May the odds be ever in your favor: ‘The Hunger Games’ comes to the big screen

Warning: Spoiler Alert! I, being a fairly recent fan of the series, written by Suzanne Collins, went to the midnight showing of the first film, “The Hunger Games” on March 23. I saw the trailer in early October and knew I wanted to read the series. I read the first book in a day and was enchanted by the futuristic and realistic storyline. From that moment I anxiously anticipated, along with thousands of others, the arrival of the movie on the big screen. Let me give a brief synopsis. The setting is post World War III, in the United States, which is now called Panem. The country was originally split into 13 different districts, each district being in charge of a certain field (i.e. coal, technology, agriculture, fishing, etc.) but when a rebellion occurred, the Capital completely destroyed district 13 to teach the people of Panem a lesson, to show them who is truly in charge. As a reminder of the rebellion and the Capital’s power, each year an event called “The Hunger Games” is held, in which two tributes, a boy and a girl from the ages of 12 to 18 from each district, are sent to an arena to fight to the death. The story follows the character of Katniss Everdeen, of district 12, who volunteers to take her younger sister’s place when her name is called. The character of Katniss was played by Jennifer Lawrence, a fairly new actress, and was played opposite by Josh Hutcherson, who plays Peeta Mellark, the male tribute of district 12. Both actors, I believe, along with the rest of the cast, were the perfect fit for their characters. They looked exactly how I had pictured them in the book. They held themselves the way they should and showed the correct emotions throughout the movie (unlike that "Twilight" series). Of course there were a few details that were off -- which will happen in any book-stemmed movie -- that were mildly disappointing, but overall I believe the movie was done very well and portrayed the book as best as it possibly could. As I walked out of the theatre and heard my fellow fans critique and applaud the performances, I thought to myself, it was worth the $9.50 I spent; and I will probably spend it again to see it one more time in theatres, but maybe this time I will see it during the day for a cheaper price. I don’t have that much money to spend; I am a college student after all.