I’ve been thinking about the last few posts, the litmus test, etc. I think maybe the problem with the movie is one of scope.
Is the problem in the story only to do with this year’s Games? Or does it encompass more than that, the institution of the Games themselves?
To me it’s very clear that it’s the latter. (In fact, before re-watching, I had argued for the former, but had my mind very clearly changed.) But it’s very possible that it’s so clear because I’ve read the book.
I can certainly see that if you can watch the movie and see it as just about surviving this year’s Games, then maybe the OS could be in Physics etc. When I re-watched (after not having seen it since it was in the theatre, long before I discovered Dramatica) I kept asking myself that question – could the Goal be simply to survive this year’s Games? And the answer was always an unequivocal no. This story is about changing the status quo, unsticking what is stuck in Panem.
But again, a lot of that could be subconsciously filled in by the novel – which, it bears pointing out, was critically lauded, and super popular. (The New York Times described it as “brilliantly plotted and perfectly paced” which probably has something to do with structure.)
Missing those pieces, perhaps you can see the movie as just about this year’s Games, even while parts of it are trying to accomplish something completely different. That’s the only reason I can think of it could be considered a “disaster” – it’s not perfect, but to me it certainly deserves the 84% tomato rating, if not higher.