Having
been so caught up in the frenzy of all things The Hunger Games, I had high
expectations for best selling series by Suzanne Collins. I'm happy to report that Hollywood didn't
botch the best seller in 142 minutes. The movie did a great job interpreting the
book. Was it like the book? Hell no.
It never is. Since the book is
from Katniss' POV, there were aspects that they had to improvise, but
overall, I enjoyed it.
When
you’re dealing with a successful book, which this one happens to be my favorite
in the series, you automatically know the movie won't capture all the book’s
nuances. Still, as a lover of fiction,
you pray that your favorite parts are not ignored. That being said, it was sort
of a mixed bag. All parts leading up to and
the suspense from "the games" were indeed there.
I thought Jennifer Lawrence did an amazing job depicting our heroine. That said, I was disappointed when scenes
like when Katniss first discovers Peeta has an alliance with the Careers from
the onset of the games. In the book, that
scene was riveting. Katniss was shocked,
but manages to play it up for the cameras. That sort of literary brilliance fell short in
the film. Also, I thought the bread scene; Katniss and Peeta's “beginning” was sort of a missed opportunity too. But hey…what are ya gonna do?
If
you love the book, chances are you’ll like to movie. For me, The Hunger Games movie was a 4 (unlike the book which in my review I rated a 5.) Why? To be honest, the ending was a slight disappointment. The
scene/ reveal with Peeta & Katniss in the book was heartbreaking. The movie, however, seemed to pass this over. As far as characters, some were on
point, others were okay. I won’t tell
you which ones. I’ll let you be the judge. My husband who didn’t read the book and knows
very little of the story thought it was awesome. He loves classic and sci-fi movies like Usual
Suspects, The Godfather or Star Wars and Matrix. That should give you a different perspective if
you haven’t read the book.
Mina B.
