Long ago there was a war, 13 districts rebelled against the
County until nothing remained. And then came the peace; people rose up from the
ashes and a new era of freedom was born. But freedom has a cost and the
traitors were defeated. So then it was decreed within a Treaty of the
treason, that in penance for their uprising each year the various districts of Panam
shall, at a public “Reaping” offer up one male and female between the ages of
12 to 18. These tributes shall be delivered to the Capitol and then transferred
to a public arena where they will fight in a pageant to the death until only
one victor remains. Forevermore this pageant has been known as The Hunger
Games, and the lone victor is to serve as a reminder of the Capitols generosity
and forgiveness for the uprising.
It’s the morning of the “Reaping” and Prim (Willow Shields)
wakes horrified from a nightmare where her name has just been picked. Her older
sister, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) comforts her back to sleep by assuring that
her name won’t be called, as this will be her first entry into the Games and
first timers are never picked. Katniss is a very good hunter so she slips out
into the woods to hunt for something to sell to the peacekeepers. But there’ll
be no prize today as her best friend Gale shows up and frightens off her prey.
He talks of running away together and how life might be if they didn't live
there. But Katniss is a realist and she knows it’s time to return to the
village to prepare for the Reaping.
A stupid shameless public mockery of drafting innocent
children to death! At any rate, a Horn signals the beginning of the ceremony,
and children rain in from all around the district. Effie Trinket (Elizabeth
Banks) is the host and she reaches in to the girls bowl to draw Primrose Everdeen’s
name, Katniss rushes out and volunteers to replace her sister. Then Effie
chooses a boy, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), with a shake of hands they are
declared this year’s tributes for District 12 in the 74th Annual
Hunger Games. They are allow brief farewells and then whisked off to a
luxurious train that will deliver them to the Capitol. While on board they meet
their mentor Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), he is a victor from many games ago and
will feed them with insight and tips that may help to save their lives. Soon
they reach the Capitol. A brilliant city straight out of a fairytale story,
where they will spend the next few days training and building public hype; but
first they must go through a primping process and then meet Cinna (Lenny Kravitz)
he is like their coach. Finally the day comes to be transferred into the arena;
an open spot out in the middle of the woods where centerfield is a smorgasbord
of weapons and supplies. But these goodies are only for the worthy and several
tributes die trying to claim their share. There are hidden cameras everywhere
so that the public from all districts can watch the tributes every move and,
every kill. There are also thundering booms followed by holograms to signal and
identify the fallen tributes. 26 go in but only 1 will be allowed to leave,
unless the rules get changed.
For me, there was not a lot of greatness in this movie;
mainly because I can’t see being forced to sacrifice your children to death
every year as defining the reward of freedom! However, it wasn't all bad in
fact the acting was very good; and I would have even enjoyed it had the
tributes been equal in maturity.
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