Jennifer Lawrence Shines in The Hunger Games

Vaguely reminding me of one of my teen fav’s Logan’s Run starring Farrah Fawcett and Michael York,  a sci-fi flick that dealing with life in the 23rd century where humans were free to just live…that is unless you were 30. Once you turned 30, you were terminated during a ceremony called ‘carousel.’ Of course, who wants to be snuffed out at 30, so some folks tried to run only to be tracked down by the Sandman and killed. Needless to say, very intense for my little teen age brain at the time.

Unlike most, I didn’t have the good fortune of reading THE HUNGER GAMES until after I viewed the fllm, which being a sci-fi, adventure, thriller kind of gal I thoroughly enjoyed.

What I did not enjoy while reading the book, was learning, Katniss Everdeen portrayed wonderfully by Jennifer Lawrence in the film version, was of Indigenous descent. Being an African American actress, I was a little annoyed that Katniss couldn’t have been Zoe Saldaña or another woman of color. Now, that I have had my two cents to say about that. Let me get back to The Hunger Games.

As I mentioned, this film is set in the future where the Capitol chooses a boy and a girl from twelve districts to fight live on television. Without totally ruining the plot for those who may not have seen the film. Katniss is faced with serious decisions concerning family and friendship. I was engrossed by the plot, largely due to the brilliant screen adaptation by Gary Ross, Billy Ray and Hunger Games novelist Suzanne Collins. All of the acting performances were intense, strong and believable, but my favorites were Stanley Tucci’s character, Caesar Flickerman, serving as host for the fighting festivities and Lenny Kravitz, who between this performance as the fighting stylist Cinna and his lovely warm portrayal as Nurse John in “Precious” is really becoming quite a fine actor. I was particularly moved by Amandla Stenberg. Keep an eye out for that little doll!  Anywhoo…loved, loved, loved this film and can’t wait for the sequel in 2013.