One of the main reasons archery has caught the attention of teenage girls is the runaway success of The Hunger Games fantasy fiction book series and the film, which will be released on DVD on Saturday. At the heart of The Hunger Games, a post-apocalyptic game of survival , is the bow-and-arrow wielding heroine Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence in the film. The two-disc DVD includes an eight-part making-of documentary, and archery fans can only hope it includes a bit on Lawrence's training.
Here is an excerpt of critic Christopher Kelly's review of the film:
"Gary Ross' movie version of The Hunger Games obeys the ironclad rule of transforming beloved fantasy fiction into a big-budget film franchise: Do not offend the fans. ... it renders the most vivid passages of Suzanne Collins' bestselling novel -- for instance, the attack of the "tracker jackers," a group of deadly wasps -- exactly as you might picture the scenes while reading them. Yet Ross (who previously directed Seabiscuit) serves up images that feel recycled from familiar pop ephemera like Logan's Run, The Fifth Element, or David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust phase. And the screenplay (which Ross co-wrote with Collins and Billy Ray) ultimately pulls too many punches, softening the novel's core of bitterness and nihilism. The result is well-made and absorbing, but never especially exciting. "
