A luminous bow hovers in the darkness as if suspended in the sky while the arena-like stage is filled with smoke. A figure emerges: Katniss Everdeen, the girl from District 12 in Suzanne Collins’ post-apocalyptic universe, played by Jennifer Lawrence in the film franchise. With her appearance, the 74th Hunger Games begin – and no special effect is spared.
Closely following the plot of Collins’ first book in the young adult series, and the Lionsgate film of 2012, Matthew Dunster’s production is a grand-scale manifestation of dystopian Panem. It is a place in which the haves and have-nots are divided into districts, and in which children are pitted against each other as “Tributes” in a deadly TV gameshow, forced to kill for prime-time entertainment. The last one standing wins the prize of survival.
