WARNING: SPOILERS
Overall I thought is was an incredibly good, but not quite great, movie. I think that if I hadn't read the book, the movie would've been better. After all, as you'll soon see, most of the stuff that bugged me were the tiny differences from the book.
Some of the little details that annoyed me were the fact that in the book, at the private training session, boys went before girls. In the movie, it was the opposite: girls before boys. Another minor detail was (and this is a big spoiler) that in the book, when Katniss and Peeta are crowned as the two victors of the hunger games, President Snow has only one crown, and it creates suspense, until he twists it in half and puts one half on each victors head. In the movie, there are two crowns.
Speaking of Snow, I thought he was too old and nice. One of the things in the book was that all the people in the capitol, like Snow, had plastic surgery to look younger. In the movie I thought Snow just looked like Santa.
He's also too warm and friendly, I always imagined Snow to just be cold.
I thought there wasn't enough Cinna in this movie. I LOVE Cinna, and he just wasn't as big of a character. They also pretty much deleted Katniss' prep team as characters, they didn't even talk! And think of how much bigger characters the prep team become in the later books, especially Mockingjay.
Another one of my issues was the Cornucopia. I always imagined it to look like (and I don't know why) a giant Grammy.
Instead it looked REALLY different.
Alright, enough with the bad stuff, let's focus on the positive.
I thought the violence was done really well. They had this camera technique where they shot it from all different angles really fast so A) you didn't have to watch the most gruesome parts and B) it moved so fast that you couldn't think and it made you feel like you were experiencing it right then. That doesn't mean they just skipped over all the awful violence; I still saw some pretty gross stuff.
Rue was portrayed REALLY well. The actress, Amandla Stenberg, was a perfect choice and did an incredible job. Prim was pretty good too.
I LOVE CEASER FLICKMAN!!!!!!! HE WAS SOOOOO FUNNY!!!!! On another bad note, Haymitch was a little too sober.
I think, just like all the other critics, that the score was exceptional.
Like my Hunger Games review? What did you think of the movie?
Eva, you nail it in this review. I completely share all of your criticisms and you caught a few I didn't notice- like the boys and girls and the crown thing. The camera work got me a little dizzy, but I think this was both to obscure the violence a bit and to give the audience the idea that they were disoriented, as one would be if one was in the games. I, too imagined the cornucopia as more of a horn shape.
ReplyDeleteI wish they could have gotten the complexity of more of the characters, but it was a movie so they couldn't fit everything in. I thought Haymitch would be older and more of a lush. I also thought it seemed like there was a lot of water (she was thirsty during a lot of the book) and a lot of food, and they didn't have the "lake" with the gang encampment quite like I pictured it.
Anyway, on the plus side. The fashion was awesome. I also think they really got her home district and the people in it right. I'm glad the author had a hand in the production. From, Aunt Sarah
Eva, you totally nailed it! I agree with everything you wrote. I would add that I found it a shock when right away, at the start, Katniss and Gale are talking and they explain how the Reaping works, and she tells him that if he doesn't want he'll be turned into an Avox. And then we never hear another word about Avoxes (sorry, no pun intended there), so that plot line was lost.
ReplyDeleteIt seemed to me that they were setting up the second and third movies with some of the scenes, like the one where President Snow talks to Seneca Crane about hope, and where we see Rue's district rioting.
And I am right there with you on the cornucopia.
OTOH, I will see it a second time and will be near the head of the line for parts 2 and 3.
Kristi Webb (ask your mom).
I think you guys are right, although I did the math and Haymitch can'y be older then 42, because he was in the 2nd quarter quell and that was twenty four years ago and the oldest you can be in the Hunger Games is 18, so 18 plus 24 is 42.
ReplyDeleteNice review! I loved the movie, I also noticed that the crown wasn't split, it just was two different crowns. I agree w/ my mom, that they didn't have enough about all the dehydration. That was a REALLY BIG PART! She was just like, 'oh no, my water bottle's empty!' And then a couple minutes later she found a pond. The Cornucopia was disappointing, I expected a huge gold thing like the ones kindergardners color in with all the fruit and vegetables on Thanksgiving. It was way too angular for me. I loved the fashion in the Capitol! I also thought that they showed WAY to little about the prep team... :(. And oh my gosh Amandla Stenberg was PERFECT for the role of Rue! I almost cried when she died.
ReplyDeleteRavmet K. Sprintpine
p.s. Yes, I am Annabeth, and yes, I am L. I finally told you!