The Hunger Games

Just walked out of the Hunger Games, 11:45am showing at Regal at Kendall Villages. What a great story! Kudos to the writer Suzanne Collins for a great story and to Gary Ross and Billy Ray (sharing credit for the screenplay). This is the first (in a long time) movie I’ve seen where I have not read the book prior to viewing. So please excuse me if I talk about the movie without the benefit of the book’s details.
Hunger Games is listed as a Young Adult movie, which is marketing talk for teenage girls romance, within an adventure sitting, and without the sex that accompanies so many modern romance stories today. And being the second block buster book series to be given the ultimate Hollywood treatment, it has to be compared to Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series (which I did read before seeing the movies). While it does not have the pathos so evident in Bella and Edward’s love story, it does offer more than enough romance for the gentler gender and adventure for the male in all of us.
First you need to know where I’m coming from. I’m a hopeless romantic, but I’m also a gray-bearded, divorced fifty-three year old man, slightly overweight (stop laughing Giselle…my sister calls it as she sees it - fat) with Asperger's, who still believes in the goodness of my fellow man and that love will always win out in the end. And before you ask, no I do not believe that there is a Santa Claus, but I know his spirit still exists.
The story, for those of you who haven't read the books, and I know there are a lot of you, unfortunately, while not overly complicated, operates on several levels allowing the viewer (remember I’m commenting on the movie and not the book) continued interest in what’s happening on the screen. Unlike, many of the recent films I’ve seen, if you miss any of the movie (bathroom break) you will miss an integral plot twist or character building scene. And believe me at two hours and twenty-two minutes it was a chore, at the end, not to take a bathroom break…remember fifty-three year old man here!
Jennifer Lawrence playing the lead character, Katness Everdeen, was able to effortlessly use the non-verbal screen time to show, with an acting maturity beyond her years, the real emotions of her character at the time. Something her role competitor, Kirstin Stewart (as Twilight's Bella) was not able to do with as much success. This is where a book has the advantage, it can describe, in page by page detail, the emotions being felt by the character within any time frame, from a second or two, to months and months, sometimes even years. In film you do not have the luxury of endless screen time with only a young woman sitting and staring out of her window as the season’s change. 
I was riveted for the entire two hours and twenty-two minutes as the screen play refused to use many of the romantic clichés that we, as movie goers, have become accustom to. Moving the story along at a pace that kept the viewer interested and the character alive just by the viewer wondering how they would react to each new event as it unfolded.
Though it was disturbing at first to see youngsters (from what looks like nine or ten up to early twenties) participating in killing games, especially the initial game opening brawl, I do understand enough of history – not to mention what’s happening in Africa and the middle East today -- that this scenario is not unlikely. What I did feel a bit disappointed about is the story’s lack of an in-depth rationale for why the hunger games were started in the first place and what the games instigators hoped to achieve with it. The movie hinted at a past rebellion as a reason but not enough details to explain why the game rules themselves. Maybe the book does it better and hopefully the next two movies will delve into this in more detail.
And believe me, there will be sequels, the viewing public cannot, and in my opinion, will not be satisfied with just this one magnificent movie.