The Hunger Games (movie)

So, I finally got around to watching The Hunger Games movie. I don't usually write movie reviews because...it's kind of hard to explain. Although I generally enjoy movies, I don't really care about them. Not enough to review them. I imagine you can see where this review is going.

I felt I should write a quick review for this movie since I wrote such gushing reviews of the books. So here it is.

I'm not going to get into great detail on the differences between the book and the movie. Was it missing things from the book I wish were in the movie? Of course (Haymitch falling off the stage?). It was made up for by adding in things that made the movie work better than how it would have without them. So I'm cool with the differences.

Now, lets talk about casting for just a second. Whoever did the casting did a fantastic job. Even the people that didn't look like I imagined them worked really well. And most of them..well, they were all pretty close to how I saw them in my head. Rue and Effie? They were PERFECT. Casting was well done. Very well done.

My biggest complaint about the whole thing is that there weren't enough extremes. The people of District 12 were poor, but weren't portrayed as epicly poor. And the capitol was extravagant and kind of weird, but not as over the top as they should have been. Haymitch had a few drinks, but wasn't a horrible drunk. The Games themselves were awful, but were not near as barbaric as they were in the books. The extremes are what made the books so compelling. They were what I missed most when watching the movie.

I think I would have liked the movie a lot more had I never read the books. But if I'd watched the movie first I never would have read the books. It was good, but not great. I enjoyed it but...meh.

The Hunger Games

So, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. This is a book with a lot of hype surrounding it. So, let me start with this: Holy Crap. I now completely understand what the big deal is.

"In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games," a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed." - From Amazon.com

I'm a big dystopian future fan. I'm also a fan of strong, kick ass female leads. Those two things alone made me love this book. But it also has suspense, plot twists, surprises and more. If I'd had the time, I would have read the whole book in one sitting. I didn't though, but I did stay up an hour pasted my bedtime to finish it, and woke up an hour early the next morning, wanting nothing more the to start book 2, Catching Fire.

On a scale from Totally Awesome to Horrifically Awful, I'd give it a Totally Awesome. Yes, it really is that good.