First bite at teen franchise

The Hunger Games (12A) Rating: ***
The super-lucrative Twilight and Harry Potter franchises have shown Hollywood executives that the under-courted teen market is a source of excellent business. In light of the bildungsroman flavour of these two previous epics, Suzanne Collins’ three-part saga The Hunger Games, with its focus on a young girl forced into combat, must have presented an irresistible commercial opportunity. And, in the great tradition of Hollywood blockbusters, what we’re subsequently offered is a vigorously-hyped ‘event’ movie, with all the benefits and pitfalls that entails.
On the plus side, the central narrative is strong, following young heroine Katniss Everdeen’s journey from the outlying coal mining settlements of District 12 to the heart of a large, decadent capital. On arrival, Katniss is made to participate in a 14-day tournament (the ‘Hunger Games’ of the title), in which she must do battle with 23 young people from the other Districts, ‘tributes’ demanded by an autocratic centralised government as reparation for a historic rebellion. The games form part of an enormous media circus, and director Gary Ross is able to draw out some pleasing parallels with such television satires as The Truman Show, with more than a cursory nod to The Running Man, The Most Dangerous Game, and, above all, Battle Royale.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Lawrence gives a strong performance as Katniss, and the film even provides opportunities for a few acid-tongued moments of satire. I particularly enjoyed Donald Sutherland’s turn as the sinister, Santa-bearded President, who marvelously subverts the Hollywood ‘underdog’ narrative when he describes his visits to the rebellious districts: “If you saw them, you wouldn’t root for them either”. I also enjoyed the scene, shortly before the start of the games, when Katniss must ‘audition’ for support from a set of indolent, over-privileged ‘sponsors’. Having demonstrated her archery skills to little more than scornful sneers, Katniss fires an arrow through the banquet centrepiece provided for her idle evaluators. Her biting sign-off, “thank you for your consideration”, seemed to me to speak for the frustrations of thousands of young people currently interviewing for work, attempting to stay alive, while a super-annuated minority assiduously, contemptuously, ignores them.
Still, in spite of these moments of inspiration, The Hunger Games suffers enormously from that bloated, overfed feeling that often accompanies Hollywood blockbusters. At nearly two-and-a-half hours, the film is far too long, and whatever bite the satirical scenes might have possessed ends up being diluted by gallons of saccharine filler. Furthermore, the ending, although more satisfyingly structured than many of these episodic sagas, seems just a tad contrived in its desire to keep possibilities open for future installments.
Nevertheless, if The Hunger Games can avoid becoming a lazy soap-opera after the fashion of its teen-drama predecessors, there’s reason to hope it’ll be an excellent franchise. There’s certainly enough praiseworthy material in this first film to make it a worthwhile watch. Recommended.