111. The Hunger Games (2012)

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Donald Sutherland

Director: Gary Ross

Running Time: 142 mins

The Hunger Games is an American film based on the book by Suzanne Collins about a future dystopian poverty-stricken nation, where an annual festival involving young people having a fight to the death, which is televised to the entire country.

This was such a cool film! I feel that dystopian stories are some of the best films that can be made, and this was fantastic. The ideas seemed so original and cool, such as having televised interviews involving the competitors of the Hunger Games before the fight, and the concept of sponsors, which made it seem very real.

Obviously, some of the ideas were a little ridiculous, such as conjuring up giant man-eating dogs from nowhere, however I just found everything to seem so genuine, helped, of course, by the fantastic actors and actresses, especially Jennifer Lawrence, who I think is by far one of the best young actresses out there.

I have to say, though, this film was just a little bit too long, and there were some earlier scenes which perhaps could have been cut, as I felt that they did not contribute to the overall story, however perhaps, more parts from the book were cut out too. (I confess I haven’t read the book, I spend all my time watching movies!)

Overall, I’ll give this an 8.6, because it was a really cool film to watch, with a great story, and some fantastically original and realistic visions of a dystopian future.