The long awaited movie adaptation of the first book in the Hunger Games series has finally hit theaters and we couldn’t be more excited.
When people ask us to describe the books, the only thing we can say is, it’s like nothing you’ve ever read before. It’s a futuristic, reality television death match, that pits children against each other in a giant man-made arena. They will fight to the death while their home districts and the people living in the Capitol watch on large televisions. Demented and wrong, no?
We saw the movie over the weekend and the general consensus among the movie goers that we spoke with is, that it was awesome. Very well done, very well acted.
I have to say that the backdrops, the costumes, and the settings were exactly like I imagined it when I read the books, the despair of the districts and the flamboyant nature of the capitol. They did a great job translating it all on to the big screen, with no major book to movie discrepancies. For book fans, this movie does not disappoint.
Jennifer Lawrence, who plays Katniss Everdeen, portrays the characters determination and demeanor perfectly. Watching her relationship develop with Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) made us want a Cinna (and some awesome gold eyeliner!)
While most preferred the hunkiness of Gale, played by Liam Hemsworth, they still walked away Team Peeta. Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) is cute, in a baby face way, and that role just worked for him. One comparison we heard was that “he’ll probably beef up between movies, like Taylor Lautner did in the Twilight series.”
The rest of the supporting cast includes, Woody Harrelson as the grumpy, rebellious, liquored up Haymitch. Former Hunger Games winner, turned mentor (Love!) and Donald Sutherland as President Snow (also, Love!)
The violence is there, it had to be, but it wasn’t overly graphic. The building of relationships felt a bit rushed but given that the movie is already over 2 hours long, some things just have to be sped up in relation to the book.
The ending is very tense and leaves you wanting more! It’s a good thing we’ve got at least 2 more to look forward to!
My only negative thoughts are that they didn’t incorporate the soundtrack into the movie. The soundtrack is amazing, and I feel that the right soundtrack can make or break a movie, in this case it was just MIA. Maybe because of the intense nature of this film it didn’t work, but it was a bit lost on me that they didn’t use at least some of the songs in the movie. Credits don’t count.
All in all, we were pleased and will probably see it again, just to be sure!
What were your thoughts on the movie, did you enjoy it as much as the book, did you miss the absence of the soundtrack?
I enjoyed seeing the book come to life on screen. As is the case with many books to movie films there are changes, but I think overall they stayed very true to the story and only changed a few things for the sake of time. I was a bit emotional during the key moments, and in the book the emotion is not as overwhelming as seeing it on film. But as far as movies go, this tops a lot of the stuff Hollywood puts out each year. I can’t wait to go back!
I had a hard time fighting back tears with sweet little Rue..
Couldn’t agree more. My only criricizm is I wish they did more in developing the relationship we saw grow between Katniss and Peeta in the book.
I missed seeing that develop and I felt like the relationship with Rue and Haymitch were also rushed.. But I guess that’s part of a time issue..