I finally had the chance to watch the hugely anticipated Hunger Games on Wednesday and was ready to write something up about it as soon as I got back from the cinema (largely, my disappointment) but I decided to give it a couple of days to let the anger diffuse a little.
It’s now been a couple of days and the disappointment hasn’t diffused once ounce. I haven’t voiced my opinion too loudly on other platforms since I don’t need the whole world reading my opinion and telling me I’m nuts, the movie was amazing, and there’s no way they could have put everything into the movie blah blah blah blah BLAH! Since you’ve actively chosen to read this you’ll just need to suffer the consequences of your actions and put up with my bitching. Because this is my blog and bitch I will.
*SPOILER ALERT* (common courtesy, since you may not have watched it yet…directed at Suse).
Ok so I’m perfectly aware that there’s no way they could have crammed all the good stuff into just a 2.5 hr movie and I didn’t go in with extremely high expectations or anything but there are a few things I would’ve alternatively preferred:
- If they had just made the movie a 2-parter or just made it 4 hrs long…
- I had read the book after watching the movie
- I never watched the movie at all
A lot of the parts of the book were missing but there were KEY things in the novel that SHOULD NOT have been left out!! I read an article about how people are outraged over some of the races they chose to play the character’s parts (read this if you’re interested: Racist Hunger Games Fans Are Very Disappointed). These people are ignorant and should be banished from the face of the earth. My gripe isn’t with the characters chosen (although I thought Josh Hutcherson’s acting was a little less than stellar), it’s that significant parts of the novel were either altered or taken out altogether!
Let the list of disappointment….BEGIN!
1. “She has no idea. The effect she can have.”- Peeta Mellark. This was one of my favourite lines in the book and was one of the first signs you see of Peeta having real feelings for Katniss. Why was it taken out???
2. Katniss bought the mockingjay pin from the market in the movie, meanwhile Madge gave it to her in the book. This was also a significant part of the movie…and it’s one thing to leave parts out but to alter a concept of the novel altogether?? Hello, are you nuts!? Why did they take out Madge and the mayor completely when it’s minorly important in the second novel? I wonder how they’ll mess up that scene when the sequel comes out. Grr..
3. They didn’t show Peeta killing one of the tributes when he was siding with the Careers. This was also important in the novel because it was at that point where Collins made you wonder “hmm…is Peeta seriously playing Katniss? I can’t believe he killed someone!”
4. I didn’t connect with any of the characters at all. I didn’t think the acting was that horrible but I definitely didn’t connect with them the way I did while reading the novel. I don’t think anyone knew the names of the stylists and I know they TRIED to portray the spark between Cinna and Katniss but again..didn’t feel it.
5. Everything in general was just so condensed. When they did the initial training you couldn’t tell in the movie how big a deal it was that Peeta requested to be trained on his own. It was just an ‘oh, ok cool’ kind of moment. The audience should’ve had a “WHAT!?!” reaction. And the book’s called the HUNGER GAMES. I didn’t really get a sense that they were really starving for food in the games, while in the novel Katniss was almost at death’s foodsteps because she couldn’t get water. They didn’t show the hovercrafts picking up the dead tributes, the scene in the cave with Peeta and Katniss was supposed to be the defining moment where we get to see Katniss begin to develop real feelings for Peeta. And what happened to her giving him the sleep syrup!? There were so many parts missed that the friends I was with who hadn’t read the book yet were asking me questions because no explanation was given (i.e. the concept of the Reaping wasn’t really explained and people didn’t understand why some people’s names were input more times than others)
6. Another important part that was skipped out was the end when the Gamemakers announced that there would, in fact, only be one winner and Katniss’ first instinct was to point her bow and arrow at Peeta, while he had already tossed his knife to the ground. That was another turning point showing how Katniss only thinks of herself and you see Peeta truly only cares for her. AND ONE OTHER THING to end of this list…Katniss was supposed to declare to Peeta that she had only acted a certain way for the camera. It was all for the Games….poor Peeta L
I think those are the main points…all you really need to know is that I left the theatre feeling empty, dejected, and aggressive. I found myself filling in all the missing parts in my head while I watched the movie. I was told that I have an overactive imagination when I said I was disappointed by Katniss and Peeta’s entrance at the Capitol because I was expecting to be BLOWN away by their fire costume but instead, it was just all very ho-hum.
Anyway, that’s my rant for now. You’re lucky that I have to jet off in 2 minutes to leave for London because trust me…this list could go on, and on, and on, and on…
Signed,
Angry Fan