Books Made into Movie: The Hunger Games

Okay, I do know what you're thinking. Yes, I just saw The Hunger Games at 1:30 today, or, 2, since there's a freaking half hour of previews. Speaking of the previews, I have two things I cannot resist mentioning. Thing the first: why are Edward and Bella all disgusting in the sun together and not sparkly? Thing the second: in what topsy-turvy universe is Kristen Stewart more attractive than Charlize Theron? Summation of my thoughts of the previews: Kristen Stewart = THE WORST. She ruins everything.

 Charlize looks so shocked, because the mirror has clearly just told her an April Fools' joke.

 Which would you choose?

So back to The Hunger Games. Anyway, I had my reasons for waiting to see it, which I won't bore you with now. Having waited so long, I did have a slight idea what to expect, despite having tried to avoid reviews like the bubonic plague. Basically, I heard it was pretty faithful to the book, and that the worst part was all of the shaky camera-work.

To a large degree, I agree with what has already been said, but I do still feel the need to put my own analysis out into the blogosphere. I guess a good place to start is with the biggest complaint, the shaky camera technique which big use is made of. While I do not like shaky camera, I do think they did a good job with it. What was cool about it was that the camera was only shaky in District 12 and in the arena. In the Capitol it was nice and smooth, which really makes a nice commentary on how different the Capitol is from the other locations. If it had been shaky throughout, I would not have been so happy.

As to changes, I only noticed two major ones, both of which I think are at least decent changes to make. Likely, I missed some, as I read the book three years ago and my memory is awful. The first change was that Katniss 'purchased' the mockingjay pin in the movie, whereas, in the book, she was gifted the pin by a girl in her class, the mayor's daughter. I don't remember the girl's name even, and do not feel moved to look it up. This was a good change. There's no reason to introduce this girl's character for the film, since she wouldn't serve any other purpose.

The second scene, which I am both glad and a bit disappointed that they changed, was at the very end. In the book, the dogs that are released when there are just a couple of tributes left are clearly the already deceased tributes. This was so effing creepy. Creepy like whoa. In the movie, they're just scary dog monsters, which greatly resemble the Wolves of Isengard sans fur. I'm glad I didn't have to see the weird people dogs, and I can see why that might be tricky to get across to the part of the audience which had not read the book, but was also a bit saddened to see such a large deviation, especially since it will matter later...again.

This...only less furry. Maybe a less bat-like nose.

Now, the actors. Basically, I thought they all did a pretty fantastic job. There certainly wasn't anyone that ruined it for me. The worst choice, in my opinion, would be Gale, since he was not as attractive as he was in my head, but he was alright. Peeta actually really worked for me, but may have been a disappointment to some of the Team Peeta folks, since he was both quite short and not especially attractive. He did, however, look fairly like how I imagined Peeta, although I think my Peeta had curly hair, although that may have been of my own devising. Really, I haven't heard too much about the casting, except about Katniss and Rue.

Speaking of Katniss and Rue, WTF were people smoking when they complained? Many folks have mentioned that Jennifer Lawrence was too skinny to play Katniss. I think that's BS. Lawrence did a really good job, both with being cold and being emotional. She certainly isn't fat, but she's not a stick either. What meat she does have on her bones is clearly muscle. Honestly, the Katniss in my head was muscular and skinny, so she did a pretty great job. People who thought she would be fatter, think about how little the folks in District 12 had to eat, even those families lucky enough to have a hunter like Katniss or Gale. Note: even Katniss was starving at some points, like when Peeta gave her pig bread.

Tell her to her face she was too skinny. I dare you.

Amandla Stenberg has received some hate...for being black. I don't want to belabor this point, which has been already made many times over, likely more succinctly and completely than I could hope to do, but I have to say something anyway. Rue is black in the book, so she should be in the movie. Not only that, but Stenberg was perfect. I hate children, and even I thought she was completely effing adorable. Also, Stenberg managed to pull off looking like a twelve-year-old that might stand a really slight chance of surviving. She was awesome, and that's all I needed to say.

That is one precious moppet.

I would also like to take a moment to applaud the fact that they didn't over-romanticize Peeta and Katniss. The cave scenes in the book were not especially romantic. And, thankfully, the full awkwardness of their predicament is captured in the movie. That really could have been a dealbreaker for me, if they had gotten that wrong.

The movie may have been a two and a half hours long, a full hour longer than the average film these days, but I was never bored and it did not feel that long. They definitely captured the most important aspects of the book and I do not feel at all betrayed (as I did by the Harry Potter movies, the last two of which I have not even watched). I'm not sure if this film would make sense to someone who did not already know the story from having read the book. If you have read the book, it's definitely worth a watch.