Tuesday, March 27, 2012

So. The Hunger Games Movie.

I FINALLY saw The Hunger Games movie after much much anticipation and excitement. Like, no, you guys don't get just HOW excited I was for this movie. When the Lionsgate gates opened, I started pawing my friend's shoulder and going "OH MY GOD IT'S STARTING. OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. HERE IT COMES. I AM GOING TO DIE. DIIIIIIIIEE. I CANNOT HANDLE IT," and I was all slouched in my seat and panicking and my legs felt jittery. Then I sat still for 2 and a half hours analyzing every aspect of the film.

Am I the only one that didn't find it to be amazing?

Look, I get that they cannot include everything from the book. They made a valiant effort though. I mean, I did say two and a half hours, didn't I? There were just some major flaws that kept me from loving it.

I'll start with the good (you're about to arrive on spoiler island, so be prepared):

  • Jennifer Lawrence was the PERFECT Katniss.
  • Cinna, Effie, Caesar, Thresh, Rue, Peeta, Gale, and everyone else was also fantastic.
  • The scenery! It was gorgeous and totally brought the setting to life in a way I didn't know possible.
  • District 12 and the entire reaping scene!
  • The District 11 scene!
  • The game-maker scenes!
  • The President Snow scenes!
  • THE BEARD.
  • Gale getting extra screen time! (This may confuse some people, as I publicly HATE Gale. But nearly every time they showed Gale, he was watching the games and was in pain. I LOVE WATCHING GALE IN PAIN. ((Also the actor was hot so.)
  • "THAT IS MAHOGANY."
Now, for the bad:
  • There was NO DEVELOPMENT. No character development, and all of the relationships save for Katniss and Prim's seemed rushed and fake. (Peeta and Katniss, and Katniss and Rue, mostly. Like, I did not even tear up at Rue's death, guys.)
  • Katniss never seemed to open up to Peeta in the cave scene. It was all Peeta.
  • The train scene? WHERE WAS MY HEART-BREAKING MOMENT? WTF?
  • The muttations were not nearly as scary as I'd imagined them to be. (Nor did they have the other tribute's eyes)
  • Thresh's scene was super important to me, as you get to see his wall come down and get to know him much better--even if it is only a second. This was not done right at all.
  • There was no couch in the final interview,
  • That scene where Katniss was playing with her wall in the room? 45 seconds of screen time that could've been used for development. When she was hunting the deer? Another 45 seconds. Haymitch trying to get Katniss sponsors? MORE SECONDS. You get the idea.
  • I felt like if you'd never read the book (which you should, by the way), the movie left far many too questions.
  • Katniss and Peeta's first costumes just seemed kinda lame to me.
So for me the movie was not bad, and I REALLY enjoyed parts of it, but because of a lack of development I was never nearly as invested in the movie as I should've been. I'm definitely in the minority here, though. Anyways, I'm dying to know: what were YOUR thoughts on the movie?

18 comments:

  1. I'm not a THG fan, nor have I read the books. So naturally, I have nothing to really swoon or away about with the movie being out. I've made plans to see the movie with a friend who is a THG fanatic, so I figure anything I don't understand she'll explain.

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  2. I felt much the same way. Plus, the camera work was just too shaky and had too many close ups. Overall I enjoyed it, but I felt like it was lacking something. Although,I must say I am a little in love with Peeta.

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    1. I kinda liked the camera angles. I'm shocked--but glad--that someone agrees with me!

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  3. Aww I really loved the movie. I feel like it's one movie that stayed true as best it can with the book, esp since the author herself was co-writer of the screenplay and co-producer...

    The only thing is that the ending was happy instead of the book ending which was sad.

    But for me, I feel like people who read the book or even those who didn't, just needed to pay really close attention for the hints to understand the movie more. But I guess that's not what people want to do in a movie theater. Oh well, they just have to watch it again..

    I know I will just coz I love it so much :)
    I was practically crying with the Rue scene but I tried not to shed any tears to avoid making my friend uncomfortable.

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    1. Same! I almost sobbed, but then my sister looked over at me like i was crazy for crying that much cuz she hadn't read the book

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  4. I totally get what you're saying about development - my friend and I thought that both Katniss's relationships with Rue and Peete were underdeveloped. That being said, the development in the book is based off of conversations held in a cave (Peeta) or just living in the woods (Rue). Those don't really make for a great movie-going experience, so I understand why the producers cut those out.

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  5. Great honest review.
    I do wish there was more character development too.
    Especially between Katniss and Peeta.

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  6. You basically nailed it. Every word. Seriously, that wasted screen time made my blood boil.

    But the last straw for me was...

    Peeta's leg.

    Wasn't it -- oh, I don't know -- supposed to get CUT OFF!? That was kind of too much for me. :/

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    1. Although I should probably add that I did love the movie WAAYYYY more the second time around. :)

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    2. YES. THE LEG. I don't remember it being a big deal throughout the series (though I could be wrong about that) but STILL.

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  7. Still waiting to watch the movie! There is not heartbreak/train-Peeta-scene at the end. Oh no. That part really tugged my heartstrings in the book!

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    1. *There is no heartbreak/train-Peeta scene at the end of the movie?

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    2. Yes there is in the book which it should have been included in the movie!
      (God it pissed me off that it wasnt included)

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  8. I LOVED THESE COMMENTS!!! I TOTALLY AGREE WITH THE NO DEVELOPMENT THING!!!!!! I SAW A YOUTUBE.COM RUE AND KATNISS SCENE AND I CRIED BUT I DIDN'NT CRY IN THE THEATER WTF!

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  9. I'm with you! I agree that Jennifer Lawrence was the perfect Katniss! And yes, the romance between Peeta and Katniss on-screen was not believable at all. That part was what made me squirm with excitement when reading THG.

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  10. I totally agree with you.
    I wasn't impressed.
    The movie was great in those scenes about the reaping and the scenery was great. But the whole thing when I was sitting there I was like "Where was the blood poisoning in Peeta's leg?" and "Why was the fence not chain-linked?" and "I was supposed to cry in the part where Rue died but it wasn't developed enough to be personal!"
    But the two things I really liked about the movie were the extra bits about the control center of the Games and the bit at the end where Seneca Crane was in the room with the berries! Those parts made me go "WOW!"!

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Your comments feed the greedy comment-addicted blogger inside of me. Thanks for keeping me going.