The Hunger Games: A Casual Review

 

Finally got around to watching the movie yesterday, man matinee prices aren't what they used to be. Anyways, I thought I would write a review on my thoughts of the wildly popular movie adaptation of the book by Suzanne Collins. 

Having read the book beforehand, I delusionally come into these types of movies with high expectations. I am pretty good at picking out specific details in the book that are left out in movies which is more of a curse than anything, because truthfully I just want to enjoy the movie. I will say, however, that The Hunger Games remained reasonably faithful to the book, and of course I say reasonably.

I will start off with the cinematography and unwittingly pretend that I am a real movie critic. The camera work was sub-par. There were many scenes where I just wondered why they didn't use a stationary camera. It got really annoying when they would pan over the crowd and the camera would slightly bob up and down. #isthatreallynecessary? In addition, some of the editing was pretty choppy, but not too bad. I realize that was more to keep the movie rated PG-13 because of violence and increase revenue.

The set design/ location was great. As many of you might know much of the movie was shot in North Carolina, outside of Asheville. District 12 was spot on, and really was quite how I imagined it, with dilapidated houses, rampant poverty, and general signs of neglect. They did a very good job with the arena, the capitol, the little we see of district 11, and various other places. They also show some locations (President Snow's rose garden) that aren't seen until the 3rd book.

The acting? Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen quite frankly kicked ass. She played the role of care-taker turned murderous teen very well. Liam Hemsworth did a good job of playing Gale, though he wasn't in much of the movie. And Woody Harrelson as Haymitch was solid, yet at the same time he under-delivered. As a more established actor I expected him to provide a little more comedic relief than he actually did. Now for my least favorite actor: Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mallark. He was quite uninspiring to me. He was too small, even smaller than Katniss! He was supposed to be muscular, as he is described to be able to throw 100lb flour sacks with ease, but alas, this guys frame was pathetic. Beyond that, he didn't have the charisma that the Peeta in the book had. He made it hard to believe that Katniss and him had anything going on, when it's supposed to be the other way around.

And finally, film adaptation of novel. I really liked that only a few minor details were changed. For example in the book Katniss gets the Mockingjay pin from her friend, the mayor's daughter. Also, it wasn't Peeta's idea to hold hands mid-chariot ride, it was Cinna's to hold hand from the beginning. Beyond that, it told the story well. The violence was done very well. It was believable, yet not over-played. I specifically liked the scenes with the wall of fire, and the one with the trackerjackers. And I guess the suspense was well done too? I guess that's hard to tell because I knew exactly what was going to happen next. 

Overall, I give The Hunger Games a 7/10. Worth watching it once, but I wasn't impressed. However, I will watch the sequels, and it's most definitely better than Twilight.

-Mi