The Hunger Games

I saw it last night, as for some reason it was released in some UK cinemas on the 22nd, and it was really excellent. I'd say a 9.5/10. Not 10/10 because Rue and Katniss' interactions didn't get enough screentime, and I would have liked more gore (although I understand why they couldn't afford a 15 rating). Really good though. Even as a stand-alone film.

It was an accurate adaption, I think. I'm not sure what people who haven't read the book think of it. As in, I'm not sure what was clear and what wasn't, how much didn't make sense, what has to be inferred compared to what's explicitly stated in the book, etc.

I liked Rue and most everything to do with her, and yes, I did picture her black. The atmosphere was absolutely wonderful. The only thing I really didn't like was pretty much anything to do with Peeta.

I pictured Rue to be hispanic, because the continent is North America, and she is "from the south of the continent". Also, she comes from a fishing village, and Carribean/Gulf of Mexico is a center of fishing. I suppose she might be Jamaican, or the rare black mexican, but if we are going with what the majority of people from the southern edges of the Gulf of Mexico look like, she'd be hispanic.

Saw it. I came in this movie not reading the book and now I want too because I already have this sense that I'm missing out on alot of the mythology. Jennifer Lawerence actually mangages to provide some goddamned excellent acting for a role that many could have done without.

And am I the only one who likes Peeta? He does some seriously great PR. Then again, I watch Survivor and could pull some empathy for the acting-as-a-certian-type-so-to-earn-sympathy.

Also found it interesting that the Breaking Dawn Part 2 trailer focused almost exclusivly on Bella being a vampire, which I thought was the most interesting thing along with the other vampires. Almost for they had a real-sex-with-Edward tease. Still not going to go see it. And damn that Dark Night Rises trailer freaked me out with that stadum scene. (Spoiler taged to try to prevent derailing)

edited 23rd Mar '12 3:59:41 PM by phoenixdaughterAM

I liked Peeta well enough. He really was a Non-Action Guy done rather well. Speaking as someone who didn't read the book, the only thing I didn't care for was his random alliance with some of the other contestants. It wasn't really explained and it's never brought up after they turn on him.

Movie was fantastic though. Katniss was an awesome character.

Petta is suppose to be The Brains.

From what I inferred, the elitists (my nickname for that group) were using him in order to find their best competition, Katniss. As for not bringing it up, life-or-death situations make for strange bedfellows, especally since they made the switch to two people being victors if from same district. Not to metion, the audience loves a show and romance is a definite show, as all shippers will attest.

Actually, District 11 is heavily implied to be in the Deep South, and nearly all its citizens are supposed to be black; Collins draws distinct allusions to slavery, what with 11's militant peacekeepers and the way it works its people during the harvest. In fact, during the casting for the film, the only characters whose race was specified by Collins were Rue and Thresh. District 4 is the one with the fishing industry.

edited 23rd Mar '12 6:00:58 PM by Nochenne

The movie shows mostly black crowd for District 4 but there were some whites interspered in the crowd. Interesting.

edited 23rd Mar '12 6:13:00 PM by phoenixdaughterAM

Rue is from District 11, not 4.

-raises hand apologeticly- Haven't read the book but should have read the above comment closer.

4 is I Vancouver◊ so...yeah

Huh, District 12 is that far north? I pictured it being more Alabama or Arkansas-ish.

So I thought the movie was good. The only two things I didn't like were leaving out the detail about what the muttations actually were and the camera work. Dear god, the camera work. My head still hurts from that.

Its all but said to be west Virginia in the books, ESP mentioning strip mining, mountains, and the wild life.

Yeah. The camera really was a huge distraction. Sure it may represent the emotional state of Katniss but all of those gimmicks were agh! I usually sit the from the fifth row back from the screen and I felt a huge shift in my enjoyment from the camerawork and that usually isn't a problem.

Bought the soundtrack. Already dividing songs by how close they follow the story and then if I like the songs at all.

edited 24th Mar '12 11:30:15 AM by phoenixdaughterAM

I liked the movie far more than I liked the book. By not being from just Katniss's point of view it managed to get rid of two of my biggest AAARGHs about the book: her constant whinging and the protagonist-centric morality. Made it enjoyable. Didn't hurt that they also made her seem much more capable on the wilderness survival front instead of telling us she's capable and then showing us her making really dumb choices.

Also her killing Cato almost right away instead of listening to the kid crying, screaming, and begging for death for hours and then only giving in when Peeta goes, "Um, he's not dead yet. You should fix that."

The camerawork near the beginning almost gave me motion sickness. I've never had that happen before.

edited 24th Mar '12 3:47:07 PM by Bur

My head hurt for the whole damn movie because of that camera work.

Seriously, they should get a new cinematographer for Catching Fire.

Now that I think about it, I actually found the movie rather boring. Mainly because it was exactly like the book with only a few exceptions. Yeah, The Film of the Book should stay true to the source material, but it shouldn't feel like you're just speed-reading the book.

edited 24th Mar '12 1:41:33 PM by Mort08

There was only one section where the camera was all weird, and that was when Katniss was supposed to be hallucinating from the tracker jackers. (I actually wished they'd had the hallucinations more like they were in the book, but they'd never have gotten a PG rating if they had.)

And I agree that, while the movie was well-done, I didn't feel very drawn into it because it was very similar to the books, so there was nothing to surprise me. But that's similar to how I felt about the Harry Potter movies. This was actually better than the Harry Potter ones in terms of the acting and scripting.

Seneca Crane's beard style was very cool-looking.

You didn't think they went overboard with the Jitter Cam?

Jitter Cam is gonna be one of those things that makes it really obvious that a movie was made in this era. I don't mind it, personally, but I can see why it would give some people a headache.

If I had one complaint about this movie, and thinking about it I really only do since it removed most of what I hated about the book, it's that the Game Master's beard was...oh my god. I couldn't even look at it without laughing. It's like this guy took all his grooming tips from Snidely Whiplash and the Master from Doctor Who. I couldn't take him seriously at all.

I also cracked up during the parade. District Two manufactures gladiators, apparently. (Wait...)

Oh, and I was arguing with my friend about this—I thought Pres. Snow looked like the Dos Equis guy (to the point where I whispered "I don't often watch Hunger Games, but when I do..." to my friend as Snow made his entrance), and he didn't see it.

edited 24th Mar '12 8:00:56 PM by Wackd

I know I did.

I got back from the movie about an hour ago and...I didn't like it. At all, really. I didn't read the book but I saw it with my girlfriend because our other option was sold out.

I don't know if I can properly sum up my thoughts without having the book to compare it to, but I'll try anyway. I didn't feel any connection to anyone other than the main characters, and even then it was a little tenuous. Aside from the bad guy, whose only schtick is that he's a Hollywood sociopath, none of the tributes seemed to have any personality. I knew I was supposed to feel bad that they were dying, but, I didn't. We didn't get to spend any time with them; they were just targets.

Every time they cut to the capitol I felt like they had spliced in scenes from a canned Willy Wonka sequel. I get that there's supposed to be this juxtaposition of the ultra-chic, foppish crowd and the brutality of the Hunger Games themselves, but I couldn't reconcile the two in my head. Whether that was the fault of the movie or my own, I don't know.

Also: it bothered me that the only tributes shown suffering as they died were the antagonists.

edited 24th Mar '12 8:03:04 PM by Seamus

I liked it. I honestly felt like it was exactly like I pictured the book in my head. The only problem I had was the Jitter Cam, and as another person said, that guy's beard. It was distractingly weird. Otherwise, I felt like it resolved the pacing problems that the book had. Also, I thought it made Peeta a little more useful. To me in the book he just seemed like dead weight for most of it, but in the movie it at least gave more explanation.

Just saw it. Plus side of jittery cam is that you feel how the character feels, down did is motion sickness

I like the movies woody was a great choice for hamitch, he could have been a little more over the top with the drunkness.

Yeah. I found it a bit weird that a guy who spent nine years playing a bartender didn't do such a great job playing drunk, though there was something essentially Haymitch about him I liked.