May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor…
Like so many people, I went to see The Hunger Games movie last night. And I’m still trying to decide how I felt about it. I want to tell you know, this may include some spoilers, so this is your warning. I mean, as far as movies based on books go, it followed the plot line pretty well. I thought they casted some amazing characters – I absolutely loved Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, Stanley Tucci as Caesar, and the girl they cast as Rue was absolutely adorable.
But on the other hand the camera work for the first 15 minutes or so is so shaky, it almost made me sick. It’s the type of faux-documentary style work done in movies like The Blair Witch Project. It may have been that I was sitting to close to the screen and I know they wanted that sense of urgency and confusion, but it was so jerky you couldn’t really focus on anything.
I was also a little disappointed by the character development. A lot of the book deals with the relationships between the characters and the movie rushes past so many key details. There is a sense of urgency and panic in the book, but there is also as my boyfriend pointed out the psychological aspect of the movie that is somewhat glossed over.
I know there was a debate raging about how to rate this movie rather a PG-13 or R. I definitely think that they had to have rated it PG-13 to get the type of crowds they were looking for, but maybe a R rating would have made the film a little more gritty.
Even though I had a lot of criticism, I usually do – especially for movies based on books. Overall, it was an entertaining movie, that followed the book fairly well with some amazing actors. Oh, and if you jumped onThe Hunger Gamesbandwagon and haven’t read the book yet – I highly suggest it! It’s phenomenal!
As a personal aside, the book is considered a young adult novel – that means that it is truly geared toward a 7th grade and up audience – there is violence, fighting to the death, alcoholism, and other themes that are not appropriate for a younger audience.