By Kay Whatley, Editor
This issue, a new feature begins with movie reviews. One of the hot movies out right now is The Hunger Games, which we went to see this week. Thank you to Carmike 10 on Ward Blvd. in Wilson NC for welcoming us in for our review.
First off, The Hunger Games is based on a novel written for young adults; however, the movie is rated PG-13 and seemed to be for all ages. My husband and I took our teenager and pre-teen to the movie. Both had positive things to say about the overall movie “theme” as well as the actors and effects.
Without giving much away, the movie is set in a post-apocalyptic America and shown from the viewpoint of a teenage girl, Katniss. The movie starts with her experiences with family living a tough life, and moves into the drama of her participation in the “Hunger Games”, a fight-to-the-death annually held for entertainment. Much of the movie shows their skewed society — very poor, hungry masses versus very comfortable, well-fed aristocrats — and the use of teen death-matches as “entertainment”. The movie also shows the time of training the Game’s participants go through, including mentors teaching them to play-act as a way of gaining sympathy. This leads to wealthy benefactors sending them equipment and medicines to improve their chances of survival.
Overall, the movie was enjoyable and held our interest to the end. It had action, suspense, emotional scenes, strong characters, and an unpredictable ending — at least it seemed unpredictable to those of us who had not read the book and were new to this story.
My husband liked the premise of the movie. The one drawback he mentioned is the amount of camera-shake technique used for some action scenes. Maybe it’s just our “older eyes”, but both of us had a little trouble following the action during “shaky cam” shots. The kids both had positive comments about the movie’s story and action, again confirming that the movie can appeal to all ages.
If you’d like to check out The Hunger Games, showtimes are available on www.carmike.com and by calling 252.265.5528. It is showing in the beginning of May, and possibly longer due to the attention it is drawing.
