The Hunger Games - Part 1

[smashmode]

I also love Peeta as a character. He is quite unique as a male protagonist in that he is so vulnerable and not the strongest or best skilled. That's also why I can relate to him so much. I also relate to that unrequited love of falling for someone without even knowing her/him.

Spoiler

That's why the ending to the book and film is so sad, him realizing Katniss just played for the cameras.

I actually think the change in the film to make it more uncertain and subtle worked well. Loved the dialogue.

"I think we should forget it all"
"But I don't wanna forget..."

But in the movie it appears

Spoiler

that peeta and katniss had a 'moment' when he was putting that salve on her cut on her head

 

[The Dark Defender]

The ending was probably set up for sequels but I would like to know what happened to Wes Bentley's character.

Spoiler

He's locked in a room to choose between starving to death or killing himself with the poisoned grapes.

 

[smashmode]

I really don't buy Jennifer Lawrence and Hutchinson [blackout]as a love pair[/blackout]?? I mean, i haven't read the books............ but why didn't Liam Hemsworth play Peeta?

That is the point no one was supposed to buy those two

 

[ShadowBoxer]

I saw this today at a 4 dollar matine showing that was pretty packed. I never read the books and saw this based purely off the hype behind it. It's a solid movie, but I am not crazy about it. The acting was good and the story was interesting but I still found myself to be bored in some parts of the movie.

If this is the new Twlight then I can live with it. At least this has good acting, characters and story. Anyway, I give this a 7.5/10 a decent movie.

 

[warhorse78]

Saw this yesterday morning. I give it an 8.

What I liked: The character, the atmosphere, the tense situations, and I loved how clever Katniss could be at times. There were several excellent emotional scenes strewn throughout the movie.

What I didn't like, the ending was a little anticlimactic, but the biggest thing I despised, was that retched camera work. I wish this style would just die.

And if it means anything, I never have read the books, and knew very little about the material prior to seeing the movie.

 

[Project862006]

I really don't buy Jennifer Lawrence and Hutchinson [blackout]as a love pair[/blackout]?? I mean, i haven't read the books............ but why didn't Liam Hemsworth play Peeta?

well peeta is described as stocky in build and more of a nice kid and 16 years old hemsworth would be far too big at 6'5 and has a more brooding arrogant type of personality which fit gale and hemsworth could not pass as 16

 

[danoyse]

Agreed. While reading THG, my question was not "who will she end up with?" It was "Will the guys she love be ALIVE at the end of the series?"

Even the movie did that well, there was no real celebratory mood at the end, you weren't left wondering who she'll choose. It was just a complete sense of foreboding that things were actually about to get a whole lot worse.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Just watched it and enjoyed it. Read up on the other 2 books and Naya Rivera better play Johanna. And reading up on the last one I was dissapointed with who Katniss ends up with.

 

[MadVillainy]

im hoping Emily Blunt plays Johanna

 

[Drizzle]

I want to see Frances McDormand as Coin.

 

[Project862006]

always liked mila kunis for Johanna since she is suppose to be kind of innocent on top of conniving and a bad ass

 

[CB Fan]

This is a good movie. It hits the points it needs to hit, handles them with a fair amount of respect and maturity, and tells a fairly entertaining story.

The violence is appropriately handled. It never seems anything but what it is...violence. A lot of it is glossed over, but then, so was a lot of the book's.The deaths do have pretty much no impact, but this is also a problem of the books. We don't know much of anything about the characters who die, and so they are just deaths. A lot has been made of

Spoiler

Rue's death

, but it's just a death scene. We never get to know them very well, there's no buildup, little tension, and the death itself is fairly tame There's nothing particularly special about it, other than

Spoiler

Katniss using the flowers, and showing District 13

. Nothing worth crying over.

I thought the book did a good job of making us care about [BLACKOUT]rue[/BLACKOUT] and not making her just another death, the movie however lacked, it gets some points for trying but more interaction was needed.

Jennifer Lawrence does indeed give a good performance, and has a select few very nice moments, but there's really nothing here to rave about. Close up after close up does not a brilliant performance make. She has about two levels, and three expressions. I wasn't a huge fan of her performance in WINTER'S BONE, and here, she gives a very similar performance. There's subtley to it because there has to be given the lack of dialogue, but there are also quite a few shots of her just sitting there looking naturally expressive, because that's just how she looks. Yes, she uses her yes, but she doesn't USE them. She looks where she needs to be looking, but there's no real depth to her performance beyond what's overtly there. I have yet to see anything from her that tells me she's any better than the average well trained actress. And I find it ridiculous to suggest she should be up for an Oscar for this. I get it. She's 21. But she's 21 and a professional actress. She's not that good. That said, she's appropriate for Katniss, and does a solid job with the character. She needs to learn to saty "Damn you" with some more conviction.

I havent seen Winter's Bone but I thought she did very well with Mystique's insecurities in X-Men. In this however I agree with you she does a good job but nothing utterly amazing, to say this is an Oscar worthy performance is too much. Also agree about the "eyes" comment.

Josh Hutcherson's Peeta is appropriately physical, and otherwise, I felt he was really just kind of there. He has a few nice moments, but again, not really special. I imagine he was cast for his "everyman" feel and his "charisma", which was a joy to watch during the Caeser Flickerman interview, and which will become more important in the sequel.

Agreed I always thought Josh was perfect for the role and he did well but his character was just there, some of his more interesting moments in the book like ending and more of their time in the cave were missing and that didnt help. I Did like that they allowed him to vent about what his mother said really made you feel bad for him.

Wes Bentley makes a sleazy, subdued Seneca Crane, showing emotion only when he can be in true control. I loved the additional scenes between Snow and Seneca. I loved Seneca's final scene. Loved it.

Seneca is a far more compelling character in the film which was good because I barely remembered him after reading the book. And his last scene in the film was golden.

Gale, as he is through much of the books, is kind of useless. There's nothing about him worth liking except that he's handsome. That he gets immediately jealous of Katniss for kissing Peeta...eh. It's just very thin.

I dont think he was jealous of Katniss that would definately be a different take on the love triangle.

This was a decent adaption, but I expect more for CATCHING FIRE and MOCKINGJAY.

Agreed it was a nice start but I expect a lot more from the sequels especially Catching Fire where the other characters should be more fleshed out, and hopefully they get a screenwriter to fix the problems with the last book as a great portion of that film is gonna be uneventful if they just follow the book.

 

[Poetic Chaos]

I do wish they kept "One more time...for the cameras" as the ending. It was just an appropriately heart breaking line to leave things and sum everything up.

 

[Mandalore464]

Just for future reference, acting like a whiny child because you didn't like a movie is not acceptable either. Settle down and try discussing this film like a grownup.

Oh yeah? And where was that exactly?

Oh wait...

No denial. I've read all of the Twilight books and The Hunger Games books and I've seen all of the movies (so far).
So I can you that Hunger Games love triangle is nothing like the love triangle in Twilight. If they were trying to win over Twilight fans with that, they would have failed. They're nothing alike.
The difference between them (besides Twilight strictly being a love story and Hunger Games being a science-fiction story with a romance), is that there's actual tension in the love triangle.
In Twilight, Jacob and Edward are hopelessly in love with Bella, who can never do anything wrong and both of them would die for her. You know they're the most important people in her life and that she'll up with one or the other.
In Hunger Games, it's a budding romance between Gale and Katniss, but it's more of a practical one - they have more important concerns in their lives to really develop it further. Peeta loves Katniss, she doesn't realize he's telling the truth, she does wind up developing feelings for him after everything they go through.
The problem was that Stephanie Meyer was such a bad writer that you always know Bella is going to choose Edward and that all of these characters would still be around by the end of the story.
With Hunger Games, 'who will Katniss choose' is never the focal point of the story, and you really can't tell as the story goes on which one (if either) she'll end up with - or if either boy will even survive through the end of the story.
Twilight didn't invent the love triangle. Hunger Games just does it better.

A fan perhaps?

I've never been "whiny" about anything. I just stated I found the movie worthless, unentertaining, uninteresting and I stated why (shaky cam, choppy editing, story that doesn't make sense, only interesting elements "borrowed" from other series), that's not being whiny, that's having a different opinion than you. If that's not grown-up enough, well... Too bad.

If you thought I was whiny in my posts, then you clearly didn't get the tone in them. But I know it can be tricky when reading text on a screen - No sarcasm here. It is.

 

[flickchick85]

The score is now available on iTunes, and I'm really enjoying it. It's got a lot of textures and variety that just capture the mood of the story so well. And there are a couple of really powerful pieces, too.

 

[dark_b]

No, they placed the dogs where ever they wanted on the board and they spawned like 5 in a row right behind where they were running. To me it looked like they just popped out of the ground. It even showed them bursting through the leaves and ground. To me they were programs. They even just sort of walked away at the end. That bugged me. It made it seem like they were all part of a computer simulation.

i thought i was the only one confused.

didnt they explain in the beginning that in the games the kids need to kill eachother? didnt they cheat when they threw inside the dogs?

 

[dark_b]

Even the movie did that well, there was no real celebratory mood at the end, you weren't left wondering who she'll choose. It was just a complete sense of foreboding that things were actually about to get a whole lot worse.

arent the last scenes from Katniss seeing Gale ?
they made it very clear when they established shots. Katniss,Gale and Peeta. yes the love was fake and poor Peeta . but pleaseeeeeeeeeeeee t:

 

[flickchick85]

i thought i was the only one confused.

didnt they explain in the beginning that in the games the kids need to kill eachother? didnt they cheat when they threw inside the dogs?

It's a game of survival. They have to survive each other AND the arena. I'm pretty sure Haymitch even said early on that more of the tributes are actually killed by "the elements" rather than their opponents. And the elements are just another way for the gamemakers to control the outcome for the best entertainment value. That's why being likable was so important - The "odds" (aka, the gamemakers) would be more in your favor because they're gonna work to give the audience what (or who) they want.

 

[JKDilla]

Lot of people praising Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss... and deservedly so, she's very good. But IMO the best performance is by Stanley Tucci as the talk show host -- he was great.

 

[redhawk23]

I hope the success of this film will give rise to some better female protagonists...

After breaking dawn part 2 or whatever comes out, can we all just agree to leave the Bella Swans of the world far, far behind.

 

[dark_b]

It's a game of survival. They have to survive each other AND the arena. I'm pretty sure Haymitch even said early on that more of the tributes are actually killed by "the elements" rather than their opponents. And the elements are just another way for the gamemakers to control the outcome for the best entertainment value. That's why being likable was so important - The "odds" (aka, the gamemakers) would be more in your favor because they're gonna work to give the audience what (or who) they want.

dehydration,hunger,low temperature. i dont think they meant big mutated dogs.

 

[dark_b]

I hope the success of this film will give rise to some better female protagonists...

After breaking dawn part 2 or whatever comes out, can we all just agree to leave the Bella Swans of the world far, far behind.

this is now the time that producers needs to use to push more female movies. drama,action,horror,fantasy,scifi. we need more movies with strongfemale characters.
hollywood is always saying that the public doesnt care about female characters. i dont see any man complaiing on the internet about Katniss. they all love her. for two reasons. she is a good written character and Lawrence gives a fantastic performance.

 

[flickchick85]

dehydration,hunger,low temperature. i dont think they meant big mutated dogs.

Pretty sure they did. And genetically enhanced wasps. And fireballs/falling trees. The arenas are designed to have all kinds of potentially deadly obstacles at the gamemakers' disposal. None of it is natural. I mean, who do you think controls the temperature? That's the same thing as releasing dogs. They're just controlling the game to put on a good show for the audience.

 

[Project862006]

this is now the time that producers needs to use to push more female movies. drama,action,horror,fantasy,scifi. we need more movies with strongfemale characters.
hollywood is always saying that the public doesnt care about female characters. i dont see any man complaiing on the internet about Katniss. they all love her. for two reasons. she is a good written character and Lawrence gives a fantastic performance.

hopefully Prometheus does well since noomi is the lead in that even tho it is an ensemble cast that could be another strong female lead

 

[jmc]

I hope the success of this film will give rise to some better female protagonists...

After breaking dawn part 2 or whatever comes out, can we all just agree to leave the Bella Swans of the world far, far behind.

It'd be hilarious if Kristen Stewart's Snow White turns out to be another strong female action character with the final Twilight film coming out this year, talk about contrast.