We’re All Losers. - - The Hunger Games (2012) - - 1 September 2012

Not recommended. There was a big stink in 2008 when Suzanne Collins published her novel, The Hunger Games, whether or not the story was derivative of Koushun Takami’s 1999 story Battle Royale. The respective movies repeated the dust up. My take on this - -who cares? I’ve not read the books, but neither story is particularly original and the reality and reality show conflation is so very played. We know what’s going to happen from the start of this silly movie and that cynicism is rewarded.  James Newton Howard’s (Snow White and the Huntsman) pretentious score also deadens things, along with some very woozy, distracting editing. The plot is further muddled by the arbitrary introduction of fantasy wolves. Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) is a wonderful actress but herein, not so much. BTW, is she getting typecast as that squirrel-killin’ gal? Hopefully, she’ll stick to a Cobb salad in the inevitable sequels.