Cast: It's a fine group of actors they've assembled, but it reminds me of another Jennifer Lawrence film, X-Men: Fist Class, that seems like every person was the director's second choice. This is definitely the Iron Man moment for miss Lawrence who will now find herself as a Hollywood A-Lister, able to command an opening weekend. There rest of the cast is a bunch of "also-rans" (Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz) and no names (...see! I literally don't know their names). Everyone is as good as you could expect for a blockbuster. They do keep all the main characters at an arm's length, which is probably intentional, but I'm not sure I feel the connection I normally do to a franchise character after the first movie.
Plot: I love any time you can sneak a dystopia to be accepted by the masses. I was disappointed by how little it focused on the moral dilemma at the center of the story, and it tried to have it's cake and eat it too by painting all of the contestants as black or white, good or bad characters. I guess it had to do it to be mainstream.
Also, this may be me, but I can't remember being so aware that depth from the book was being withheld in the movie. It felt like they gave as little exposition as possible. For a stand-alone movie, that probably works best, but for a franchise in the making, the first movie should build the world a little more. That's a difference between a saga and a film.
Elephant in the Room: No, this is not like Twilight. It will have a lot of mainstream crossover, but they really aren't the same. There is a good deal more heft to this than the vampire franchise. Judging by the opening weekend numbers though, it is going to be talked about far more than it deserves.
To Sum Things Up
It is the Goldilocks of blockbusters. It's not better than you hope or worst than you fear. See it (everyone else has, based of the $150 million opening), but don't expect a whole lot.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
Depth from the movie most likely wasn't held from the book. The fabric of the world was not nearly elaborate as it could have been or filled with enough apt detail to create ethical or moral complexities about the violence of the games. Sounds like this wasn't the case in the movie b/c Suzanne Collins didn't deliver that in the book.
ReplyDeleteI read the book and was inimpressed. So, for the movie... No desire (unless it goes streaming on Netflix, and I find myself in a bored and lazy Sunday afternoon).
J. Law also apparently isn't as gracious and kind in person as some claim she is from interviews.