Spoilers? Oh yeah!
We all know not to judge a book by its… movie, so I guess it would also seem proper not to set expectations of a movie based on its book. You’d think that after Harry Potter and then twilight (yeah I’ve heard that there have been a couple of other movies over the course of history that have also been based on books) we’d be used to dialing down our hopes for entertainment value of movies to about 60 or 70 percent of what the books provide but it’s just so hard to give it up. No matter how hard we try to go in with low expectations there is always that sneaky bit of hope that always seems to hide away in some deep dark corner until inevitably the time comes to jump out and wallow in disappointment. Maybe just this time it will be different, The Hunger Games has been getting great reviews…
Well, The Hunger Games is a great book but the movie version is only a shallow reproduction which lacks most of the emotion and depth of the original story. I’m not saying that it’s a bad movie, it’s actually pretty good, the actors are believable and the scenes are mostly well done. There is just not enough of the whole story necessary to bring the emotional highs and lows.
The two biggest moments for me in the book were when Katniss volunteered to take the place of Prim at The Reaping and then the death of Rue in the games. The first scene was done about as well as I could have hoped with the small exception that I thought Katniss took a little too long to volunteer in the movie. In the book, or at least in my memory, she spoke up almost instantly as soon as Prim’s name was called. Rue’s death in the book was actually the biggest moment for me. We knew a little more about her and were able to care about her and her fate. In the movie she peeks around a tree a couple of times, gets killed and suddenly Katniss is wailing and building flower arrangements on the body of this girl we were barely introduced to.
I thought the games themselves were somewhat glossed over and toned way way down so all the young kids who had already read about all the death and mayhem in the book wouldn’t have to actually see it on screen (cue eye roll). It almost seemed they were chasing each other around the mall rather than engaging in a fight to the death.
Jennifer Lawrence was a fine Katniss and that boy from Bridge to Terabithia made a good Peeta, although I thought he could have been bigger. Just like in the book I felt sorry for Gale, yet another Mr. Right being replaced by Mr. Right Now. He is played by Liam Hemsworth and apparently he is going out with Miley Cyrus so he deserves our pity in real life as well. I liked Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch better than the real one in the book and Stanley Tucci played a great Regis… I mean Ceasar Flickerman.
I really wish Hollywood would stop with the shaky cam and quick cuts. It never fools me into thinking the scene is extra realistic and in fact takes me out of the story by making me realize I am watching some trendy editing technique which just makes things more confusing. The shaky cam footage at the beginning of this movie was particularly baffling. Nothing was blowing up, no cars were being chased and neither Matt Damon nor Jason Statham is even in the movie. Come on!
I will close with my gratitude to you for reading my little review, or if I may quote Katniss with one of my favorite lines from the movie, “thank you for your consideration”.
