Film Feature: Seven Things We Want From ‘The Hunger Games’

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4. Don’t “Twilight” Up the Teen Romance Aspect

Hunger Games
Hunger Games
Photo credit: Lionsgate

We’re not jaded enough fanboys to suggest that a “Hunger Games” movie should ignore any aspect of romance. That wouldn’t be true to the original book. Throughout the series, particularly in the first book, Katniss spends a LOT of time trying to work out her feelings about her Hunger Games partner Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) and her back-home hunting partner Gale (Liam Hemsworth). For the sake of the media attention surrounding the Games, Katniss has to pretend that she and Peeta are deeply in love and, while keeping up appearances, Katniss can’t ignore that she’s definitely developing feelings for Peeta. However, unlike Bella in the “Twilight” movies, Katniss doesn’t spend 90% of her time worrying about her boyfriend prospects. Katniss’ romantic worries add depth and substance to her character, but they definitely should NOT be driving the story. Katniss is in the Hunger Games to survive and save her family – everything else is secondary. While, yes, Katniss’ relationship with Peeta is a cornerstone of the “Hunger Games” story, we’re really hoping that the filmmakers won’t ignore Katniss’ more pressing motivations to give the tweeners some fabricated “Are you Team Peeta or Team Gale?” nonsense.

5. Make It a Standalone Experience

Hunger Games
Hunger Games
Photo credit: Lionsgate

This is a hard one because it’s almost a foregone conclusion that there are going to be more “Hunger Games” movies after this one, but we think this has to be said. One of the major, MAJOR problems with most movies that are aching to kick off the next big “Harry Potter” or “Twilight”-esque franchise is that they’re more concerned with establishing the world of the franchise rather than delivering an amazing and complete motion picture experience. So many franchise-hungry flicks, ranging from “The Golden Compass” to “Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events”, spent so much time and energy keeping the story open for future chapters and laying the foundation for potential sequels that they dropped the ball when it came to creating a solid, totally engaging standalone movie that would so delight audiences that they’d practically demand sequels. “The Golden Compass” didn’t even write an ending. It just trailed off, hoping for another chapter to finish telling the story. That’s absurd. No movie should EVER operate on the assumption that they’re going to have more sequels to finish telling their story UNLESS they already have a massively successful first chapter already under their belts. George Lucas was able to make the ultimate cliffhanger movie, “The Empire Strikes Back”, only because he did such an amazing job making “Star Wars” into an enormous standalone hit. (There are a few open threads at the end of “Star Wars,” but, even if there had never been another film, that ending still would’ve been hugely satisfying.) While, yes, we can’t imagine that “The Hunger Games” won’t do well enough at the box office to warrant a sequel, we really hope that Gary Ross is making “The Hunger Games” like he thinks this is going to be his only shot at telling this story. Because we want “The Hunger Games” to, first and foremost, be a satisfying, memorable film that we can watch for years to come, rather than just being an extended trailer for “Catching Fire.”

6. Make the Arena Ending as Intense as Possible

Hunger Games
Hunger Games
Photo credit: Lionsgate

One of the reasons why most people probably thought that “The Hunger Games” would make a fantastic movie is that it has a killer third-act. The 24 tributes are placed into the Arena, a massive “Truman Show”-esque island, completely outfitted with cameras, where the gamemasters can give the contestants weapons, change the weather at the push of a button, unleash deadly traps or ferocious, genetically mutated animals – it makes “The Running Man” look like ABC’s “Wipeout” in comparison. There are some that feel that the true violence of the Arena’s battle royale can’t be done justice without an R-rating. We disagree. This is a movie based on a young adult novel and it should, as such, be PG-13. However, that being said, we really want Gary Ross to push the level of intensity as far as the PG-13 rating will let him. That’s not to say that we want the movie to be gory or graphic. We don’t. Much of the fighting and violence could be conveyed just as effectively by being selective with what they show the audience. BUT, rather than gore, we do want Ross to really give us an experience that shows off the panic, adrenaline, pain, and breathless anguish that Katniss has to live through to survive the Arena. So, if Ross doesn’t show us all of the blood and viscera Collins described in the tracker-jacker wasp sequence, big deal. But, if he doesn’t keep us on the edge of our seats and keep us in a constant state of anxiety for the welfare of young Miss Everdeen, then he’s really dropped the ball.

7. Give Us Some Surprises

Hunger Games
Hunger Games
Photo credit: Lionsgate

It might seem strange to ask for surprises in the film adaptation of a popular book. Most fans are just going to want to see everything they’ve read about in “The Hunger Games” lovingly recreated on the big screen. BUT that’s a tricky thing to pull off and it forgets the most important rule of film adaptations – it must work as a movie first and as an adaptation second. While, yes, “The Hunger Games” is an achingly cinematic book with a three-act structure that would make Robert McKee drool with envy, we really hope that Gary Ross, as a filmmaker, has found a way to make it into something compelling and unexpected rather than just a slideshow of scenes from the book. Chris Columbus’ first two “Harry Potter” films were the most generic and forgettable of the series because Columbus brought almost nothing to the table as a filmmaker. His Potter films are the equivalent of visual audiobooks – “And then this happened… and then this happened…” Hopefully, Ross has found a way to make the structure and storytelling of “The Hunger Games” movie into something really unique and surprising and hasn’t adopted the workman-like approach of just saying, “OK, I just need to film these scenes as written and fans will be happy.” Yes, Ross does need to service the needs of “The Hunger Games” fans, but, much more importantly, he also needs to deliver a compelling cinematic experience that will engage and surprise EVERYONE, fans and non-fans alike. He’s definitely got the chops to deliver, so we’re rooting for Ross to really knock us out of our seats with “The Hunger Games” and we’re confident he can do it.

By TOM BURNS
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
tom@hollywoodchicago.com

gaby0407's picture

I completely agree with all

I completely agree with all of these! I’m such a huge Hunger Games fan. I have high hopes for this movie!

Eryn's picture

I LOVE THIS ARTICLE

I LOVE THIS ARTICLE<3 omg it is honestly perfectttttt! anyone who tries to compare hg to twilight with a love triangle deserves a punch in the face. they compltely dispose of the whole point of the book and how the romance thing is just fuel to the fire. no where in the book is katniss completely driven by love, that just becomes an obstacle along her ultimate journey. EVERYTHING in the article describes exactly what i’m hoping to see. thank you!<3

Mrs. Coxon's picture

That first poster was awful.

That first poster was awful. As a Hunger Games fan who can stand back and not get brainwashed by anything Hollywood, that poster is just terrible. Lawrence doesn’t look like Katniss at all, dyed hair and big cheeks and all. In that poster she just looks.. blank. “Oh, I’m shooting a picture for the poster, whatever, no need to put any sort of emotion in my face, people are gonna love me just because I’m Oscar nominated and Suzanne supposedly chose me herself.” Whatever. The smart ones out there know you only got the role because you had a “very long audition alone with the director.”

Rodger's picture

The Hungers Games

It was a decent movie that was unfortunately spoilt by all the negative publicity it received due to all the prejudices comments made about the black actors.

I guess many people had their own perception of what they expect the characters to look like.

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