The Hunger Games

[BoxOfficeZ]

Saw it again, I must say I enjoyed it more on smaller screen because the shaking camera was less annoying. Also this time I noticed the soundtrack, which was very well done, but not overall very memorable.

[JohnnyBravo69]

Saw it for the 1st time just a few hours ago... A-JL aww I look foward to seeing more of her.Movie was great, Loved the score.. My surround sound really brought it out. Bring on the sequel!

[yads]

I enjoyed this much more than I was expecting to. It was like Cabin in the Woods directed by someone obsessed with BSG - which is no bad thing in my book.Grade: B

[Master Scottb]

I finally got around to seeing The Hunger Games and I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed this movie, and now I am looking forward to seeing the sequels.9/10A

[Ozymandias]

I hated this movie. I thought the first half was interesting and compelling enough, but then it rapidly turned into a corny ass teen soap opera that was almost unbearable to watch in some parts.

[altbum]

Very Good: B+

SPOILERS AHEAD

As an avid fan of the book trilogy (obsessively so) I found the film to be a reasonable reflection of the book and quite entertaining.

Things I really liked:

[*]Jennifer Lawrence. In the absence of the 1^st person narrative she did a fantastic job of conveying Katniss’ vulnerability, distrust and outright rock solid determination.

[*]The reaping – my favorite scene in the movie.

[*]Snow's conversations with Crane and Crane's ultimate demise.

[*]Woody – didn’t think I’d like him but he really did a great job.

[*]Jennifer Lawrence (worth a second mention!)

Things I didn’t like:

[*]No explanation of the Mockingjay

[*]The arena is much easier on Katniss than in the book. In the book she nearly dies of dehydration, starvation, her injuries from the fire are more severe and she loses hearing in one ear from the blast. She also has to discern Haymitch’s messages without the aid of little paper notes.

[*]The 2nd rule change. In the book, the second they rescind the rule change allowing 2 victors, Katniss has an arrow trained on Peeta, showing her intense distrust.

[*]The end. In the book, Katniss reveals that she was just playing the game when pretending to be in love with Peeta. Not so in the movie. I suppose they want to cater to the “love triangle” crowd.

I could probably nitpick endlessly about the changes and omissions but they are inevitable; otherwise you’d need a mini-series, not a feature length film. I do, however, think a lot of the movie could be confusing and/or misunderstood if the viewer hasn't read the book.

Despite the nit-picking I still really enjoyed the movie (as did my wife) and look forward to what the director change and bigger budget can bring to Catching Fire.

[Jessie]

I had my doubts about this movie before going in. I've read the books and thoroughly enjoyed then, however I felt the movie just wasn't dark enough to satisfy my needs. I found it started off well. Matter of fact, I thought the first half of the movie was great. It was when the games commenced I started to get bored to tears. It seemed they tried so hard to water the violence down that by the end of the games, I couldnt take the movie seriously. I understand the books were intended for a younger crowd, however had it been more violent and daring, I think the movie as a whole would have had a much bigger impact on me. But of course Hollywood only care about money.Clearly by the box office numbers and the praise people give this film on here, I'm In the minority.C-

[altbum]

the movie just wasn't dark enough to satisfy my needs.

Even though I liked it more than you did I absolutely agree with this sentiment. I think that's why I loved the reaping scene - dark, gritty and ominous in a way the latter stages of the movie couldn't match.

[lab276]

[*]The end. In the book, Katniss reveals that she was just playing the game when pretending to be in love with Peeta. Not so in the movie. I suppose they want to cater to the “love triangle” crowd.

I don't agree with this, it's made pretty obvious that she doesn't really love him.

[JackO]

I finally gave in and saw it! I really enjoyed it. What a ride! I was surprised by the whole set up. It just breezed on by that by the time games started. And the games were pretty vicious. I wasn't quite expecting that cabin the woods sort of set up with the people controlling the game manipulating the action but that made it fun. Also, usually commentators in movies pis me off, but I found it worked here since I didn't know what the hell was going on. I also wasn't expecting Katniss to be so weak at first but she sure toughened up quick whenever someone else is in danger. I thought she would be an out of the box ready to go hero. It's really a fun film.

[The Toymaker]

The Hunger Games

For the life of me I can't work out how this is so popular. On the whole, it's a really bad movie, with tiny segments of average film-making. The film is quite generic and incredibly cliched, and I can only assume it did well because of its millions of fans of the book.

I went into this one with a completely neutral mindset. I am open to liking new franchises, just like I did with Twilight (and liked it a lot), but this is no Twilight. With a story this barbaric it really needs to be more gory and explicit; the film was shot like an episode of Robin Hood or Merlin (British TV programmes, for anyone that doesn't know). All of the fighting was an incoherent mess, fast edits, no idea what was going on, shaky-cam etc. Horrible to watch. The last sequence with the three big dogs that were sent in was shot in the dark as to disguise just how CGI'd and crap they actually were, which was really lame and just a cop-out by the production team.

The acting in this was terrible. I hate those types of movies/TV, like in Spy Kids or Tracy Beaker, where children try to act like adults, and they do all of the pauses, sighs, groans and "performances" that adults do...it's just so cringeworthy when a minor does it. The film is so cliched in that they let two people win the tournament. Why would they do that? Seriously. Why? In 74 years there has been one winner each year, why change now? It's just too convenient. Again, it goes back to the criticism of the barbaric nature of this game, surely the bosses wanted to see one winner, but no, the bosses cringeworthily shouted "stop" and proceeded to say that it's ok for two winners. Such a weak, weak, weak, weak, weak, weak ending.

None of the characters were very engaging, as in I didn't care for any of them. Well, towards the end I felt a little bit for Jennifer Lawrence's character, but not too much. Some of the scenes in the jungle were ok, even if they were let down by bad film-making. Woody Harrelson was good as always, as was, to my surprise that it was even him, Lenny Kravitz. All the way through the movie I was saying to myself "ha, the guy that looked like Lenny Kravitz, I can say that when I review it". Little did I know that it was ACTUALLY Lenny Kravitz!! lol

I must say that Stanley Tucci performed his role incredibly well. Very fun to watch as the host. Some of the songs/score were good, I think I counted twice when a piece of music was good. Not so great from a 130-minute movie. I couldn't suspend my disbelief with this film. How all of the contestants were revved up and ready to kill with just a few days training, but JL wasn't...it's just too fucking cliche. There's always a big football player-type that is a total jerk, and The Hunger Games was no different.

I can imagine that this series gets better as the sequels get made, but so far, pretty lame. Glad I watched this for free. Overall this was like watching an episode of Saved by the Bell without the comedy. It's just so incredibly uninspired. They get picked, go there, and win, the end. So boring. They don't truly have to overcome any hardship or battles. The movie just folds. Gives in to the shitty material it was based on. Oh, and for those that say Jennifer Lawrence is pretty or good looking, are you fucking crazy? She's just a chubby-faced looking dyke. In one of the earlier shots you see her without make-up and she looks like just a normal girl, nothing special at all. It's only when she has make-up on and brilliant hair on a red carpet that people have come to this opinion that she is in any way attractive.

D

Edited October 22, 2012 by Barney Ross

[cozmeesah]

The Hunger Games

The film is so cliched in that they let two people win the tournament. Why would they do that? Seriously. Why? In 74 years there has been one winner each year, why change now? It's just too convenient. Again, it goes back to the criticism of the barbaric nature of this game, surely the bosses wanted to see one winner, but no, the bosses cringeworthily shouted "stop" and proceeded to say that it's ok for two winners. Such a weak, weak, weak, weak, weak, weak ending.

Yeahhh... you completely and totally missed the (pretty obvious) point to the ending.

It's a TV show, like American Idol. They HAVE to have a winner, at least one winner. Katniss & Peeta were threatening to kill themselves, leaving them with ZERO winners, no one to parade around as a victor and excite the masses. Which would have been devastating to the Gamemakers & the Capitol. They figured it'd be better to have two victors than none at all.

Seriously, it wasn't that hard to figure out.

[The Toymaker]

:rolleyes:Obviously I got the ending, I just didn't like it. For me, it just continued the trend that this movie started on in being very softcore but with a story that warrants hardcore.

[lab276]

It doesn't read like you got the ending at all actually.

[The Toymaker]

Ok. I wrote it badly. But I did get it. Otherwise you're basically calling me a retard.I suppose my problem is with the book in this instance, because the film is hardly going to deviate that much from the source material.

[The Toymaker]

Another thing that I've been thinking about since watching it is why Jennifer Lawrence's character would even contemplate killing herself since she was so determined to get back to her sister and mother. Killing herself would have been pointless. If you wanted to test the Hunger Games production company, why not just sit there and do nothing? That would have been a lot less painful that bluffing them with eating berries and dying if they didn't interject. Sure, the show could have stopped supplies, but that'd be a darn sight better than dying instantly from eating berries. They could never have been sure that the show would have shouted "stop".She should have just killed that other boy immediately. That would have been more believeable, especially given the nature of the movie (essentially it's gladiatorial Rome).Another thing I noticed but only just remembered is that the canons that go off after each kill, only happened a few times. Bad continuity on the film-makers' part.But then, what does it matter, because it was all shit anyway. Sphongle hit the nail on the head when he said it was like a teen soap opera.

[lab276]

She knew they were never going to let them both kill themselves.

[The Toymaker]

It didn't look like that to me. For the whole film she had a vacant expression on her face. What the film wanted to convey at that moment wasn't clearly conveyed.

[Ozymandias]

The best part is the most forced romance since Attack of the Clones.

[The Toymaker]

The best part was watching Stanley Tucci. The wasp hive part was good too. The rest was lacklustre, tedious, cringeworthy and incomprehensible.