The Hunger Games – franchise worth financing

I had never heard of The Hunger Games until the film trailer hit the web. The excitement around it encouraged me to read the book, which while I enjoyed I did find very overrated. The story of a young heroine in the midst of a North Korean style fascist future where the children of the poor are forced to battle to the death for the enjoyment of the elite was quite enjoyable, but never fully realised it’s basic premise. Kids are forced to kill or be killed by other kids. This is dealt with in a cartoonish way, more of an adventure than an emotion, lacking the surely crippling fear I would assume a child, or adult, would have knowing their death is somewhat imminent and potentially painful and gruesome. I do not think the book needed to be more violent, but it sidesteps the heavy emotions that such a predicament would bring. Unfortunately the film has not improved on this, which may be down to them trying to achieve an acceptable rating for their target audience of early teens to be able to see the film, but it has encapsulated the best bits of the book, trimmed the fat, and added some much needed depth to certain elements of the book, resulting in a very enjoyable film and a franchise that for once is deserving of the huge bucks it will no doubt make.

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is a young woman in the not too distant future, making ends meet for her impoverished family by illegally hunting for food. Times have been tough since the ‘rebellion’ with the ruling Capitol controlling all the food and wealth of the poorer ‘Districts’. Once a year the Capitol runs a lottery to pick one young girl and boy from each district to compete in ‘The Hunger Games’, where they are whisked off to an arena to fight to the death, with the winner receiving food and goods for their district. Katniss and her friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth) hate the Capitol and discuss ways of escaping their clutches, but are powerless against them. After Katnisss’ younger sister Prim is picked for ‘The Hunger Games’ Katniss volunteers to take her place, and along with local son of a baker Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) are taken away to compete. Once the games commence the heart and rebellious nature of Katniss inspires ideas of another uprising against the Capitol, much to the dislike of the controlling powers.

The film starts off well, capturing the poverty and bleakness of the district of Katniss, with brief glimpses of the controlling police. Unfortunately it soon ruins this by introducing us to Gale, a young man who looks like he was built in the Russian gym from Rocky IV. It is very hard to believe this is an impoverished young man who can barely get enough food to fend off starvation. The filmmakers make everyone else in the district look so grim and unhealthy it is not understandable why Katniss and Gale are completely exempt from this. A bit of make-up and more tattered clothes could have lent some much needed validation to the poor background of these characters. It’s a minor flaw but it does detract from the desperation and need of these characters who we are supposed to get behind. The film also overuses shaky camera work, with the early segments being particularly dizzying. Directors often employ these shots to show the confusion a character is going through, but a lot of these segments were just overkill, when some longer cuts and concentrated focuses would have had the same affect.

Overall though this is quite an enjoyable film, with the pace moving nicely and enough colourful characters to keep us interested, along with the underlying themes of political rebellion giving it an edge of modern day commentary to broaden the age bracket of its audience. Lawrence as always is in excellent form, and this will surely confirm her as a bankable star. Woody Harrelson has a lot of fun too as Haymitch, a past winner of the Games and mentor to Katniss and Peeta, and even the usually awful Elizabeth Banks as Effie is somewhat bearable.

The film adds greater depth to what goes on behind the scenes, adding elements not seen in the book. We see the control room from where Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley) the Gamekeeper controls each of the competitors faith. It’s been a while since Wes Bentley has been on our screens and here he reminds us how good he can be, discussing the implications of the rebellious nature of Katniss with President Snow (an equally excellent Donald Sutherland).

Given the central idea of the story this should be violent, but the filmmakers keep it toned down. No guns here, mainly just simple coincidental deaths. It is a cop out of how such an event would realistically unfold but it does give the film a broader audience. The filmmakers also amp up the rebellious elements of the story to try centre on this instead of the Games themselves.

Excellent fun and although flawed there’s still plenty here to make it worth a watch. It establishes the series with some strong acting and storytelling, and opens up a world I’ll be happy to return to in the sequels.

3 out of 5

John Carter of Mars – John Carter of disappointing

I really wanted to like John Carter. Correction – I really wanted to love John Carter. The story of a man sickened by war on earth and unwillingly thrown into one on Mars is layered with rich characters and plenty of imagination. Unfortunately something happened. Something bad. And what should have done justice to one of the most influential sci-fi books of all time ends up being a sprawling mess of a film.

The film starts off awkwardly, with a scene on Mars where conflict has arisen between two rival cities. Aided by the mysterious Matai (Mark Strong) leader of the city of Zodanga, Sab Than (Dominic West) is given the gift of a ray of light that can destroy all in its path, and seems set to be the game changer in the on-going war. The film then switches to nineteenth century earth where John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) via a few ill-paced scenes finds himself at odds with both the Confederate Army and the Apache Indians. One thing leads to another and John finds himself magically transported to Mars. Not the Mars we know. A dead planet yes, but inhabited by a tattooed human race at odds with each other and the giant Tharks, a race of green multi limbed primitive beings. Due to the change in gravity John finds that on Mars his human abilities are greatly exaggerated, allowing him to leap extraordinary distances with little effort, resulting in the mysterious Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins) doing all she can to convince him to fight for a worthy cause.

Pixar Director Stanton (Wall-E) has never made a live-action film before, yet the producers thought him suitable for a two hundred million plus production. He builds the world of Mars excellently, with its vast deserts and bright skies, but he fails to convince with  the interaction between the special effects and the human actors. The Tharks look great, but always seem separate to the actors, with very little spark or physical overlay between the two. Unlike Andy Serkis in the recent Rise of the Planet of the Apes the Tharks never convince next to a human actor, which shouldn’t be hard as Taylor Kitsch as Carter brings little to the role. He’s fun to watch jumping around but his action abilities do not convince. He swings his sword bluntly and with no skill, making the action sometimes feel a bit pathetic.

What the film does get right is the casting of Lynn Collins as the Princess. She is the one thing in the film the audience can get behind and her scenes with Carter are the stand outs. So good in fact that if the filmmakers had dealt with the stars apart scenes towards the end of the film better this could have added some much needed emotion to proceedings, but instead they go the usual route out of a difficult situation allowing for sequels (which probably won’t happen given the disappointing box-office).

Hopefully this isn’t the end of John Carter. Hopefully in a decade or so somebody resurrects this project and does it right. But for now John Carter is dead on both Earth and Mars.

2 out of 5

A Separation – first and best Iranian film i’ve seen!

A Separation has taken a while to get to us here in Dublin. Initially released over a year ago on the festival circuit it has slowly grown through awards, critical praise and recently the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film allowing distributors to finally put it on our (limited number of) screens with confidence it might return them a few quid. Deserving of its high praise filmmaker Asghar Farhadi has made a fine film and one which hopefully opens the door to more films from this area of the world.

Using the divorce of parents of one Nader and Simin (Peyman Moaadi and Leila Hatami) as a catalyst for a story of religious etiquette, Irans judicial system and honesty, writer and Director Farhadi throws us right into the setting. We get so close to these characters, the camera constantly looming on their faces or over their shoulders, we feel like part of the furniture.

After their separation Nader seeks a housemaid to help take care of his Alzheimer suffering father. Needing the money but reluctant due to the religious conflict of dealing with cleaning an aged man as well as stepping foot into the house of a single man, Razieh (Sareh Bayat) takes the job. Initially a success the stress of the work soon takes its toll on her, leading to a confrontation between Razieh and Nader that has escalating consequences for both.

Despite the serious story and Tehran setting, there is never a dull moment in A Separation, nor does it ever do the Hollywood thing and throw in a car bomb or message about terrorism. It’s an Iranian film about Iranian people, each of whom any westerner will find something to identify with. Bar the difference in judicial systems all motives in this film exist in all society and are easily transferrable to any audience. The film moves at a snappy pace, with the two hour plus running time flying by. Farhadi also injects a lot of fun into the film, mainly with Raziehs daughter Somayeh (an excellent Kimia Hosseini), a fuss ball scene being a particularly good example. This particular scene is also a great demonstration of a scene showing warmth without resorting to cringe. The richer family accepting to socialise with the poorer womans daughter without a second thought to class divide. Take note Hollywood.

As well as putting us inside an Iranian home the filmmakers also place us firmly in an Iranian court room (more of an office). These scenes in which all plaintiffs argue their case and often stumble over their words, resulting in them indicting themselves as well as their loved ones, are always exciting yet terrifying to watch. The scene in which Naders daughter is forced to testify is one of the most tense scenes I’ve seen in a long time, not because of any glamorised filmmaking or dialogue but because of where the story has come from and the implications around her words.

The story weakens a bit on the two main protagonists, Nader and Simin, and the reasoning behind their separation. Maybe the ambiguity with this is purposeful for a point the filmmaker wants to make but if so it was lost on me. It makes the opening scene feel slightly less relevant and is a bit of a red herring in the direction the film might go. It’s a small criticism but when the rest of the film is so detailed in every aspect of the story it seems out of place.

This is a fine film and even those not used to subtitles or completely blind to world cinema should get something out of it. It paints a confusing picture of Iran, showing both the advantages and disadvantages of their law, a system which often results in wrong doing and unnecessary pressure on its citizens, but which also often leads to arguing parties sitting down and talking on their own terms, coming to an agreement with the help and opinion of friends and neighbours.

Overall this is well worth a watch, and a fine story that we can all relate to on the conflict between doing the honest thing and doing the right thing.

4 out of 5