People love big action movies. Specifically, book to screen adaptations have gained a lot of popularity over the years with the successful Hunger Games and Divergent films. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 earned a whopping $713.5 million. The third book-to-screen adaptation of the series opened at the top of the box office and remained there for three weeks in a row.
The story, as we all know by now, is about a young girl named Katniss who has found herself in a dystopian world where she’s put in several life threatening situations just to protect her family and her people. It’s violent, mischievous, corrupt and everything the public wants to see.
There’s even slight dark humour in the trilogy which is a strong sense of relief after all the disturbing occurrences in the movie. The movie even has strategy and planning; reflecting an almost spy-like quality that’s the secret to the James Bond series’ success (Skyfall earning over $1 billion worldwide).
In contrast to the success of the Hunger Games series, The Grand Budapest Hotel earned only $174.6 million worldwide. But the unpopularity of the movie is not deserved. As a matter of fact, it has just as much, if not more excitement, strategy and violence than the Hunger Games.
The story follows a bellboy named Zero who was a refugee from a war-torn country. He decides to become a bellboy at the Grand Budapest Hotel where he meets the incredibly complex Monsieur Gustave, the manager of the acclaimed Grand Budapest Hotel.
Gustave is also a womaniser, but his main target is rich old women, who stay at the hotel. This results in the acquisition of a priceless painting called ‘Boy with Apple,’ from the will of one of his recent lovers who died. The children of the lady, however, are in denial of the will– convinced that the painting belongs to them.
This results in a grand chase with a visit and escape from jail, as well as the investigation of a potential murder. The scenery is beautiful, and the colours and music are lively.
The movie is full of fast dialogue and dry humour that appeals immensely to the individual. The fast paced film shares similar characteristics with BBC’s Sherlock series; another show that’s popular in America with 3.2 million Americans tuning into PBS to watch the BBC TV drama’s second season premier.
The cleverness and strategy that’s found in Sherlock and Skyfall is also found in The Grand Budapest Hotel. And while the public hasn’t appreciated the film’s brilliance, the Academy has.
The film was nominated for several Academy Awards, tied with Birdman for the most nominations this year. While this might be intimidating to some, the movie isn’t difficult to understand. With the same characteristics as blockbusters such as The Hunger Games, The Grand Budapest Hotel is brilliant movie that needs to be recognized by the general public.
So, if you like The Hunger Games, you should watch The Grand Budapest Hotel.
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