One Minute Movie Review: The Hunger Games

To begin, I have never read the book series that inspired this feature, or have I ever had the desire as I am not a hormonally challenged teenager or lonely housewife. So with that in mind, I review this film strictly on the merits of what I witnessed on the slightly tarnished silver screen. After sitting through nearly two and a half hours, my analysis is mixed at best. Deeply disturbing, slightly depressing, somewhat interesting at parts and then an absolute cure for insomnia in others with an ending as predictable as Lindsey Lohan's arrest record after a night of bing drinking. Any film that portrays kids killing kids for entertainment bothers me and this one just barely flies below the gore radar to achieve its PG-13 rating. The acting is mediocre at best, reaching for Twilight teen angst but achieving mere Nickelodeon level drama, if there is such a thing. Director, Gary Ross, sacrificed back story, to overplay the pomp and circumstance of the Hunger pre games. When he finally brings the action sequences, his desperate attempt to maintain the film's teen rating, reduces it to a lackluster version of The Running Man for kiddies. However, the idea that these youngsters are getting massacred for sport is thick and undeniable. The storyline could have been engaging had it been more indepth and less focused on just downright silliness. If you are looking for a true goverment conspiracy, youth protest, sci fi like survival movie reach for Logan's Run or Lord of the Flies. 1 out of 5 Kernels: this movie was starved of talent, solid writing, and all entertainment value.