Cinematic Saturdays: The Hunger Games

As I’m sure most of you know (because we’re a bunch of shameless nerds), the theatrical trailer for Catching Fire was released this week. In honor of this embarrassingly momentous event, I’ll be focusing on Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games! ::Confetti shower::

Title: The Hunger Games

Author:  Suzanne Collins

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Publication Date: September 14, 2008

Pages: 374

Genre: Dystopian

Rating: 

Summary (from Goodreads): 

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender.

If she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Please direct your attention to the puffy Carolynn of yesteryear as she gushes about the series.

I excitedly fidgeted in a packed theater at midnight to see this film, and at the time I was in no way disappointed. Truthfully, I’m still not because I love this franchise so gosh darn much. But if I’m being objective there are a few things the film could have handled better.

As with many films quickly adapted from popular books, The Hunger Games does disappoint a bit in the visuals department. While movie studios occasionally create art, their primary objective is to make money. So when an overnight sensation like Suzanne Collins’s stroke of genius explodes onto the scene, they all scramble over themselves to start making ticket sales as quickly as possible. This doesn’t usually manifest in any one huge way, but rather a bunch of small ones.

Some examples are;

1) The fire in all of Katniss’s outfits is underwhelming and looks completely artificial. 

2) Peeta’s camouflage is laughable.
3) The Capitol city, which Peeta describes as “huge,” looks tiny and fake

4) The “dogs” in the final moments in the arena are in no way frightening

You sure did.

Okay, I can’t go on. I can’t say anything else negative about this movie. So there are parts that disappoint, that doesn’t stop it from being completely gush-worthy. Also, Jennifer Lawrence's overall delightfulness cancels out anything less than perfect about this movie. I mean, really. She's awesome...

Us too...

If you're a book fan still craving some movie bashing, I'd like to encourage you to watch this hilarious, albeit occasionally incorrect, criticism by one of my favorite youtube channels, Screenjunkies (makers of Honest Trailers). Have fun!

Rating:

What do you think should have been handled differently? Feel free to comment below!

 
As always, thanks for tuning in. You can purchase either the novel or film in the links below. See you next week!