Having read all the books, I can say that Hunger Games might be one of the best movie to book adaptations I have seen. There were only a few things that were different and none of them were game changers.
Jennifer Lawrence had a powerful performance as Katniss and showed us all that pretty faces can have acting chops. The reaping scene was especially potent and you could feel the pain she was experiencing. The three finger salute to district 11 was powerful as well and had all three of the girls that I went with in tears. Everyone else did good jobs, but Lawrence knocked this out of the park.
If I had to give the movie a flaw, I would have to say that it was in pacing. It seemed to slow almost to a crawl in certain places, but maybe that was just from the perspective of the rest of the film. I think any flaws the movie had were from the director as the screen play and the acting where right on target. An example would be at the reaping. It takes Katniss a good 15-20 seconds to get moving. I think the time would have been better served having her fight through the crowd, knock some peace keepers down, be detained, look into Prim’s eyes, and then volunteer. Lawrence worked with what she was given though and still made it one of the most powerful moments from the film.
The movie isn’t overly violent. I mean, especially for a film about gladiatorial combat where 24 enter and 1 leaves. Most death strikes are not shown, but there is a fair amount of blood shown. I could tell that they were trying to ride that PG-13 line, but they did it in the best possible way. I wasn’t as thrilled with the second and third books and will be interested to see if the screen writers make any changes to improve that.
I read hunger games this week and while I enjoyed it, I couldn't help notice that it was pretty much Battle Royale being retold as American YA fiction. I had heard a lot of bad press about the violence in this book and I have to say that the violence is rather tame, especially compared to Battle Royale. 
Posts
