Below a link to David Denby’s review of The Hunger Games film in The New Yorker. I’m waiting until Wednesday to see the film with my students. Read the full review, and you will find that he pulls no punches in telling us how much he hates the movie. Would he prefer Battle Royale? I’ve posted the trailer for that film below, and, just a warning, it does not have a Pg-13 rating.
“The Hunger Games” is a prime example of commercial hypocrisy. The filmmakers bait kids with a cruel idea, but they can’t risk being too intense or too graphic (the books are more explicit). After a while, we get the point: because children are the principal audience, the picture needs a PG-13 rating. The result is an evasive, baffling, unexciting production—anything but a classic.
And even scarier (be warned):
He sounds to me like a typical Capitol audience member, thirsty for the tributes’ blood!