'Hunger Games' trailer whets our appetite

Posted Monday, November 14, 2011 at 9:48 AM Central
Last updated Monday, November 14, 2011 at 9:50 AM Central

by John Couture

This morning on 'Good Morning America' Lionsgate debuted the first full-length trailer for The Hunger Games and quickly brought it online at iTunes. In many ways, it's a major upgrade over the teaser, but still I can't help but feel that something is missing.

My favorite part of the best-selling trilogy of books is the dark nature and tone of the story. The Hunger Games is a dystopian look at a possible future of America in which the surviving populace lives in one of 12 districts. Each year, two children from each district are recruited to play in The Hunger Games where the Tributes fight to the death until there is one sole survivor.

The ruling district, the Capitol, is the epitome of excess and the sheer brutality of the games in the arena would stretch the limits of a PG-13 rating. It's this dark tone that separates The Hunger Games from other books of its ilk.

While the level of brutality escalates throughout the series, it would be a major disservice to the trilogy if they sugarcoat the tone in the first movie to reach a bigger audience. The choice of director Gary Ross, who is known more for his family films, is one that I hope doesn't come back to haunt the franchise.

As for today's trailer, it does a great job of setting up the movie, but it does little to express the extravagance of the Capitol and the violence that follows. As for the film itself, I'm confident that Jennifer Lawrence will make it a success as she's brilliant. That's important because Katniss Everdeen not only drives the action of the movie, but she spends big chunks of it alone.

Check out the trailer and let us know what you think. The Hunger Games hits theaters on March 23, 2012.