The Hunger Games
I saw it at midnight. Spoiler alert: Katniss wins! My thoughts...
I get really frustrated when I see a movie that *could* have been phenomenal, but makes a few big missteps and falls short. This was one of those movies. I give it a solid B+. Here were my issues:
-True and real shaky cam. WAY overdone. It was used well in many places, particularly during the Hunger Games, but they use it constantly. Constantly! Even during quiet, conversational scenes! For example, the opening scenes in District 12 should NOT have been so OMG EARTHQUAKE EXTREME CLOSEUPS WHAT IS HAPPENING I CAN'T EVEN TELL. This was exacerbated, I'm sure, by the fact that I was sitting in the second row, making it even harder to get a sense of things. But this is BEFORE the shit hits the fan; it shouldn't be so out of control. A calmer camera with more wide shots would have a) actually established a sense of place in District 12 and b) provided more of a contrast when her world spins out of control at the Reaping. The conversation in the woods between Katniss and Gale was also way too jumpy. That should have been a quiet, calm, peaceful scene. That is supposed to be their refuge from the shitty life they live. ESPECIALLY if you're going to use shaky cam in the District, the woods should have been a calm respite from that.
-Gale. What the HELL was that casting choice? Why is he this super-buff, clean-shaven, dude bro?! On the walk home Kim and I were joking about Gale's morning routine: "He wakes up before the sun rises, takes a bath, engages in a bit of manscaping, gets out his hair gel and cultivates his 'do, and then slips out of bounds to go trap food for his starving, destitute family before he comes back, trades a squirrel for some protein shakes, and pumps some iron." Come ON! This is supposed to be a place where people are constantly on the brink of starving to death! Who is this CW high school quarterback? Every time he was on screen we just couldn't help but laugh. Peeta had some of that football burly look too, but he was always supposed to be strong and managed to play the character well enough that I got over it. I was happy with him.
-Pulling punches. I'd seen it mentioned beforehand that the movie is not as graphic as the book with the violence. We were talking about it in the seats before the movie started, how that makes sense because an image of violence hits a lot harder in most cases than a description of it in words. But they were too soft about it. There were a couple of really visceral moments that I though were incredibly effective -- the neck snapping, when Thresh beats Clove to death, the girl killed by tracker jackers -- without being gory or overly graphic, but in most cases, you see so little of the action (hey there, shaky cam) and so little blood that you don't really feel the weight of what's happening. Rue's death, in particular, was too soft, I think. You didn't quite feel the emotions at the level that the scene deserved. People, animals... they just do NOT die like that, ever. She's been stabbed in the chest by a freaking spear! You don't just quietly slip off to sleep from that. You drown in your own blood. I look more agonized than Rue did when I have cramps for cryin' out loud. Now, I'm not saying that it had to be horribly graphic. I realize they wanted that PG-13. But she should have been having trouble breathing at the very least. There should have been desperation there, death gasps. That would have made the contrast with Katniss's soothing and singing, and the silence of her death, so much more powerful. As it was, I almost didn't believe that she'd died, and the scene had much less emotional impact. The book made me cry in that scene, i mean really cry; the movie didn't.
-Lack of relationship development. Particularly between Katniss and Gale and Katniss and Rue. They each needed just a little more time together to really establish that Katniss cares about them, make us care about them, and heighten the dramatic tension. I realize that the movie is almost 2 and a half hours as it is, but I would have much rather lost a few minutes in the Capitol or wandering in the woods during the Games to make me care more about those relationships.
-The pace is a little frenetic, but they are trying to cram so much in that it's hard to see what they could have cut to give it more breathing room. The perils of a faithful adaptation...
If those things had been changed, I think this movie would have been fucking AMAZING. But I still thought it was good and look forward to the sequels. It's only when the rest of the movie is great that mistakes like these bother me so much. Here are some things I think they did great:
-The Capitol. Everything about the Capotol was fantastic, from the design to the realtiy-show-esque tone to the ridiculous fashions that seemed like the logical extreme of our haute couture instead of some alien culture, which I though was really effective.
-I loved Lenny Kravitz as Cinna. He had just the right demeanor.
-When Cinna and Katniss are in the tubes right before the games start... that scene is really powerful. Fantastic acting, real tension, and I love love LOVE the live, 45 second countdown.
-They cut to things that are only rumored or described later in the book. I LOVED that they showed the District 11 riot right after Rue died, that moment when absolute heartbreak and the final straw turns to rage and backlash. It's a feeling I know, and it was perfect. My only complaint is that I wish they had just given us a *couple* of seconds of facial expression on someone(s) in the crowd, to actually SEE that mental switch flip before the riots start. I also loved the scenes in the Gamemaker's room. They really tied things together in an effective way.
-The love stuff. I was disappointed in the books for handling the Peeta/Gale stuff in what I though was a shy and unrealistic way. The pressure to pretend to love Peeta and her tortured internal dialogue about it are so played up that I actually thought they were going to be forced to fuck for the entertainment of the Capitol, and it felt like Collins was just afraid to write about sexuality when a chaste kiss was all that happened. The movie handled it better; it wasn't so played up, and so the kiss felt appropriate. However, the "cut to Gale" every time something happened between her and Peeta -- EVERY TIME! -- was just on the nose. And silly, because fuck Liam Hemsworth; he's in the wrong goddamn movie.
-Haymitch. I saw Haymitch as older and fatter, but Woody Harrelson is spot fucking on. He's pulls off that sense of a messy drunk who's got a hidden cleverness extremely well. He was fantastic and I loved every second of him.
In closing... go see it! It's didn't quite meet my expectations, but I really enjoyed it, never got bored, and it's awesome. Plus we need more movies with kickass female leads so go give them your money!
I get really frustrated when I see a movie that *could* have been phenomenal, but makes a few big missteps and falls short. This was one of those movies. I give it a solid B+. Here were my issues:
-True and real shaky cam. WAY overdone. It was used well in many places, particularly during the Hunger Games, but they use it constantly. Constantly! Even during quiet, conversational scenes! For example, the opening scenes in District 12 should NOT have been so OMG EARTHQUAKE EXTREME CLOSEUPS WHAT IS HAPPENING I CAN'T EVEN TELL. This was exacerbated, I'm sure, by the fact that I was sitting in the second row, making it even harder to get a sense of things. But this is BEFORE the shit hits the fan; it shouldn't be so out of control. A calmer camera with more wide shots would have a) actually established a sense of place in District 12 and b) provided more of a contrast when her world spins out of control at the Reaping. The conversation in the woods between Katniss and Gale was also way too jumpy. That should have been a quiet, calm, peaceful scene. That is supposed to be their refuge from the shitty life they live. ESPECIALLY if you're going to use shaky cam in the District, the woods should have been a calm respite from that.
-Gale. What the HELL was that casting choice? Why is he this super-buff, clean-shaven, dude bro?! On the walk home Kim and I were joking about Gale's morning routine: "He wakes up before the sun rises, takes a bath, engages in a bit of manscaping, gets out his hair gel and cultivates his 'do, and then slips out of bounds to go trap food for his starving, destitute family before he comes back, trades a squirrel for some protein shakes, and pumps some iron." Come ON! This is supposed to be a place where people are constantly on the brink of starving to death! Who is this CW high school quarterback? Every time he was on screen we just couldn't help but laugh. Peeta had some of that football burly look too, but he was always supposed to be strong and managed to play the character well enough that I got over it. I was happy with him.
-Pulling punches. I'd seen it mentioned beforehand that the movie is not as graphic as the book with the violence. We were talking about it in the seats before the movie started, how that makes sense because an image of violence hits a lot harder in most cases than a description of it in words. But they were too soft about it. There were a couple of really visceral moments that I though were incredibly effective -- the neck snapping, when Thresh beats Clove to death, the girl killed by tracker jackers -- without being gory or overly graphic, but in most cases, you see so little of the action (hey there, shaky cam) and so little blood that you don't really feel the weight of what's happening. Rue's death, in particular, was too soft, I think. You didn't quite feel the emotions at the level that the scene deserved. People, animals... they just do NOT die like that, ever. She's been stabbed in the chest by a freaking spear! You don't just quietly slip off to sleep from that. You drown in your own blood. I look more agonized than Rue did when I have cramps for cryin' out loud. Now, I'm not saying that it had to be horribly graphic. I realize they wanted that PG-13. But she should have been having trouble breathing at the very least. There should have been desperation there, death gasps. That would have made the contrast with Katniss's soothing and singing, and the silence of her death, so much more powerful. As it was, I almost didn't believe that she'd died, and the scene had much less emotional impact. The book made me cry in that scene, i mean really cry; the movie didn't.
-Lack of relationship development. Particularly between Katniss and Gale and Katniss and Rue. They each needed just a little more time together to really establish that Katniss cares about them, make us care about them, and heighten the dramatic tension. I realize that the movie is almost 2 and a half hours as it is, but I would have much rather lost a few minutes in the Capitol or wandering in the woods during the Games to make me care more about those relationships.
-The pace is a little frenetic, but they are trying to cram so much in that it's hard to see what they could have cut to give it more breathing room. The perils of a faithful adaptation...
If those things had been changed, I think this movie would have been fucking AMAZING. But I still thought it was good and look forward to the sequels. It's only when the rest of the movie is great that mistakes like these bother me so much. Here are some things I think they did great:
-The Capitol. Everything about the Capotol was fantastic, from the design to the realtiy-show-esque tone to the ridiculous fashions that seemed like the logical extreme of our haute couture instead of some alien culture, which I though was really effective.
-I loved Lenny Kravitz as Cinna. He had just the right demeanor.
-When Cinna and Katniss are in the tubes right before the games start... that scene is really powerful. Fantastic acting, real tension, and I love love LOVE the live, 45 second countdown.
-They cut to things that are only rumored or described later in the book. I LOVED that they showed the District 11 riot right after Rue died, that moment when absolute heartbreak and the final straw turns to rage and backlash. It's a feeling I know, and it was perfect. My only complaint is that I wish they had just given us a *couple* of seconds of facial expression on someone(s) in the crowd, to actually SEE that mental switch flip before the riots start. I also loved the scenes in the Gamemaker's room. They really tied things together in an effective way.
-The love stuff. I was disappointed in the books for handling the Peeta/Gale stuff in what I though was a shy and unrealistic way. The pressure to pretend to love Peeta and her tortured internal dialogue about it are so played up that I actually thought they were going to be forced to fuck for the entertainment of the Capitol, and it felt like Collins was just afraid to write about sexuality when a chaste kiss was all that happened. The movie handled it better; it wasn't so played up, and so the kiss felt appropriate. However, the "cut to Gale" every time something happened between her and Peeta -- EVERY TIME! -- was just on the nose. And silly, because fuck Liam Hemsworth; he's in the wrong goddamn movie.
-Haymitch. I saw Haymitch as older and fatter, but Woody Harrelson is spot fucking on. He's pulls off that sense of a messy drunk who's got a hidden cleverness extremely well. He was fantastic and I loved every second of him.
In closing... go see it! It's didn't quite meet my expectations, but I really enjoyed it, never got bored, and it's awesome. Plus we need more movies with kickass female leads so go give them your money!