The Hunger Games rocked!

schwarcw

I saw this movie today with my daughter and wife. The both said it stayed very close to the book. The movie could not develop the depth of the story or it's characters. However, this was a thrilling movie that was very compelling to watch. 2 1/2 hours went by very quickly! Great movie! Highly recommended even for us old toads!

shack

Thanks Carl. I may go to see it once all the hype has died down and the theater isn't full of kids.

gdpeck

schwarcw wrote: »

I saw this movie today with my daughter and wife. The both said it stayed very close to the book. The movie could not develop the depth of the story or it's characters. However, this was a thrilling movie that was very compelling to watch. 2 1/2 hours went by very quickly! Great movie! Highly recommended even for us old toads!

I saw it today as well. I haven't read the books, but totally agree with your assessment of the movie. Compelling is the right word. It's not a fun movie for sure, and the premise is pretty dark. I just thought everything about the movie was done so well. Casting, cinematography, sound, story were all top notch. My only issue was that some of the handheld camera shots at the beginning were a little too shaky. See it in an IMAX theater if you can.

BlueFox

Great. Can't wait for the Blu-ray. Thanks to all the press I learned of this movie, and ordered it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006L4MX4A/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Uilleann

Meh - I found it to be ok. Alright, I'd go so far as 'good', but certainly not great. I haven't read the books, but the wife and daughter have. They enjoyed it more I think. For me, it was too long, and got bogged down in it's pacing about two hours in. The character development was certainly a highlight in today's typical Hollywood drivel. Can't say that I'd ever buy it, but perhaps a rental at Redbox one day or stream it on Netflix.

Hardtail67

I agree with the 'meh' review. The whole family read the books so we went to the midnight show. I thought the characters were great especially Katniss. The story moved and the 2 1/2 hours did go by fast. The problem was the action. The fight scenes looked horrible. Alot of shakey cam nonsense.

What is it with skakey cam these days? Its in everything and it really takes me out of a scene.

Hardtail67

I know they did not want to exclued the kids who read the book, but this needed to be an ultra violent R movie. It really made me want to see 'Battle Royal' again. I know that just came out on Bluray.

quadzilla

Saw this Friday. This is by far one of the best movies I've seen. Also like the shaky cam stuff. Gives the fight scenes a more brutal feel as opposed to the slick look of the typical action film.

shack

Hardtail67 wrote: »

I know they did not want to exclued the kids who read the book, but this needed to be an ultra violent R movie.

Bad idea. I for one have no desire to see anything ultra violent. Now this movie is something families can view together...make it an ultra violent R rated movie and that goes away. This was a book was written for a "teen" market and the movie adaption should be the same. Why eliminate a large majority of the viewers the book was intended for?

coolsax

True, but the books themselves were rather "R" rated and ultra violoent... R rated movie would have catered to those fans of the books too, but the PG13 is needed for those that haven't read the books but have heard about them and want to see what the fuss is about.. I read the books, the books are great!, saw the movie last night and i enjoyed it thoroughly, but i also didn't expect it to be the book as it has to cater to the lower ratings.

kuntasensei

Just got dragged to this by a woman... Kinda' glad I was! It was actually far better than I expected it to be, and I'm a HUGE Battle Royale fan, so that's saying something. The director made some very wise choices on how to cover up some of the kills to avoid the R-rating, but it was still surprisingly dark. The tone of it very much reminded me of Dark Mirror on BBC. Pretty good!

schwarcw

Hardtail67 wrote: »

Alot of shakey cam nonsense. What is it with skakey cam these days? Its in everything and it really takes me out of a scene.

IMO I thought the shaky camera served two purposes: 1) It was the cinematographer's method of choice to add a sense of chaos to the scene 2) provide only glimpses of the graphic violence and not all to much gore to the movie and fall outside of the PG-13 guidelines.

avelanchefan

Well I have read the books, and I have to say the movie was an excellent adaptation to the first book. There were some alterations, but that was/is expected and it did not take away from the experience. My wife saw it with me too, and she did not read the book, and she did get a little confused at times. What I did like was Jennifer Lawrence's acting, she did a splendid of portraying Katniss.

Strong Bad

I went yesterday and enjoyed it very much. I didn't read the books, so there was nothing for me to judge them on (material wise). The whole premise of the movie is very dark and disturbing. Sending children in to kill one another all for the glory of entertainment and to appease the rulers. I actually found my heart racing when it came time for the games to begin and Katniss was getting last second advice...all the while the countdown was going on.

Already looking forward to the next part!

Timothy Smith

avelanchefan wrote: »

Well I have read the books, and I have to say the movie was an excellent adaptation to the first book. There were some alterations, but that was/is expected and it did not take away from the experience. My wife saw it with me too, and she did not read the book, and she did get a little confused at times. What I did like was Jennifer Lawrence's acting, she did a splendid of portraying Katniss.

Check out Jennifer Laurence's performance in "Winter's Bone" a few years back as the daughter of a Ozark Hillbilly meth cooker.

Gritty and not for the faint of heart.

She is amazing. The typical female "stars" that Hollywood worships and throws millions of dollars at should be humbled.

falconcry72

Timothy Smith wrote: »

Check out Jennifer Laurence's performance in "Winter's Bone" a few years back as the daughter of a Ozark Hillbilly meth cooker.

I liked Winter's Bone a lot... especially her performance. I'm gonna see Hunger Games soon... probably this week.

jon s

I saw it on Saturday. I thought it followed the book pretty well, considering how many movies the director decides to take creative license on book related titles (Steven Spielberg just ruined the Jurassic Park movies). I thought the movie scored maybe 7/10. Jennifer Lawrence was pretty good, but character buildup was very weak on the rest of the cast.

fatchowmein

I enjoyed it which was a pleasant surprise since I hard no desire to see it and thought the trailer was weak. Caught it on the first Sunday, first weekend showing and there was already a small line an hour before the theatre opened. Finished the book last night and the movie did a decent job of keeping with the book, including some small bits that only the readers would understand.

Hate shakecam.

Rivrrat

Daughter Rat convinced me I needed to go see this movie (with her) so we went yesterday. I have to say enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and I'm sure I'll go see the sequels.

piker

A lot of people really like this movie. I think it falls into the "meh" category myself. It was interesting, but never exciting or thrilling. The interactivity between characters was cheesy at times. Half of the movie was like filler to me. It took far too long to get going before the Hunger Games actually began. The fact that the games were fixed annoyed me. I know it's supposed to follow the books (I never read them), but it's lame, IMO, that they would tamper with the games. If the contestants had been left to play out the games in a controlled environment without the outside influence, it would have made it a much better movie. Just my opinion, so please don't get mad about it.

tonyb

Gotta agree here with Piker. Characters were cheesey at best, no emotioal connections between characters aside from the 2 main ones. A so-so flick that I wouldn't buy. Over hyped as usual, plus the ending...whats up with that ?

rebuy

I'll be the last on my block to see it.

andyszabler

I saw this movie by my friends.This film's story has very interesting and beautiful. I like this movies. It is a drama action and thriller movie. Gery ross is a directer by The hunger games movie. This movie's music has very nice and beautiful.

Polkie2009

For what it's worth, the soundtrack of The Hunger Games is selling well. To those who sawthe movie, did you enjoy the music too? I think taylor Swift did a song or 2 and I think The Secret Sisters had one in there also.

bencorn

I think this was probably the truest translation from book to movie that I've personally seen. It cut quite a bit out of the book but was pretty much shot for shot on the important things. I wish it would have been rated R as the books depicted but I definitely understand the reasoning behind the PG13 to allow the intended audience to see it. I think it is a good movie without considering the book but if you read the book the movie becomes better because you have all the additional character development and Katniss's internal monolog that was missing from the movie so everything makes more sense.

Cougar

I liked it as did my wife. Neither of us read the book.

zombie boy 2000

bencorn wrote: »

I think this was probably the truest translation from book to movie that I've personally seen. It cut quite a bit out of the book....

Sorry... I had a bit of a chuckle when I read your post. Carry on.

bencorn

lol, I suppose it is kind of a contradictory statement. I should have said, what *was* in the movie was extremely true to the book but they left out of lot of character development.

zombie boy 2000

No harm, no foul. I knew what you were getting at.