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Hunger Games will undoubtedly make big money in the box office for the first couple of weeks. The premise is shocking, the marketing is haunting and the YA book market is buzzing about it. The film even manages to hit every story beat that a good story should. All of these are great signs for initial sales to be strong, but here’s my prediction…a steady drop. Why? Because this movie is a $6 cup of coffee served luke warm. It has no heart and leaves one unimpressed.

Allow me to explain.

When I go to a movie I expect 2 things to happen:

1. I expect to be entertained and leave the theater with memorable scenes I can replay in my mind and share with friends.

2. I expect to see our protagonist grow from the start to the finish. In other words, I want the story to change our hero in some way and for them to change the story.

Hunger games misses on both levels for me. It’s not my cup of tea…er…coffee (since we’re sticking with t hat analogy).

Like clockwork the first half of the film builds up to the inevitable “fight,” and the second half is meant to unveil the “thrill of the hunt” as we watch the promised fight play out. The trouble is both halves are lackluster in their delivery of these story beats. Its the execution of the story that fails…not the story itself.

Want to know why?

Never once did I actually believe what I was watching was real enough to worry about. I couldn’t connect with our heroine enough to fear for her life. She didn’t matter to me. She just wasn’t likable. Granted this is part of the storyline that even Katniss wrestles with. After all, “how can an unlikable girl possibly win enough sponsors to survive the games?”

The trouble isn’t so much the fact that SHE is unlikable as it is we never see her start to open up to anyone throughout the film in any way. As a matter I fact, she doesn’t seem to ever really like anyone other than her sister Prim (which she is willing to trade her life for at the beginning). Beyond this, we are left to wonder if she is capable of real love.

This brings me to the crux of the problem. She doesn’t change in the film. She remains, for the most part, unlikable and only focussed on survival. Yes…she teams with Peeta, but only after the annoying rule change gives her permission to. You might think she cared for Rue, but this is more of an extension of her love for her sister…it’s what she gets from the relationship that leads her to embrace Rue. Don’t believe me? Try this out…is there ever a point in the movie where your emotions were tugged? Tears in your eyes? No? I thought not. It was all forced.

Apart from this major flaw I found the rest of the film to be a bit frustrated with itself and its inability to deliver on its potential. In some ways this is necessary…these are kids battling to the death, after all. We cant very well show them kill each other off without receiving an R rating so we get a toned down version of the story. The result is a shakey camera effect that disguises the battle in vague off screen struggles. It didn’t pay-off for the story genre because of this. It was an arena battle without much of a battle.

I can already hear proponents of the film disagree with me. They’ll claim this is actually a morality tale about a girl who doesn’t want to kill. Instead she spares the life of her fellow game players when she can, only inadvertently killing then when she herself is under attack. But this is what annoyed me the most. Not because she didn’t kill people, but because she didn’t really fight the system on her own. If she is the icon of the revolution, she is an uninspiring one. She was reacting to everything and never took action on her own.

There were a few high points. The mentor played by Woody Harrelson being one. He was a pretty fun character and dId a good job at interpreting the role. The talk show host was another…but they were relatively minor roles.

I’m not a curmudgeon when it comes to popular films, honestly I’m not. I loved the Matrix, Inception, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. I even liked Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” despite its story flaws. You know why I loved these films? Because they were entertaining and managed to convincingly steal me away to another world. This is the first fail of Hunger Games. There was no “movie magic” here.

There, I’ve said it.

If you enjoyed this film…and $6 coffee…more power to ya

I don’t begrudge the masses for their taste in coffee, or films, but I do question what all the fuss is about. It’s certainly not deserving of the attention it is getting.

Then again…I could be wrong. Time will tell.

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My email inbox is full of opportunities and amazing offers. Some are big…some small…many of them are missed…and a few of them might actually be legit. There are event invitations, coupons, loads of “you can work at home” schemes, teleseminars on how to be like Seth Godin and/or the occasional chance to help a millionaire in Nigeria (has anyone actually done that?).

Incidentally, this is also why much of my inbox goes unread these days.

All in all, I think I’ve done a pretty good job of filtering out the wheat from the chaff. After all, there is only so much time in a man’s life and I couldn’t possibly help all the Nigerian millionaires in the world if I tried. Still, from time to time I get that nagging feeling that I’ve been too quick to click ‘delete’ on an email. You know, that feeling that makes you think you might have just missed out on something really amazing (like a $4 pizza coupon).

Sound familiar? Well read on, worry-wart, because this post is for you. A true story that proves sometimes a really good opportunity can’t be missed even if you try.

Case in Point: Our latest book “Mech Mice: Genesis Strike”.

Confession time – I nearly missed the boat on this one. You see, that inbox of mine was full to the brim with offers when an email arrived inviting me to attend an event in Oregon called the Christian Game Developers Conference (CGDC). I was “in the zone” and hardly even glanced at the email before deleted it. After all, I was broke…I had a writing deadline to meet…and I wasn’t particularly interested in attending a conference for gaming geeks (geeks are cool, nerds aren’t…just saying). Three stikes…DELETE!

A few days later Allan and I were in the office, throwing spaghetti at the wall in our latest attempt to create a completed manuscript when out of nowhere this guy drops in. Normal drop-in guys are either ninjas or salesmen, but on this particular day it was neither. It was our good friend (and networking guru) Seth Croften (not Godin). He asked if I had seen his invite to the CGDC conference. I said yes (I didn’t have the heart to tell him I had deleted it shortly thereafter). He explained how they were looking for conference speakers and that many of the developers in attendance would be interested in hearing about our experience with reatail publishers. “Who knows,” he suggested in an off-handed manner, “one of the developers might be interested in producing our books into a game.”

It sounded like a long shot…but somehow I eventually agreed to attend. It was a good thing I went.

At the conference, I was introduced to a man by the name of Lance Priebe (don’t worry, I had no idea who he was at the time either). Turns out, in the gaming world, he’s a pretty big deal. Lance is the inventor and co-founder of Disney’s Club Penguin – the biggest online world for young kids (like over 150 million players BIG). We talked over lunch, the conference came to an end and he took home a copy of one of our Codebearer books for his kids to read.

Several months later he scheduled a trip to the Seattle area and asked to meet up again. Apparently his wife loved our writing (and his kids too) and he wanted to learn more about what we were working on. We talked at length about the Codebearers property and other ideas we were pursuing. He encouraged us to continue to think differently about the retail industry and to take big risks. The meeting ended, and he went happily on his way again, however a relationship had begun to take root.

The next time he was in town we arranged to spend a bit more time together. This time, he had an idea to share. He began to reveal his plan to create a new entertainment property, one for slightly older kids than his Club Penguin audience. He wanted it to be a military tactical strategy game with heart – a sort of “Band of Brothers” with animals in the leading role. His hope was to inspire kids with the virtues of what it meant to be a true warrior; honor, integrity, camaraderie, self-sacrifice. It sounded great, it sounded like the kind of project Allan and I would have enjoyed as kids (heck, even as adults). Then the offer came, “how would you guys like to help me build this world?”

After a bit of explaining, Lance expressed his desire to build Mech Mice into more than just a game. His desire was for it to be a book and a game and a tv series and toys. In short, he wanted to help us learn what it was like to build a brand from the ground up and he needed great writers to help him explore the potential of this world. It was a dream job and an opportunity to gain valuable experience we wanted to have for expanding our own projects as well.

It has only been a little over a year since that meeting, but so much has taken place it is almost unbelievable. The first book is completed (and you can buy it now), the game is well underway, toy companies are buzzing with excitement and an animated series of shorts is already in the works…and we’re just getting started.

Working alongside Lance and his team to develop the Mech Mice universe has been a creatively stretching and rewarding experience. Some might read this email and say, “Whew, you almost missed a great opportunity when you deleted that email.” But did I?

See, I believe in divine providence – that is, that all things happen for a reason. Life would be insane if I didn’t. Think about it for a moment. I’d be stuck in life, forever second guessing everything I did or didn’t do. What other opportunities might I be missing by taking the wrong train to the Seahawks game? What if that email from the Nigerian millionaire was actually true?

The truth is, I don’t think I could have “missed” this opportunity if we tried. I’m grateful for the friend who convinced me that attending the CGDC event might be good for me. I’m grateful that Lance decided to have lunch with me at the conference. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s really God who has put this opportunity on my plate. I’m grateful to Him for using dopes like us – dopes who still delete emails from Seth Godin and the occasional offer to fly to Hawaii for FREE.

Wait a sec…where did that email go again?

———-

DON’T MISS OUT!  The Miller Brothers’ latest book “Mech Mice: Genesis Strike” is out now! FREE patches are available for the first 500 people who order the book from Amazon.com and/or post a review of the book during the next 2 weeks! (Offer expires 4/17/2012)

The process is simple:

1. Order a copy of the book here > http://amzn.to/AAO5sf  AND/OR  Post an honest review on Amazon.com for the book.

2. Fill out the form below and be sure to post a copy of your Amazon.com receipt or book review in the appropriate box. 

3. Tell your friends to do the same. (you can share the book for FREE at SpearheadBooks.com)

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On a sun-scorched afternoon, an ice cream truck parks outside an international school in the Philippines drawing dozens of kids to flock around it in hopes of buying a tasty treat. The driver steps out of the truck, laughing and joking with the kids as he opens the side window where the goodies are kept. A woman seated in the back begins to serve the students. Among the crowd, a US Ambassador picks up his son from school. The driver of the truck, having done his job, walks hurriedly away without so much as a glance back. The camera follows him around a corner as the truck he left behind violently explodes killing all around it.

This is how our movie begins. In one cowardly act of terror dozens of innocent lives are lost. This is our ordinary world – a world plagued with evil. As the audience sits in stunned silence we are left to wonder; who will save us?

Enter the heroes. The brave men who will set things right, or die trying. Except this time we’re not watching polished actors…it is the real deal. Loving husbands and expectant fathers sharing in the joy of their families on the eve of another mission. For them, there is no such thing as an easy day at the office. Duty calls and they respond, rushing into danger when others retreat. Even the wounded soldiers are more worried about the mission than themselves.

That’s right. In “Act of Valor” we are privileged to be introduced to real-life Navy SEALS and their real-life families playing fictional roles on the big screen. This is not a “reality TV” documentary, but neither is it a big budget hollywood war flick like Saving Private Ryan. Instead, Act of Valor falls somewhere in between the two as a fictional mission inspired by real events these very men perform everyday. It is a brilliant concept and, for the most part, it works very well on screen.

The story follows an elite team of Navy SEALs who embark on a covert mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent and uncover a deadly terrorist plot against the United States. Their team is quickly re-deployed on a global manhunt in hopes of averting the deaths of thousands of American civilians. Along the way they must balance their commitment to country, team and their families back home.

In some ways, it is hard to be too critical of a film that casts real life heroes in place of actors because these guys demand so much respect. Still, I would be lying if I didn’t say there were lines delivered a bit flatly and I found myself a bit distanced from the heart of the characters being portrayed at times. But this shouldn’t keep anyone from going to see this film. It is a visual feast of close quarters gun fights and daring tactical maneuvers that will leave you in awe of our special forces. It’s not a perfect film, but it delivers on its premise. How these men put themselves through this on a regular basis is beyond me. It made me feel like a wimp and certainly did a great job of getting my patriotic blood pumping.

This film is exactly what our country needs to see. Too often we take for granted the freedoms we have. We forget that freedom isn’t free, and that there are men laying down their lives for you even as you read this review. These guys have kids and wives and friends back home, but they don’t hesitate for a moment to jump on a grenade in order to save the lives of their team mates. It’s second nature. It’s their job. They do it for you.

So, even if you don’t go see this movie (which you should) stop right now and say a prayer for the real heroes in your life. Be grateful for what they do everyday to keep us safe and free. For as the Bible says, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

Keep in mind this feature is rated R for a reason. Violence? Yes…but in no way is it over the top considering the nature of the story. There are some graphic images of torture, battle wounds and large explosions. Strong language is used throughout, but it was likely toned down from reality. I wouldn’t say they were “cursing like sailors”. There was no nudity and the values of honor, camaraderie and self-sacrifice are clearly demonstrated.

Four stars (out of five) for this unprecedented film and the real heroes who made it.

Act of Valor opens February 24 in theaters everywhere.

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