7) Katniss Everdeen – The Hunger Games
Back when The Hunger Games was first released, I had no idea what to expect. On the surface, it appeared to be more Twilight nonsense consisting of a female character that is more concerned with who she should f*** rather than the overarching, far more serious themes of the story.
When I actually saw the movie, I was pleasantly surprised. Not only did I enjoy the film and feel it lived up to all of the hype surrounding it, but I actually became a massive fan of the franchise’s heroine, Katniss Everdeen. The world she lives in truly does come across as overbearing at times and features the very definition of survival of the fittest. This is a universe where citizens are raffled into a fantasy arena battleground with only one goal: kill or be killed.
Katniss, while obviously distraught from everything surrounding the plot, seemingly takes this opportunity to become the modern-day badass heroine of a generation. Instead of using tried-and-true guns or swords, she stalks her prey with a freaking bow and arrow with deadly skill. Her awesome display has single-handedly rejuvenated the usage of bows across film and video games. Come on, who didn’t love slaughtering hundreds of enemies with the bow and arrow in the latest Tomb Raider game?!
Violent antics aside, you also have to love how the romantic love triangle portion of the franchise is written in a believable fashion, and not with some of the most horrific dialogue ever seen in film. Why can’t we have more YA adaptations like The Hunger Games? And better yet, more strong independent heroines focused on survival.
– Robert Kojder