We went to see The Hunger Games last night, and given that I talked about my concerns last week, I thought I'd write a post about the movie.
For the most part I really, really liked it. It was exciting and engrossing. It did a good job of maintaining the horror of The Hunger Games without turning into an action flick where you're simply rooting for Katniss to kill everyone. The poverty of District 12 contrasted nicely with the wealth of the Capital.
I really liked all the extra scenes we got between President Snow and Seneca Crane. They helped explain the politics around the Hunger Games, the way they use a thin shred of hope to help with the oppression of the outlying districts. I also liked seeing that Katniss' mourning of Rue sparked a riot in District 11 which is what caused the gamemakers to change the rules in an effort to bring focus back. It was neat to see how this all tied together.
My favorite extra detail was that the gamemakers set the fire on Katniss because she was getting too close to the edge of the arena. This ties in nicely to Haymitch's victory in his games, and also works well as something Katniss herself couldn't have known in the books.
Really, I liked all of the scenes that we got in the movie that weren't in the book. I think the movie benefited a lot from not keeping us inside Katniss' head and part of me wishes we could have gotten more of this. I wanted to see more of the other tributes. I wanted more scenes with Effie and Cinna. I wanted more of what Prim and Gale were going through back home. But I also thought the movie was almost too long as it was and I'm not sure how they could have fit all of that extra information in.
I think the movie was as good as I could have hoped for. I just hope that the DVD comes with loads of extra features. I want more background information on this world. I want all the behind the scenes stuff that Katniss couldn't know about. And I want more scenes with the secondary characters.
I also felt it was slow, but then again not long enough! I really would've liked if they'd cut out some stuff in the Capitol, specifically the scene where she's playing with the window/television thingy. I get what they were going for but it was redundant.
ReplyDeleteI'm stoked for the DVD though!!
I want a Rated R DVD release with more gore, more death and more devastation. I had a blast watching the movie but I wanted a greater sense of forboding, I never had those moments watching the movie like I did during the books where I thought Suzanne Collins might pull the greatest twist ever and have Katniss die. It never even felt like she was in much danger or that anyone was particularly disgusted by the notion of children dying. Also I want the next two movies, I feel like the next books rely less on what Katniss is thinking internally to move the plot along which will be much easier to adapt for the screen. Also, I can't wait for Finnick and more Haymitch.
ReplyDeleteI thought the horror of children dying came across pretty well. The shots of all the kids after the bloodbath, along with a few other death scenes worked for me. And I really liked Cato's speech at the end about not really realizing until that moment that volunteering for the games was basically a death sentence.
DeleteI agree that I never really worried about Katniss' life. I wasn't sure if that was just because I knew how it ended though. I think that fleshing out some of the other characters and maybe spending a bit of time with Thresh and Foxface would have helped that aspect.
I think the next two movies will be good. They should have a bit more time to stretch out and breath without just worrying about all the exposition and action surrounding the hunger games.