The Truth About Movies

     After nearly two years of industry and fan hype, Hunger Games was released onto the big screen dominating the box office, shattering records, and receiving critical acclaim. Yet after viewing the film, I left the theater disappointed, not only by what was left out, but more so, by how much better and intense the film could have been. It felt cliched, far too toned down, and the aspects of the book left out could of fixed its shortcomings. The Hunger Games was beautifully shot, but it lacked the intensity and uncertainty that surrounded the novel.

     To start off for those of you who don’t know, (how few of you are left) The Hunger Games follow Katniss Everdeen who offers herself as a tribute to partake in the Hunger Tames, which is essentially a fight to the death for 24 tributes. Their are many twist and turns throughout the story, yet in the film these dark twist and mostly absent. (Spoilers*) Moments in the novel such as, Peeta losing his leg helped make the story standout. Yet in the film the main characters enter and leave the games virtually unharmed. They weren’t vulnerable enough, which was my biggest issue with the film. Katniss didn’t go death, which made her the main character, seem as though she could potentially lose the games. Throughout the novel, I was fearful for Katniss, and even more so for Peeta. This feeling of fear was due to the intese cave scenes, where Peeta and Katniss had to hold up. As Peeta slowly bled to death, we had to in many ways feel the same fear the Katniss felt. Yet in the film, small parts of the scene were shown, and I never felt like he was going to die, and most of all I didn’t believe he and Katniss really felt something for each other.

     The characters were well caste with Jennifer Lawrence stealing the show. I believed in her emotions and felt she was fully invested in her role. Other characters, such as Peeta or President Snow, were also well caste and acted out. With the said, It is sad to say the build up to the games was more intense and exciting than the games themselves. The games action scenes, were overly reliant on shaky cam techniques, obscuring the  gore that was occurring. The opening was a intense sequence in the novel, yet in the movie it felt over all too quickly.

     People will undoubtedly say I’m being to harsh on the film, yet I am giving a truthful review. Hunger Games was mediocre as a film, but intense and thrilling as a novel. I hated the ending sequence, the novel had a dark twist the the dogs attacking, were indeed the deceased tributes, yet that twist was completely absent from the film. Little things like that make intense moments like those lackluster. Which is how I viewed the film as a whole. I wish that the film had been as good as it was hyped up to be, yet in the end it was just another teenage sap fest.

2 out of 4 stars.

Even though she’s supposed to be fooling everyone because her man disguise is so amazing or whatever, the director had the clothes fit so that her breasts are still being exaggerated. There are two problems with this. The first of which is why would her character pick those clothes if she’s trying to fool everyone into thinking she’s a guy? And the other problem is, if even I noticed them, how come none of the other characters do? It’s stupid and makes no sense. Oh well, whatever, I still love that movie.

-Mike

     The story of “Minority Report” is many things, it’s a twisted tale of humanities future, a man’s journey to unravel the truth, and a depiction of a near utopian society. The story touched on many themes, forgiveness, redemption, and corruption, yet all of these very real themes would be lost if the story wasn’t believable. One way for the story to lose its meaning is if the main protagonist wasn’t believable, in order to ensure that John Anderton was relatable the character had to come off as vulnerable. John needed to have a very real event happen to him in order to build a connection to the pre-cog system, his sub plot with his son created a sense of dread that all parents would feel. The short story didn’t have this emotional branch and, because of that it wasn’t nearly as engaging. Anderton being head of the pre-crime division made him come off as less vulnerable, while in the film he was merely a member. By Making Anderton more vulnerable and human, Minority Report as a film was much more engaging than it was as a short story.

     The addition of Johns son, built an emotional attachment to him and pre-crime. He was no longer the founder of the system, but rather the enforcer of its rules. In the short story, it was harder to believe that John wasn’t able to handle the situation although he was the creator of it his reaction to the overall dilemma, didn’t come off as believable thus making his older character less engaging. “Every day for the last six years I’ve thought of only two things. The first is what Sean would look like if he were alive today, if I would recognize him if I saw him on the street, the second is what I would do to the man who took him if I ever found him” (Minority Report). Those words are powerful, because they paint a very real dilemma that all parents fear. It shows a deeper meaning to the actions that Anderton takes in joining the pre-crime division. We actually believe that he is a devout member of the force, and someone who is one of the best officers, because he has a reason to give the division his all. That emotion, that believable aspect of what a human father would feel, makes Anderton as a character more believable and engaging, than someone who was merely at the wrong place, at the wrong time like he was in the novel.

     As mentioned before, Anderton needed to be vulnerable, he couldn’t be head of the pre-crime division, because that would make him come off as too powerful. He had to be young, he had to have something at stake, and he had to have a detachment from the norm. He in many ways couldn’t be a perfect hero, he had to be a man with dark past, and even darker future. By making Anderton a member of pre-crime, we establish that he isn’t in charge, that he is merely a pawn in a corrupted system. That makes his struggle more noteworthy, he has to not only face against the system, but also the people that he helped train and worked with. That conflict adds a new layer of emotion to the story, because he is someone that people respect, that helped make the system work, yet he truly believes that he has a “Minority Report”. John being framed, was a key plot twist, because it establishes that he has to be on the run, a film adaption of him merely talking and figuring out what to do, wouldn’t of been a engaging experience, but by making it more of a tale of one man’s literal journey to truth, made the movie as a whole a much more emotional and engaging experience.

     All films need a antagonist, someone who is pulling all the strings and causing issues for our hero, yet in the movie “Minority Report”, we are unsure who exactly the antagonist is until a well placed twist. The fact that Lamar was the villain the entire time brings a new layer of emotion and believability to the story. Anderton needed to lose everything, because in real life he couldn’t run forever, he couldn’t outrun a system that was near perfect, Lamar being the head of the system ensured that he was going to lose. The twist made the story more engaging, as opposed to the short story, which didn’t give you much of a twist, but rather showed u who the antagonist was. The idea that Witwer may have framed Anderton, was crushed when the realization that someone close to him was the actual menace, the actual piece of corruption in a supposedly perfect system. The fact the pre-crime system  has a possible hole, makes Anderton’s loyalty to the system more engaging, because he is seeing a system that he fought for, being a corrupt and flawed scheme that may of  had hundreds wrongly accused of future murder. This also brings in the aspect that Anderton is a truly flawed hero, he was a part of a destruction and corrupt system, he was vulnerable to attack and thus suffered in the end because of it.

     Minority Report was a lot of things, a dark depiction of our future, a prime example of how there is no such thing as a perfect system, but most of all it was a believable depiction of one man’s road to forgiveness. Minority Report as a short story, lacked a human touch, it wasn’t necessarily a bad read, but wasn’t nearly as engaging as Steven Spielberg adaptation. Anderton had to be vulnerable, he had to have something at stack, and above all had to give the audience a reason to believe that he was real.  By Making Anderton more vulnerable and human, Minority Report as a film was much more engaging than it was as a short story.