Daniel Caccavale & Philip Degaltini, Jr.
This past Friday, the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy was turned into a blockbuster success. The movie grossed $155 million in its opening weekend. The movie took Suzanne Collins’ novel and delivered a heart-wrenching film that depicts the struggle of a sixteen-year-old girl fighting for her life in a death match that will end up changing her world forever.
Katniss Everdeen, the heroine, is pitted against twenty-three other boys and girls between the ages of twelve and eighteen, including a boy from her home district, Peeta Mallark, who cares deeply for her. The catch is that only one can survive. Katniss must fight against the elements, her opponants, her friend, and, most dangerous of all, her emotions, in order to survive and return home to her family.
The arena is controlled by “The Gamemakers,” who can adjust elements and add dangerous obstacles to the playing field. Katniss becomes the object of a political battle between the people of Panem, the post apocalyptic country that was once America, and the government. You become deeply involved with the characters and learn to love them, and then you realize only one can survive.
Compared to the book, the movie follows the storyline almost perfectly, with some very slight variations and the cutting of some characters that didn’t need to be in the movie per se. The filmmakers did a great job of creating the political struggle to set up a glorified cliffhanger for another film.
Overall, the movie is not only a great interpretation of the book but also a movie for the ages. The sequel, Catching Fire, is already being anticipated for November of 2013. And as the saying goes, “Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor!”
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