The Hunger Games

[LOTRFreak15]

I saw it last friday and then last night. Anyone else seen it? I thought it was very good and so I satarted reading the books. Which are awesome! But that's just me.

[legolas3333]

Well, there were a couple parts they missed/changed that have importance in the sequels that make me wonder what they're going to do. And her girl on fire costume was very underwhelming: I wanted to be picking my jaw off the ground.

Jennifer Lawrence rocked, but personally, I think Josh Hutcherson is one of the worst actors I've ever seen... It reminded me of Harry Potter in the way that the female lead was much, much better than her male co-stars, but the supporting characters stole the show.

[bibfortuna25]

[LOTRFreak15]

@bibfortuna25: HAAHAHAH!!! I agree about leaving stuff out especially before the reaping but over all I thought they did a good job with it.

[TelTura]

Never read the books, saw it last night.  I was impressed with the movie as a whole; they did a good job of keeping it emotional and harrowing for the majority of the film.  I also like how in a film that most obviously is going to be followed with sequels, they gave this movie a satisfying end and yet a lingering feeling of injustice, making me want to see how it turns out overall.  8/10.

[Haszor]

Only read the first two books before watching the movie, but it stuck very close to the book.  I had a few problems, although they were small.  Great movie, easily a 9/10.

[legolas3333]

@bibfortuna25: HAAHAHAH!!! I agree about leaving stuff out especially before the reaping but over all I thought they did a good job with it.

The main thing I missed was the Avox girl... I didn't care as much about the other stuff they left out.

[LOTRFreak15]

Saw the movie. Read the first 2 books. then sw it agan. Now reading the third one.

[FM]

I saw the movie without reading the books. I liked what I saw, about the story, and my wife absolutely loved it, so I bought her the books and plan on read it once I either finish the current books available from A Song of Ice and Fire, or they are all out and I read them all, whatever happens first.
I might be very wrong, and it might not even be in the books, but I didn't like some of the options the Direction made, from what I've gathered about the story.
First of all, their entrance in the parade was just... lame. I expected more. Then, from what I understand, every district has lost the war, and thus lives in misery (or close to it), so even though the people on Districts 1 and 2 actually train for that and volunteer, I don't know, I thought it was kinda harsh to them as well, I mean, you train your whole childhood for a 0.5/24 chance of making it to adulthood (since you have a "friend" with you training the same way and going to the Games as well), I thought the movie was supposed to make you feel sorry for all of them, even though you clearly knew who to root for, and what I saw is that the majority of the guys left after the first wave are just a bunch of #$&*@!. And how DID that alliance work anyway? Sure they all knew they'd have to kill each other, but why did they come together in the first place? What was their agreement about it? Who was the smartest one that had the best plan to waste the others?
Also, Rue. The way the movie showed her, "spying" on Katniss early on, then following her through the woods and all, I fully and completely expected her to plunge a knife on Katniss' back up to the very last moment (yes, I know, she heald her, etc., but it could work the smae way the "alliance" of the other guys did, she simply needed some help, and Katniss was an 11 after all...), instead of understanding (which sunk in at that particular scene) that she admired her for... whatever reason. Not explained. I couldn't really expect anyone to shed a tear for Rue, even though, from what I've understood then, they're supposed to.
Then... the three-fingers gesture. I'm pretty sure that's really important, and it just lingers there. The scenes it is showed are all awesome, and still, I have no freaking idea what it means. My wife read it yesterday and told me, and c'mon, it's a pretty big deal!
Also... sponsors. How the #$&*@! does that work? Why is she the only sponsored one? What can sponsors do? How come the organization can simply blow half the scenery up just to get a single competitor and no one cares, if it's supposed to be a "reality show"? What is that stuff that insta-heals them? How come they have that grade of technology and not a single gun?

Overall, I just thought they were amazingly loose on details for a 2:30 hour movie.
Still liked it, do not get me wrong, but... I expect to be thoroughly dissappointed by it once I read the book, or I know I'll be disappointed at the book, if it's not the case.

[macheteman]

i saw it. was disappointed in the cinematography, they fell into the trap of the ever popular but not actually that artistic "shakey for no good reason except that everybody thinks its super cool this decade".  even in scenes that weren't action the camera was all over the place.

and i have to agree with FM, unfortunately loose on the details. they spent forever talking about sponsors and never showed you how it works.

i also thought that it didn't really have very much to say. like, it was an entertainining movie, and you want to see how the story ends, but it's not one of those movies that leaves you thinking for the next week.

all that said, i actually did enjoy it, and will try to read the books sometime. i thought the emotional climax when the little girl dies was pretty good. i would give it a 7/10 overall.

looking forward to the next one, but i'm not holding my breath or anything.

[LOTRFreak15]

I think they were little loose on how the sponsors are supposed to work. I agree they missed some things but I thought they did good without extending it to be to long. I think the thing with guns is that someone immediatly grbs and mowes everyone down. Becuse the Capitol people want it longer(like 2 weeks).

[TelTura]

Then... the three-fingers gesture. I'm pretty sure that's really important, and it just lingers there. The scenes it is showed are all awesome, and still, I have no freaking idea what it means. My wife read it yesterday and told me, and c'mon, it's a pretty big deal!
Also... sponsors. How the #$&*@! does that work? Why is she the only sponsored one? What can sponsors do? How come the organization can simply blow half the scenery up just to get a single competitor and no one cares, if it's supposed to be a "reality show"? What is that stuff that insta-heals them? How come they have that grade of technology and not a single gun?

Overall, I just thought they were amazingly loose on details for a 2:30 hour movie.

One of the things I felt was this movie's strength was the fact that they didn't fall into the trope of explaining everything.  Some things are left unexplained, and are either unimportant (you question the medicine they got, but would you question the Bacta tank in The Empire Strikes Back? It's a catch-all healing substance, you can tell by its effect; that's good enough) or unseen (you really want some hamfisted scene showing the other tributes getting sponsored help?  We only follow the one character and that's the only point of view we've got).   This is a strength, not a weakness

The one thing I felt wasn't explained well was why it was called The Hunger Games in the first place; I had to piece that together with the one fleeting tidbit about getting your name thrown in the pot for every ration; I had kind of assumed that the original uprising had something to do with famine or something and the games were named after the war, but maybe that's just me.

As for the gesture, it may have some backstory, perhaps some significance to these people that we lack, but it's similar enough to a salute that we don't need an explanation.  If she had done a straight-backed military salute the message would have been the same to us the audience ("I feel for you, this #$&*@! blows, I don't want to die but I didn't want her to die either, I'm sorry I couldn't take care of her, our government sucks"), if a little more awkward in context.

All in all, I'm glad they kept their screentime to explaining events that we could relate with, not obscure backstory that frankly never translates well from text to screen.  Even my working out why it was called The Hunger Games left me with an "aha" moment that movies (and games) have far too little of nowadays.

I thought the movie was supposed to make you feel sorry for all of them, even though you clearly knew who to root for, and what I saw is that the majority of the guys left after the first wave are just a bunch of #$&*@!.

That didn't make you feel sorry for them?  I especially liked the scene at the end on the metal tent thing, where you see the District 1 dude was absolutely nothing, he had trained his whole life for a game he wasn't likely to get into and once he got in was even less likely to survive.  His clan has taken the warmongering bloodlust route of dealing with an unjust situation by "proving" they were unaffected by the hardship by embracing it.  His entire people is empty.  I frankly feel sorrier for him than for some of the faceless kids killed at the start.

And how DID that alliance work anyway? Sure they all knew they'd have to kill each other, but why did they come together in the first place?

I take it you've never watched Survivor.

i also thought that it didn't really have very much to say. like, it was an entertainining movie, and you want to see how the story ends, but it's not one of those movies that leaves you thinking for the next week.

It was no Inception or Adjustment Bureau, but I think there was plenty to reflect on...there's an entire advanced society that terrorizes the lesser-equipped peoples around it, who preach peace but practice barbarism, who tout themselves as the most civilized and yet gather together as a nation to bet on people killing each other.  The picture it paints is a bit too familiar for my tastes; the picture's not at fault but the subject.

[macheteman]

the only thing i didn't understand about the alliance, was: if peeta liked katniss, then why was he helping them find her? i could understand if maybe there was a scene when they were like, "lead us to the girl or we'll kill you"  but it never explaned it.

[LOTRFreak15]

I think he did that so if they did find her he could try to protect here. Like he did when the tracker jacker venom got into her. But that's just me.