Gabrielle Reviews: The Hunger Games

This is what you get when you watch too many survival shows. It doesn't help that our economy and leaders are in the gutter either. How do we fix this problem? It's simple. We make our children kill each other. What fun!

The Hunger Games has many ups and downs. There are parts where it satisfies, and others where it does not. I mean, it's hard to make a movie perfect. However, it's often especially hard to make a movie perfect in a sense that it is close to the book. Now, I'll admit. I only read a bit of the book before seeing the movie, so there isn't a whole lot I can compare. I will try to sum up the films strongest and weakest points based on what I saw.

Let's start with the strengths of the film.

I felt the movie had great settings. The way they had everything from the slums, to the Capitol, to the wilderness was excellent. It was obvious that the world had changed quite a bit in the passed years since what we have currently today.

Another thing that the movie does well is the overall character development. Katniss really grew during the movie. She knew that she had to stay calm in her situation, and the way she stayed by Rue's side when she had passed away and took care of her was emotional and beautiful. Other characters, like Haymitch and Peeta were also well-executed.

Now, of course, a movie will often have its weaknesses.

I felt that it was a shame that the overall time spent in the wilderness was to short. I really wish we could have seen more fight scenes. Then again, a majority of the characters did die at the very beginning of the actual games, both in the film and in the book.

Other than this one flaw, the rest of the movie was actually very enjoyable. This was one of the biggest movies of 2012; and it really deserves the praise that it got from fans and critics. I'd recommend it to anyone who can handle some violence as well as heart-warming or heart-wrenching scenes.

I give the film a 3.5 out of 5 stars.