I've been itching to post my review about the movie since Thursday! Yes, here in Puerto Rico we get new releases on Thursdays, not Friday's, and so I got to watch The Hunger Games on the 22nd. I thought I'd give it a few days until I posted this, but I'm already seeing reviews popping up everywhere. So, here are my thoughts. Warning! This is for people who have seen it!
I thoroughly enjoyed The Hunger Games. They did a great job of bringing to life the world of Panem and the characters. District 12 with all the poor houses and the black market, Capitol City with all the technology, and the Arena all just came to life before me.The actors were just superb. Jennifer Lawrence really is freaking Katniss. I swear, when I re-read the books again I'll be imagining her as Katniss. Josh Hutcherson does a sweet job as Peeta, though he still doesn't look like how I imagined the boy with the bread in the first place. I knew Elizabeth Banks was a great actress (I've loved other movies by her), but after seeing her embodying Effie Trinket I now elevate her to badass actress. I loved loved loved Effie! Liam Hensworth (Gale) and Woody Harrelson (Haymitch) don't get much air time, but I think they did a great job too. And, of course, lets not forget Lenny Kravitz as Cinna (gold eyeliner ftw!) and Amandla Stenberg as Rue! Donal Sutherland as President Snow scares the crap out of me. I seriously expected to start smelling bloody roses every time he appeared on screen.
A couple of issues. I might be a Hunger Games fan, and loved the movie, but I'm not blind to the flaws. My two problems with the movie were the pacing and the music. The movie is about two hours and a half long, and one hour or more is dedicated to the things before the games. While I appreciated that they took the time to explain some of the important stuff, what I really wanted to see was Katniss struggling in the arena and people getting killed. For me she struggles very little in the arena, but luckily I got a massive death scene which rocked my world. Then there's the music which kinda wasn't helping at all with the slow pacing. You know, the background music that always there? Minimal. I wanted tension, I wanted noise blaring out of those speakers, I wanted to be able to listen to something while they dragged us along those scenes before the action. But no.
However, when the action starts...it's glorious. I cringed a little when I saw that it was just PG-13. Of course, they wanted to reach every type of audience available, but I think it would have caused more impact if it had not been limited by this. Yes, we get blood, kids dying left and right, a disfigured Glimmer from the tracker jacker attack, Cato snapping someones neck with his bare hands, etc. But then...I never believed Peeta was going to die. I mean, come on! That's one of the most important points of the story! That Peeta might die. That Bread Boy will be no more and Katniss can't stand that! All we see is a little gash on his leg... *curses movie ratings* Peeta "dying" leads us to the most awaited scene in the history of novel to movie adaptations! The cave scene. You know, I had no expectations for this kissing scene whatsoever, not after being slightly disappointed by Hermione and Ron in HP7-2. And then the cave scene comes, and Oh. My. God. Not disappointed! At all!
Emotional Katniss.The reviews I've read so far complain about Katniss and Peeta's relationship, and how she seems too emotional and stuff. But this is how I see it. We're the audience. We're the people at Capitol watching the games, so what are we supposed to see? The starcrossed lovers! And that's what we get. Now, we KNOW that's not the case because we read the books, and the books are from Katniss's POV so we know that what she's doing and what she's thinking are completely different things. But here we only get what we SEE. I can't wait for the shitstorm that will go down in the second movie when Katniss will then SAY to Peeta that it was all an act. Then people will go, "OOOOoooOOOoooo bitch was playing him all this time!" Again, we only know this because we read the books. So that's why it didn't bother me. In fact, I kind of appreciated the little extra emotion, especially during Rue's dying scene. I teared up.
The ending. Like I said before the pacing sucked, so while they used a lot of time for the beginning, then more time on the games...the ending was rushed. THE ENDING WAS RUSHED. Darn it! I was sitting there waiting for Katniss to tell Peeta that it had all been a game, that their romance was fake, but she didn't! Gah! She just says something about 'forgetting it all' which can be interpreted as just 'forgetting the games', and not 'forgetting the games AND the fake relationship." I think that really needed to be there. But! I did laugh out loud when Seneca Crane gets locked in the room with the Nicklock berries. No one else laughed...
Overall this is one of the best book to movie adaptations I've seen. I plan on watching it again without people screaming or clapping at a scene every five minutes. LOL Don't get me wrong, I love to hear the audience react, but I also like to watch movies without interruptions. So! Be you a love of the series, or someone who hasn't read it yet I suggest you do go watch The Hunger Games and then come right back and share your experience with everyone. Because if there's one thing that's certain is that people will be talking about this movie for a long, long time. My only wish...that they pace the next one better! ^__~
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