Pathik Bhatt

The Hunger Games Movie Review

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Pathik

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The Hunger Games movie makers did well but I found the story much less compelling than I thought I would on screen. Everyone’s review of this book talks about how it was “made to be a movie,” but I think we all got it wrong. The book should have been a LOST style TV show with lots of time devoted to the back story and characters’ thoughts. Without that connection, the actual hunger games part of the movie just didn’t mean that much to me. They needed more time to build up the suspense, and mini-events instead of just jumping on to the next scene. Not enough time was devoted to the games, but then again without narrative of Katniss’ thoughts I don’t know that extending it would have helped. The movie definitely made me appreciate Suzanne Collins’ book more.

Spoiler Alert: Don’t read on if you have not read The Hunger Games already.

What they did well:

  • – Casting as a whole was good, Katniss was perfect. (I’ll mention a few misses below)
  • – Lenny Kravitz as Cinna was money! Side Note: my brother was trying to convince me that the actor wasn’t him the entire ride home from the movie
  • – Haymitch was great, good comedic role
  • – Rue’s death, she was a very likeable person even w/ the short character development in the movie
  • – Katniss up a tree, cutting bee hive, escape
  • – Arrow through the apple in the pig scene; the whole training part was thorough
  • – Effie’s obscured point of view – this was clear and was funny

What they missed or changed:

  • – President Snow should have been way more evil, and more hate-worthy – NOT jolly ol’ saint nick.
  • – Not enough time to get an emotional connection to Gale
  • – District 11 starts rioting after Rue’s death instead of sending Katniss a gift
  • – The importance of the dress and the first impression wasn’t translated, it’s too well narrated in the book
  • – Significance of the dogs at the end, they don’t get the other tributes’ eyes in the movie
  • – Significance of Katniss’ first kill
  • – they made it Katniss’ song instead of Rue’s song
  • – they skipped the gift of sleeping medicine for Peeta that enabled Katniss to go to the cornucopia

All in all if you’ve read the book then you must go see the movie, but go with the attitude that I used to take with me to Harry Potter movies: the movie exists as a treat to the reader fans, not as an equal or replacement.

What did you think of the Hunger Games Movie? I’d love to read your thoughts. Write a small review in the comments below and let me know if I missed anything or if you disagree with what I said above.

 

Comments

2 responses to “The Hunger Games Movie Review”

  1. Aliner2 Avatar
    Aliner2

    Aside from what you said above..They didn’t show Peeta having his leg being amputated after the games finished. He healed too well during the movie. The movie was on fast forward.. too fast…no time to connect to the characters. I hate that they didn’t have Madge and no explaining the story behind the Mockingjay pin. There were other things but that really peeved me. I hate it when they change things that are really important to keep.

    1. Pathik Avatar
      Pathik

      Yeah! I totally forgot about the amputation. I too was upset that they left out Madge and the significance of the pin, but they have to cut somewhere when they’re trying to squeeze it into 2.5 hours. If anything, this first movie should have been split into 2, I don’t know how they’re going to slice up the rest of the story into 3 more parts.

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