My twitter stream was flooded with how awesome The Hunger Games is. Not too mention, many of them will watch the movie again. (And more depressing is - the movie premiere affects the ratings of Fringe)
****** There will be spoilers from here onwards. Most likely will spoil both the movie and the first book ******
I watched it tonight. And when Katniss finally came back to District 12. I was left shocked and so disappointed.
Here are the reasons.
1. The problem is, the book is not intended as PG-12. That alone affected the movie. The film clip shown in District 12 does not have impact. The opening scene of the battle should be a blood bath - and I don’t even see any drop of blood. C’mon. It should be violent. And I don’t feel anything at all.
2. The Hunger Games is an introductory book and therefore, it opens up this big whole concept (and world). The problem is, the movie is not a perfect visualisation venue for this book. There is no way you can do great characterisation with a movie under 3 hours. And therefore, you have a half-baked character building of Haymitch and Gale. While the movie wrongly overplayed President Snow, when he’s almost invisible in the first book.
3. In my perspective, the Hunger Games plays on a lot of internal battles of Katniss. The problem with the movie is they were substituted with so much non-sense, which includes the computerised game room - which never existed, by the way, in the book. I would have wanted to see more of Katniss contemplating and having internal battles - her begging Haymitch for water, her confusion of Peeta’s feelings whether is real or not, her trying to figure out the strategy of Peeta, her love for Gale and Prim, and so on.
4. This is connected to 2. Another problem with the movie is that there’s way too many things happened, that cannot be fitted in the movie and thus makes a bit confusing. One of my friends got no clue what is the prize of winning the game (well, except for being alive).
5. Gale is an integral part of Katniss’ story. Especially in the first book. The problem with the movie they downplay the character of Gale which makes it seemingly that it is a one-way feeling (Gale to Katniss), but in fact, it is more of a mutual thing. Katniss likes Gale. Gale likes Katniss. And she is reluctant of the baker boy Peeta, because she was confused whether he is just playing it or not. While alone in the wood, Katniss remembered Gale - sadly, there’s no flashback of her and Gale in the movie.
6. Katniss never left Rue that way. One of the emotional point of the book is Katniss holding on to Rue while Rue is being taken away. We never even see the dead tributes being taken away. In addition, District 11 was supposed to give a bread to Katniss as a gift… which never happened. Instead a rebellion.
7. It was a long ride back home. Visiting each district. Sadly, this never happened.
*** I am not a fan of the first book. I think the second book is so much better. In fact, the first book for me is so predictable. But the movie just happened to be so disappointing… ***
