haven't read the books yet, but I'll probably start this week, so I definitely can't compare the movie to the books. Although from what I've gathered on the ole' internet, there are some things missing, and 'shockingly' the book is supposed to be better. So teach yourself how to read, or take lessons or something, and read the books. Use your imagination kids!

I realize that in today's movie world, everything is a copy or a rip-off, but that still doesn't stop me from noticing the similarities in this story to that of things done before. I definitely was reminded of Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Running Man while watching this movie. A violent, to the death game show, that was used as a way to keep the masses content while making money for those in power. It also reminded me of Van Damme's Hard Target and this other movie I saw a long time ago that I had to look up called Surviving The Game. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out. It stars Gary Busey, John McGinley, Rutger Hauer and F. Murray Abraham. Basically, as I watched the movie, I kept thinking that I'd seen all this somewhere before, which was uber distracting, and after looking a few things up after I got home, I know why.

Similarities aside, the movie itself is fairly entertaining. I wouldn't call it spectacular by any means, but it was a fun watch. There is some scenes of high drama and suspense, quite a bit of action, and the interactions between the characters is believable even if some of the other parts of the plot aren't. I would elaborate, but it would result in some spoilers. Let's just say some children are plucked out of farming and mining communities and are competeting against other children who have been training for the games their whole lives and we're supposed to believe they stand a chance after a week (or less) of martial arts, weapons, and survival training. But whatever, it's a fantasy right?

Like I said, the movie is fun to watch, and it's not overly violent despite the fact that the characters are in a fight to the death, so you can take your children to see it without fear of overly terrible nightmares and future therapy bills. But if you do, please educate your children on proper theater etiquette because my movie experience (and possibly this review) was tainted by one little turd constantly asking his father for explanations about every little thing without waiting to see if his question would be answered in the next 20 seconds, which it almost always was!