The Hunger Games

PG-13
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Toby Jones, Jack Quaid and Amandla Stenberg
2 Hours and 22 Minutes

The Hunger Games take place somewhere in the future in the totalitarian North American nation of Panem. The people of Panem have a great life, they live in extreme wealth and have very futuristic high tech lifestyles. There apparently had been a rebellion of some sort in the past and the people of Panem have jurisdiction over the people of the 12 outlying districts. The district people have very little to eat and they live in poverty. The districts are required to send two teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18, both a boy and a girl to compete in "The Hunger Games" each year. These young people are called "Tributes" and it is considered to be and honor and an accolade according to the Panem people.
The Hunger Games only have one winner and that person is heralded as a "hero" to the people of Panem! Just one problem with this-these youngsters battle for survival, food and ultimately, their lives!!! They begin to turn on each other and some join together to form packs. This is a very disturbing story!
The main character is 16 year old Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) who volunteered to be a tribute after her younger sister had been chosen. Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) a strange looking woman from Panem pulls their names out of a glass bowl. Katniss could not bear to see her sweet gentle younger sister taken away as a tribute. Katniss is a very strong-willed, confident young lady who is fiercely independent and she is amazing with a bow and arrow. She is the very first tribute ever who volunteered for The Hunger Games. That in itself had set her apart from the others.
Also in her district is the young man named Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) who was chosen. He was terrified! They had encountered each other briefly once before.
They were brought up on the stage before all of their district people and then allowed a couple of minutes with their family members to say good-bye and then quickly whisked away with Effie Trinket on an ultra high-speed train to Panem.
When they arrive at Panem, they are overwhelmed at the city and the incredible lifestyle they encounter, it was completely foreign to them. They are introduced to the people in charge of The Hunger Games and eventually paraded around with the other tributes before all of the nation of Panem.
After being counseled by an alcoholic former winner, Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) of The Hunger Games, they are released into the wild to fend for themselves! That is when the bloodbath begins!
All of this is being televised for the entire nation of Panem to watch, a reality show for their barbaric entertainment. They have a computerized scale where they can interject fireballs at the tributes and they also make giant wolf/hippopotamus looking creatures to attack them as well. She also encounters some horrible deadly wasps. There is no end to their corrupt ideas of how to torture these young victims thrown into this awful situation!!! It reminded me of the old Roman Gladiators. They have a loud speaker where they give them instructions and the also have a cannon go off each time a tribute dies.
Young Katniss is determined to fend everything off. She finally teams up with Peeta Mellark from her district after they announce they have decided to change the rules and allow for two tributes to win as long as they are from the same district. Which they later rescind. They become close and rely on each other for survival.
I found this movie to be very disturbing and dark and yet it was riveting to watch the story play out. I am giving a strong caution to parents on this movie! I think it would even be disturbing for young teens as well. I know they will all want to see it, especially if they have read the books by Suzanne Collins. I took my 24 year old daughter with me and she felt it was very dark too!
Please be advised that there is a lot of graphic violence and has some difficult situations to watch. What I found the most disturbing thing was that these people of Panem had no compassion whatsoever for these children. They were cavalier and they acted as if they were simply game pieces on a game board there for their personal entertainment! "May the odds be forever in your favor"!!!
I am giving "The Hunger Games" two and a half bags of popcorn!