Remember this?
Remember how excited I was for The Hunger Games to come out? So much that I did a
photoshoot of my magazines? Nerdy? Yes. proud of it? Yes!
So yesterday I went and watched The Hunger Games for the third time in theatres. That’s a really big deal for me… I haven’t seen a movie more than once in theaters since the last Harry Potter movie, and before that, I don’t even remember. I’ve never seen one three times! So, even though I’m not a professional movie reviewer, I think the fact that I’ve read the first book three times since November and watched the movie so many times gives me a little bit of say in reviewing. So here we go. Skip the next paragraph if you already know the story.
The Hunger Games follows Katniss, a strong, smart, survival-bent 16 year old girl who lives somewhere in the modern day Appalachian mountains in the futuristic District 12 of the lone country Panem. The world has destroyed itself with wars and greed, and Panem is the last bit of humanity still standing, made up of 12 districts. Because of a previous rebellion from the districts, the capitol of Panem forces a pageant called The Hunger Games upon the populace every year, in which two children are chosen from each to fight to the death on national television until there is only one survivor. It’s terribly sad, frighteningly realistic (given the state of our country and the atrocities on television nowadays), and extremely compelling.
The book is fantastic! Suzanne Collins, the author, creates a character everyone loves, young and old, male or female. The movie is record-breaking and intense, and here’s how I think it panned up to the book:
What I loved: Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, Wes Bentley as Seneca Crane, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, and Gary Ross as the director. Honestly, I love the whole cast, but those three were my favorites. Runners up were the actors who portrayed Rue, Clove, Caesar, and Effie. Casting was spot on! Gary Ross cared about the book and only made changes that were necessary. I also thought he did very well with taking out the elements that were time consuming and wouldn’t have added much to the story anyway. The action was great but not too obscene for younger audiences, the emotion was raw, the music was phenomenal, and the spirit of the book was definitely there.
What I didn’t love: Cinematography, rushed storyline, and non-scariness of the beasts at the end of the movie (click on this link to see how they should have/would have looked). Most of the movie’s camera work I liked. I mean, it makes sense for the camera to be shaky when Katniss is running for her life in the arena, but the beginning of the movie is unnecessarily hard to watch. Does it really make sense to shake the camera that much when showing a man eating off a chicken bone or a women washing her hands? Not to me. It was distracting and annoying, but luckily it’s not as bad on the smaller screens, so I’m not expecting a big problem when I buy it on blu-ray. As for the rushed storyline, I primarily mean the relationships Katniss has to Rue and Peeta. Both feel rushed, and the emotional connections either don’t make sense in their intensity (Rue) or are not intense enough. For instance, in the book, Peeta and Katniss spend three days talking in the cave, and uncover a lot of important parts of their relationship. In the movie it’s only a few minutes, and nothing important is touched on, making a non-book-reading viewer not realize the actual feeling that both of them have. It’s pretty important in the next books.
All in all, I loved it! It was well done and exciting, and it goes by very quickly, especially for being almost two and a half hours. I highly recommend you see it!
So…what did you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know below!
Oh…and I bought another magazine too!
