The Hunger Games Saga (Suzanne Collins) - Page 2

quote thewatermeloncult

I read the first book. It was ok, but I don't think it was worth all the hype it got.

quote Celes Leonhart

Gotta echo Euphoric that the film was incredibly awkward to watch at points, and I thought that was handled excellently. Probably shouldn't have been a 12a, at least a 12, but whatever.

The film was surprisingly better than I thought. I thought the direction was confidently the best part and where half of the reviews seem to be criticising the camera work I thought it was outstanding; tense and provocative throughout. It did a fantastic job of (up until the end) keeping complete faithfulness and dignity in its adaptation, when I expected it to be completely to be toned down. Lots of indie tendencies which sat well will me, and I thought stylistically they captured a better image than I did myself, though I didn't see District 12 anything like how they described. Casting was on point, big fan of Peeta and Cinna in particular, lots of love there. Gale was lol.

Things that didn't get on with me so much. The main grief I had was how they decided to handle her thought narrative of the book, opting to take the viewer out of the games and directly telling you what was happening, either with Haymitch or in the control room. I found the flashbacks effective, but by continually clicking back to this room of game operators I felt it took away the immersion and desperation of the games, making what should have been way more subtle way more obvious - you don't need to show them literally firing fire balls when the book didn't. This lack of subtly was further apparent when Haymitch's gifts arrived; realistically giving her that kiss hint would have revealed that it was a game plan.

Another issue I have but I know it's something that can't be helped is the length and pacing. The story went from a thriller to an action movie, ditching the drawn desperation (rightly) to accelerate the story. I never felt the tragedy in everything she suffered because it was so quick and sudden. This mostly affected character development too, and Rue's role essentially made no impact on me because of the progression, and if not for Peeta's good actor the cave wouldn't have pulled off at all. I also felt the Reaping wasn't nearly as destructful as the book did it. It needed more waiting and more tension ala Deathly Hallows 1 imo.

Things they excluded that annoyed me were completely under emphasizing Haymitch's importance and effort despite making it more obvious, Peeta's leg injury, the significance of the feast, and the complete embrassment that they achieved with the mutations at the end.

Otherwise, I've just officially sent Jennifer Lawrence my proposal and this film did an unnecessarily good job of being a good film and yet a faithful adaptation. The love triangle heavily suffered through lack of character development, but all in it was better executed than the book.