Like a great deal of America I decided that I was going to see the Hunger Games this weekend. This is actually a big deal for me. I haven’t gone to a movie weekend premier is a super long time. Let’s just say there was an incident with a naked Logan, a talking movie watcher, and Tenchi being yelled at. I decided that it wasn’t worth fighting the crowds and mainly stuck to weekday movies.
Ready for Monday's water cooler discussions?
And really I don’t know why we needed to go this weekend anyway. None of us had heard of the books before the movie came out and I was the only one who knew how it was going to go down. Yeah I knew a lot of the plot without reading the books….yay Wiki and TV Tropes!...I said I was addicted to links. I just keep clicking and clicking folks.
So my little mini review is going to be from the perspective from someone who had a good idea what to expect but without reading the books. If that makes any sense. X__X
I read a lot of comments on IMD before heading on over to the theaters. Because I just want to be completely spoiled for the entire movie. XD A lot of them were pretty negative (not counting the stupid ones talking about people’s weight and race) or at least were not very happy with how things turned out. Which is understandable. Books are full of tiny details and pages of character development. And people who are super fans of the book probably had way too high of an expectation before entering the theater which would lead them to some inevitable disappointment.
With all of this information in my little head…I found the movie very enjoyable. Yes there were some issues (small or not) that were not included. The theater was not as crowded as I was expecting. We got there 50 minutes before the movie started to get our favorite seats and in the end the theater was about half full. Probably because kids were getting ready to go back to school from Spring Break and we went while our mall was still opened. And the only jackass in the entire theater was the person my friend brought! No immature kids screaming and causing problems. No no just some stupid 30 year old man that I will make an effort to never see again.
Back to the movie. The only downside my husband (a nonbook/information person) noted in the entire movie was the shaky camera that was going on. I only thought it was strong in the beginning of the movie and when the Game first started but the husband said it was present the entire movie. So while this isn’t Cloverfield type crazy it was a lot of in your face and quick shots.
Not much significant on the pin or what it represents.
There are some minor issues that I caught that were changed or omitted from the film. The way Katniss gets the Mockingjay pin is almost devoid of feeling. Haymitch first appears in the train, not during the Reaping. Actually the whole Reaping was rather fast. Perhaps the movie was going for a darker mood with that scene and a drunk Haymitch would have ruined that. Effie is another interesting point in the entire movie. You never get the feeling that she really likes Katniss and Peeta outside of her own job title. But Effie does act like she never really “gets it” what with talking about desserts and that manners are important in a game about killing people.
The lovely dovey never ends though...
However all of these issues are rather small when compared to the ending. That is what I think was changed the most and probably confused most of the audience. Instead of Peeta finding out that Katniss was lying the entire time they merely get on the train and wonder what is going to happen now. Katniss does say she thinks they should forget while Peeta doesn’t want to forget but that borders on the vague side. The husband said that he thought Katniss was faking her feelings for “that dude” but even I knowing what the ending was supposed to be had a hard time figuring that out. It was almost like this movie was made with a closed ending just in case the other movies were not made. I am guessing the movie makers did not want Katniss to be cast in a bad light but I think it could have been done in such a way that was true to the book without making Katniss look like a user.
Other tiny issues would be how fast things got in the end. With three tributes left the entire Game went so fast. Katniss and Peeta’s suicide attempt happened so fast I think people might have missed it. Then BAM they are crowned winners, go to the Capitol to be threatened/be paraded around, and sent back on the train. And the part where the Career Tributes plus Peeta are skipping through the woods was kinda weird. Like they are laughing and making all kinds of noise. That is pretty dangerous behavior from trained District people and it just came off as they were walking through the mall instead of a battle for their lives. I wanted more glares and less hand holding.
I am sure there are other details that were left out but as I said I didn’t read the books. I just knew major plot points and terms. These were the things that I found could have been incorporated into the movie that would have made it stronger.
But there were many more positives for this movie than negatives. I saw people complaining that the poverty of the Districts was not portrayed well in the movie. To me it appeared obvious. The husband did question why the high voltage fence was not on though. The salute to Katniss was a sign of great respect and was done against the makers of the game. It didn’t needed to be stated directly what was going to happen. The ignorance and over the top behavior from Capitol citizen was done very well. I saw some people complaining the violence was brief and done mainly off screen. I too wondered how they were going to make a movie with 22 kids dying PG-13. I can say that there is just enough violence to make it believable and don’t know what people wanted if they are complaining.
Playing up to the cameras and probably hating every minute of it. But in doing so she honors District 11th at the same time.
I think Katniss was portrayed excellent. She was nervous, confident, anger, hurt, scared, and cunning. A well rounded character to me. She was a reserved girl with only a few people close to her heart. She didn’t want to play up to the Capitol to earn sponsors and what not but did so only to save herself, not because she thought these people were worth a damn. She was very suspect of Peeta yet cared about her fellow District 12 Tribute as a person even if she didn’t love him. She didn’t do such a great job in her interview because she was being herself, unwilling or unable to change so fast. And while her over dramatic burial of Rue was done to gain favor the crying and wailing in the woods was real. Like Katniss was actually experiencing the horrors of the reality while everyone else was pushing it aside (forever or just for now).
The romance could have been stronger but Peeta did a good job convincing me he had a brain. He didn’t seem to be good at much else so being charming worked for him. I wanted to cry when his mother cheered that they might have a winner this year….Katniss. Like THANKS MOM going to die now. While we didn’t see how the other Tributes spent their downtime it was nice to see Peeta voice the reality of the situation, that he was probably going to die and chocolate covered strawberries was not going to fix anything.
Love how everything was apparently his fault at the end.
Without reading the books I am not sure how I feel about movie giving us such obvious people we are supposed to hate. I am pretty sure the Capitol is who we are supposed to hate. Whether or not these Tributes volunteered or not there was going to be 24 kids forced to kill each other in the name of entertainment and revenge. I mean I guess it is possible some of these kids were criminals back at home but I doubt that given how strict life looked. Instead I think all of these kids, trained or not, were all innocent and are to be pitied. If I were placed in that same situation would I team up with the strong team to better my chances? Probably. That is why I think there should have been less laughing and skipping, I don’t think anyone really WANTED to be there. I mean the thought of killing someone from your own city is horrible enough right?
Would have liked to see more of this girl though. :(
Still there were some moments were the kids were acting pretty dang evil. Less talking and more stabbing of Katniss probably would have saved Clove. This is a battle to the death, not some high school drama right? Although they are all high school aged….still. That was a bit much for me. People crack under the pressure but there is a time and a place for such angers. In the safety of the randomly combusting woods obviously.
Should have just climbed a tree and waited everyone out.
What else what else….oh Rue! Can’t forget Rue. The husband and the best friend said they didn’t know why Rue was always around Katniss and what the importance of her death was as EVERYONE was going to die except one. Still I enjoyed her brief time on screen, especially when she stole Cato’s knife and was acting all tree climbery. One could say that Rue saving Katniss was her worse move. She was doing a pretty good job staying alive ALONE and only died when Katniss told her what to do. I think the movie could have had more Rue and how she was the sweetheart meant to die. But the funeral scene was done so well and I am glad no one did anything stupid in the movie theater.
In conclusion all three books are sitting on my dining room table. XD I will spend money if I have a coupon folks! The husband usually mocks me for that but he seems interested in the books as well and I have been banned from telling him anything that might have been missing from the movie. So that is a positive right? Movies making people want to read? So in my completely biased opinion I think if you think this movie looks interesting you should go see it. The complaints about some of the issues in the movie are real but won’t affect your overall experience. It is visually pleasing, I thought the acting was fine, and it really did a great job in portraying the real message of the movie, which is not 24 kids trying to kill each other.
In any event it was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. If this movie doesn’t seem amazing enough for you…well you can always wait until the amazing movie Abraham Lincoln VAMPIRE HUNTER! Seriously folks. X__X
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