The Hunger Games review

So I finally got to see The Hunger Games. (I'm a little slow on the uptake, I know). And I guess my overall consensus is that I wasn't super impressed, but it was a lot better than it could have been, if that makes any sense.

(Major Spoiler Alerts by the way)

It baffles me that people who haven't read the book like this movie so much. I think you miss out on so much without having read the book first. I think what originally made this such an amazing story was seeing how Katniss thought through everything and knowing what was going on in her mind. You obviously miss out on all of this in the movie. For example, I think from watching the movie you could believe that she actually falls for Peeta, but if you read the book you know this is far from the case.

Also, I think that too much happens in the book for them to squeeze it into a 2 hour and 20 minute movie. You lose a lot in translation. Her relationship with Rue had hardly developed when she was killed. It just made it all very anti-climactic I think. Even the end scene on top of the cornucopia just seemed really rushed and then all of a sudden the games were over.

I'm trying to critique as a movie without thinking about the book, but it's really hard. But like I said, the general consensus among those people I know who haven't read the books is that they really liked the movie. So I guess it's good. But I still HIGHLY recommend reading the books first!! (at least the first one, because they go downhill from there) You get so much more out of the books. There's more of an emotional story and it's just overall a lot better.

A few things I really loved about the movie:

1. Stanley Tucci. End of story. Hands down he made this movie what it was, in my opinion. He was hysterical. And I loved how the scenes with him made you feel like you were actually in Panem watching the Hunger Games on your TV. I think they tried to do this with the scenes from inside the arena, but the cinematography kept switching from a steady camera to a handheld one. It got really annoying. I guess that's how they kept the PG 13 rating though, because when something violent was going on all you saw was a shaky close up of one of the characters. And then every now and then the camera seemed to get blurrier which made me think they were showing it from the perspective of people watching the Hunger Games on TV, but it kept switching back and forth. It was just really weird.

2. Liam Hensworth. Aka: Gale. But this is mostly just because he's gorgeous. Don't judge. Also, I LOVED how they showed him every time Katniss and Peeta kissed or had a moment, I literally laughed out loud every time. Oh Liam, I would choose you.

3. Haymitch. He looked so familiar and it was bothering me all movie, but now that I see who he is (Woody Harrelson) I guess I really don't know him. But regardless, I think he did really well with the roll of Haymitch.

4. Cinna. Same goes here. Lenny Kravitz did an excellent job playing Cinna.

So yeah...I guess I just liked the casting and acting.

Anywho, you should really judge it for yourself. At the least it's pretty to look at because the sets and costumes are pretty incredible. And in the hopes of ending this blog post in the most cliche way possible...

May the odds be ever in your favor!


**These pictures are from thehungergamesmovie.com**