I saw The Hunger Games!
Mar. 24th, 2012 06:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_deep_magicFirst of all, I'm not someone who gets mad when a movie isn't 100% faithful to the book. They're different media, and what works in one doesn't necessarily work in the other. I may occasionally bitch if a scene I particularly like is left out altogether, but in general, as long as they get the characters and themes right, I don't mind the differences. And yes, I do think there are some movies that are better than the books they're based on. (Ever read The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty? Don't.)
That said, this is one of the most faithful book-to-movie adaptations I can remember seeing, helped in a large part by the fact that the book itself is written in a very cinematic way. It's done on purpose -- the Hunger Games are visual entertainment for the citizens of Panem, so Suzanne Collins wrote it to be very visually compelling. There are some minor differences. The friend I saw it with had literally just read the book (as in, stayed up until 3 a.m. last night finishing it), so she went through and griped about all the little things that the movie got "wrong": Peeta doesn't get his own stylist, Katniss doesn't get the bread from District 11, Peeta's injury wasn't serious enough, the backpacks at the Cornucopia are supposed to be of different sizes, etc. But my friend is also a serious Debbie Downer, so pay no attention to her.
The only thing I thought the movie didn't get quite right was the time in the Capitol before the Games start. For example, it doesn't quite come across why Cinna is so important to Katniss (other than the fact that he's Lenny Kravitz in gold eyeliner), and Katniss' complicated relationship with Haymitch is greatly simplified. I think this is a result of the simple fact that we aren't (and can't be) in Katniss' head this whole time, so we don't hear her doubts about Peeta and Haymitch. In fact, my biggest quibble with the movie would be that it made Haymitch too likeable too early on, and that took away from the tension leading up to the Games. Peeta was woobified a little bit, but honestly not as much as I thought -- for some reason I thought I was going to be annoyed by Josh Hutcherson, but I actually liked him just fine.
In fact, all of the casting is perfectly done (though I think they seriously underused Woody Harrelson and they didn't give Liam Hemsworth anything to do but pout). Jennifer Lawrence is, of course, amazing. I just watched Winter's Bone a few days ago, and she's excellent at doing a lot with very little dialogue.
I did like that, since we aren't limited to Katniss' POV, we get to see behind the scenes of the Games. I think it made it even clearer than the book did how carefully orchestrated the Games are, that it's less the Tributes fighting to the death than it is the gamemakers controlling when and how they die. There's even a specific mention of not making a martyr out of Katniss in one of the scenes (which I thought were a masterful addition) between Seneca Crane and President Snow. In the books, Crane's not even mentioned until the beginning of Catching Fire when Snow implies that he's been executed. I'm glad they gave him a role in this movie -- quite frankly, it will make more sense when they introduce Plutarch Whatshisname in the sequels.
I wish the ending had been a little more ominous to show how much is at stake after what Katniss did with the berries, but apparently the filmmakers weren't sure they'd be making the sequels at the time, so I guess I can't fault them for that. The book itself ends on a note that would have driven me crazy if I didn't have the next one right there on my Kindle, so the movie's ending, while short and anticlimactic, was probably about as skillfully done as it could be.
There will almost certainly be sequels, and while I'm excited for them, I'm not sure how good of a movie Catching Fire will make. [Mild spoilers for the rest of the trilogy in this paragraph] Not a whole lot happens for the first half until they get back into the Arena, and even that ends very abruptly with few answers. I honestly think they could combine the last two books into a single movie by cutting out the long sequence of visiting each district and about half of Katniss' hospital stays in Mockingjay, but of course they're going to stretch the damn thing into three more movies because by god, it worked for Harry Potter and Twilight. Apparently we will inevitably shell out twice the money for the last book in a series.
Also, in case anybody asks me, I think Chris Pine would make an excellent Finnick. And I could see Zach as Plutarch. HEY HOLLYWOOD GIVE ME A CALL I HAVE SOME GREAT IDEAS.
That said, this is one of the most faithful book-to-movie adaptations I can remember seeing, helped in a large part by the fact that the book itself is written in a very cinematic way. It's done on purpose -- the Hunger Games are visual entertainment for the citizens of Panem, so Suzanne Collins wrote it to be very visually compelling. There are some minor differences. The friend I saw it with had literally just read the book (as in, stayed up until 3 a.m. last night finishing it), so she went through and griped about all the little things that the movie got "wrong": Peeta doesn't get his own stylist, Katniss doesn't get the bread from District 11, Peeta's injury wasn't serious enough, the backpacks at the Cornucopia are supposed to be of different sizes, etc. But my friend is also a serious Debbie Downer, so pay no attention to her.
The only thing I thought the movie didn't get quite right was the time in the Capitol before the Games start. For example, it doesn't quite come across why Cinna is so important to Katniss (other than the fact that he's Lenny Kravitz in gold eyeliner), and Katniss' complicated relationship with Haymitch is greatly simplified. I think this is a result of the simple fact that we aren't (and can't be) in Katniss' head this whole time, so we don't hear her doubts about Peeta and Haymitch. In fact, my biggest quibble with the movie would be that it made Haymitch too likeable too early on, and that took away from the tension leading up to the Games. Peeta was woobified a little bit, but honestly not as much as I thought -- for some reason I thought I was going to be annoyed by Josh Hutcherson, but I actually liked him just fine.
In fact, all of the casting is perfectly done (though I think they seriously underused Woody Harrelson and they didn't give Liam Hemsworth anything to do but pout). Jennifer Lawrence is, of course, amazing. I just watched Winter's Bone a few days ago, and she's excellent at doing a lot with very little dialogue.
I did like that, since we aren't limited to Katniss' POV, we get to see behind the scenes of the Games. I think it made it even clearer than the book did how carefully orchestrated the Games are, that it's less the Tributes fighting to the death than it is the gamemakers controlling when and how they die. There's even a specific mention of not making a martyr out of Katniss in one of the scenes (which I thought were a masterful addition) between Seneca Crane and President Snow. In the books, Crane's not even mentioned until the beginning of Catching Fire when Snow implies that he's been executed. I'm glad they gave him a role in this movie -- quite frankly, it will make more sense when they introduce Plutarch Whatshisname in the sequels.
I wish the ending had been a little more ominous to show how much is at stake after what Katniss did with the berries, but apparently the filmmakers weren't sure they'd be making the sequels at the time, so I guess I can't fault them for that. The book itself ends on a note that would have driven me crazy if I didn't have the next one right there on my Kindle, so the movie's ending, while short and anticlimactic, was probably about as skillfully done as it could be.
There will almost certainly be sequels, and while I'm excited for them, I'm not sure how good of a movie Catching Fire will make. [Mild spoilers for the rest of the trilogy in this paragraph] Not a whole lot happens for the first half until they get back into the Arena, and even that ends very abruptly with few answers. I honestly think they could combine the last two books into a single movie by cutting out the long sequence of visiting each district and about half of Katniss' hospital stays in Mockingjay, but of course they're going to stretch the damn thing into three more movies because by god, it worked for Harry Potter and Twilight. Apparently we will inevitably shell out twice the money for the last book in a series.
Also, in case anybody asks me, I think Chris Pine would make an excellent Finnick. And I could see Zach as Plutarch. HEY HOLLYWOOD GIVE ME A CALL I HAVE SOME GREAT IDEAS.
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no subject
Date: 2012-03-24 11:12 pm (UTC)One thing I ask though is how pg-13 is the movie? Is it graphically violent? I have a kid on the borderline of being okay with those movies and he wants to see it. What are your thoughts on the level of violence? Is it graphic? For example, the 7th Harry Potter was pg-13 and I thought it was okay for him. He likes some scary movies that are pg-13 but I'm careful about them. Not a lot of blood or swear words? Okay. I let him watch some pg-13 action movies, but I usually see them first to make sure they're alright.
Opinion?
no subject
Date: 2012-03-24 11:28 pm (UTC)If the final Harry Potter was acceptable, I would say this one would be, too.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-24 11:49 pm (UTC)I appreciate it.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-25 01:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-25 03:38 am (UTC)idk, man. it's just perfection. i'm having a harder time picturing the plutarch zach, but it guess it's because my brain saw him as an older man in his 40s or so.
alright. well. if it has your stamp of approval, then i'm not too worried.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-26 03:32 am (UTC)Because he can be all sleazeball charm facade and omg!heartbroken at the same time and I will swooooooon.
i'm having a harder time picturing the plutarch zach, but it guess it's because my brain saw him as an older man in his 40s or so.
Hmm, I forget how he's described in the book, but I can easily see Zach pulling off a guy whose motives you're not quite sure of. Also I just wanted to cast him as something so he could work with Chris again. IN MY IMAGINATION.