After the intense uphill battle of trying to herd the cats that are my friends, I saw the Hunger Games movie tonight.
You may recall that I, er, don't actually like the Hunger Games book that much. I thought it was a decent idea poorly executed, mostly due to the writing style. So I was sort of curious about the movie because I thought that if done right, it could be a better format for the story than the novel was, but like any adaptation it could of course go miserably wrong as well.
I actually really, really enjoyed the film. I think it was much better than any of the Harry Potter movies, although I recognize that being better than a Harry Potter movie isn't an accomplishment in and of itself. But in terms of popular-YA-movie-adaptations, Hunger Games >>> Harry Potter > that other one.
Being a movie meant they trimmed a lot of the fat, and I think they did so well. The pace was exciting and interesting throughout, and the bits that dragged in the book went by very quickly on screen or were removed entirely. I remember for instance there being all sorts of wank about the Mockingjay pin not coming from Madge or w/e -- yeah, no, giving it to Prim "to keep her safe" and then Prim giving it back to Katniss was an improvement. Scenes where Katniss stumbles around the arena on her own were streamlined, and the scenes outside of Katniss' POV -- with the gamemakers or Haymitch or Snow -- added a lot, I thought. I always hated the mutant scene, not because it was disturbing but because I thought it was dumb, so it was nice that the mutant dogs were barely an entity in the movie.
I thought they did well at establishing the disturbing aspect of the Capitol culture and the way the Games are regarded. The propaganda video -- was that in the books? I don't remember -- was a good touch as were the two news anchors dropping convenient information about trackerjackers lol. (Also, hello, Dreamlord/Dobby.)
I thought the acting was decent overall. I wouldn't say I was blown away by Peeta, but he was ...sufficient, I guess. (But a little crosseyed? It made me lol.) None of the other Tributes had much to work with. Cinna and Haymitch were both great. And Lawrence, for all the wank about and unfortunate implications in her casting, was indeed very well-suited to the role of Katniss. I liked Katniss on film much more than I liked Katniss on the page, likely because I didn't have to be annoyed by her choppy internal monologue. Prim was good enough at screaming to make scenes emotional, and Rue was cute in her few scenes although Katniss/Rue felt truncated. I also liked that we got to see the rebellion in District 11.
I went with people who've read the whole series and one person who hadn't read the book at all, and she loved it, which I think speaks to the fact that it does work well as a standalone film without relying on the crutch that is the text to support it, something I think the Harry Potter films never got right at all. One of my friends was disappointed it wasn't bloodier, but I think she lives in a world of delusion. I thought, considering the PG rating, it was reasonably gruesome.
UHHH. IDK I guess that's it, I could ramble some more but I don't think I will. TL;DR very well done, one of the rare adaptations that (IMO anyway) outstrips the source material.
ETA: OMG I FORGOT MY MAJOR COMPLAINT. THE FUCKING SHAKY CAMERA MOVEMENT. UGHHHHHH. I GET THAT IT'S ~INTENSE~ AND EMOTIONAL OR W/E THE FUCK BUT IT WAS MAKING ME DIZZY AND IT WAS HARD TO FOCUS. CUT THAT SHIT DOWN TO A MINIMUM OMG.
You may recall that I, er, don't actually like the Hunger Games book that much. I thought it was a decent idea poorly executed, mostly due to the writing style. So I was sort of curious about the movie because I thought that if done right, it could be a better format for the story than the novel was, but like any adaptation it could of course go miserably wrong as well.
I actually really, really enjoyed the film. I think it was much better than any of the Harry Potter movies, although I recognize that being better than a Harry Potter movie isn't an accomplishment in and of itself. But in terms of popular-YA-movie-adaptations, Hunger Games >>> Harry Potter > that other one.
Being a movie meant they trimmed a lot of the fat, and I think they did so well. The pace was exciting and interesting throughout, and the bits that dragged in the book went by very quickly on screen or were removed entirely. I remember for instance there being all sorts of wank about the Mockingjay pin not coming from Madge or w/e -- yeah, no, giving it to Prim "to keep her safe" and then Prim giving it back to Katniss was an improvement. Scenes where Katniss stumbles around the arena on her own were streamlined, and the scenes outside of Katniss' POV -- with the gamemakers or Haymitch or Snow -- added a lot, I thought. I always hated the mutant scene, not because it was disturbing but because I thought it was dumb, so it was nice that the mutant dogs were barely an entity in the movie.
I thought they did well at establishing the disturbing aspect of the Capitol culture and the way the Games are regarded. The propaganda video -- was that in the books? I don't remember -- was a good touch as were the two news anchors dropping convenient information about trackerjackers lol. (Also, hello, Dreamlord/Dobby.)
I thought the acting was decent overall. I wouldn't say I was blown away by Peeta, but he was ...sufficient, I guess. (But a little crosseyed? It made me lol.) None of the other Tributes had much to work with. Cinna and Haymitch were both great. And Lawrence, for all the wank about and unfortunate implications in her casting, was indeed very well-suited to the role of Katniss. I liked Katniss on film much more than I liked Katniss on the page, likely because I didn't have to be annoyed by her choppy internal monologue. Prim was good enough at screaming to make scenes emotional, and Rue was cute in her few scenes although Katniss/Rue felt truncated. I also liked that we got to see the rebellion in District 11.
I went with people who've read the whole series and one person who hadn't read the book at all, and she loved it, which I think speaks to the fact that it does work well as a standalone film without relying on the crutch that is the text to support it, something I think the Harry Potter films never got right at all. One of my friends was disappointed it wasn't bloodier, but I think she lives in a world of delusion. I thought, considering the PG rating, it was reasonably gruesome.
UHHH. IDK I guess that's it, I could ramble some more but I don't think I will. TL;DR very well done, one of the rare adaptations that (IMO anyway) outstrips the source material.
ETA: OMG I FORGOT MY MAJOR COMPLAINT. THE FUCKING SHAKY CAMERA MOVEMENT. UGHHHHHH. I GET THAT IT'S ~INTENSE~ AND EMOTIONAL OR W/E THE FUCK BUT IT WAS MAKING ME DIZZY AND IT WAS HARD TO FOCUS. CUT THAT SHIT DOWN TO A MINIMUM OMG.
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