Saw The Hunger Games. Ordinarily I'd review each of these separately, but I'm writing this a few months after I actually watched them and they all run together. In case anyone needs it, here's a recap: the film takes place in a dystopia where society is divided into districts of different kinds of workers, with district 1 housing the rich elites. For no very good reason apart from symbolism, there are life-or-death games which are played once a year. Each district sends some randomly chosen champions to compete and the winner becomes a celebrity. Since the upper classes can afford better trainers and stuff, they always win. The protagonist, Katniss, is an upstart from some shitty district and she aims to not only win the game but to dismantle the evil society which perpetuates it, headed by evil President Snow.
This film is a crowd-pleaser. We all would love to see the evils of society collected into one very wicked person and then see a noble, pretty insurgent take them down. The films are very stirring in their portrayal of Katniss's struggles. I enjoyed the few shades of nuance in the film. It's very black and white but like Kantiss's assigned mascot, Effie Trinket, at first seems like the smiling, cackling personification of this oppressive, shallow, decadent society, but she is merely the product of that society and joins up with the resistance willingly when it emerges.
Similarly, I liked that the emerging resistance had brewing troubles of its own. They are overly harsh and militaristic, dressing in uniforms and eschewing drugs (even down to caffeine.) There's a strong possibility that Katniss may be inadvertently replacing corrupt modernism with astringent fascism. That was good. I like it when the good guys aren't that good and the bad guys aren't that bad. It reminded me a lot of Snowpiercer, but this film series, being 4 times the length gave its ideas room to breathe.
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