The Hunger Games

[ladams888]

Saw this last night in Wimbledon. No aircon until the film started and as the film started at 8:30 p.m. instead of 8:00 pm the cinema got pretty hot. I really enjoyed the film - I knew nothing about it and hadn't even seen any trailers - so I was pleasantly surprised. I thought Jennifer Lawrence was excellent in the role of Katniss - she played the character with strength and vulnerability. You knew from the beginning that she will stay the course - but the ensuing story was engrossing.

I absolutely loved the costumes - and I kept thinking throughout the film - what a great idea for a themed party!

[sikmansam]

I saw this at the O2 Cineworld yesterday for a pa*d preview, and must say i was really pleased how it turned out (having read the books). Jennifer Lawrence was sensational, and, although the violence is admittedly glossed over, it was a very compelling watch. Review in progress
9/10

[ploggit]

Great to meet yinster and her back row posse last night - leg room is it!

Thought the film was a wee bit disappointing, a bit clean compared to the book but a mostly accurate transfer from the book too. Well cast, even though I had read the book with Jennifer Lawrence in mind. 7/10 - maybe a director's cut in the future will be better?

Given how great the "soundtrack" CD looks (to me anyway), I was a bit disappointed by the lack of music. Probably one these "songs inspired by the film" jobs - I'll b*y it anyway, if only for the awesome The Civil Wars.

[hugo_macedo]

Great to meet yinster and her back row posse last night - leg room is it!

Thought the film was a wee bit disappointing, a bit clean compared to the book but a mostly accurate transfer from the book too. Well cast, even though I had read the book with Jennifer Lawrence in mind. 7/10 - maybe a director's cut in the future will be better?

Given how great the "soundtrack" CD looks (to me anyway), I was a bit disappointed by the lack of music. Probably one these "songs inspired by the film" jobs - I'll b*y it anyway, if only for the awesome The Civil Wars.

I too loved quite a lot the sound track... I guess that was one of my favourite bits of the film!

[Jayman]

Wow! Am astounded at all the positive reviews.
Guess I'm in the minority of haters then. Oh well.
Maybe EthanRunt and I can start a club of our own

[trickydicky123]

Wow! Am astounded at all the positive reviews.
Guess I'm in the minority of haters then. Oh well.
Maybe EthanRunt and I can start a club of our own

Can I join the club!

This was achingly tedious and mind numbingly boring.............the 2 and half hours felt like 2 and half days it was so dull, in fact, it was so bad I half expected Nicholas Cage to pop up half way through!

[canadian_turtle]

Great to meet yinster and her back row posse last night - leg room is it!

Thought the film was a wee bit disappointing, a bit clean compared to the book but a mostly accurate transfer from the book too. Well cast, even though I had read the book with Jennifer Lawrence in mind. 7/10 - maybe a director's cut in the future will be better?

Given how great the "soundtrack" CD looks (to me anyway), I was a bit disappointed by the lack of music. Probably one these "songs inspired by the film" jobs - I'll b*y it anyway, if only for the awesome The Civil Wars.

I too loved quite a lot the sound track... I guess that was one of my favourite bits of the film!

The music in the movie is released as The Original Movie Score. The soundtrack has songs "inspired by District 12 and beyond" by well-known artists, none of which were (I think) featured in the film.

[lemondrop]

I've been keen to see this for some time and have kept away from reading anything or watching the trailers. I haven't read the books as yet but have watched Battle Royale. Yes, they are many similarities but there's also a whiff of Rollerball too but still really enjoyed the film for what it was. The film is has it's flaws but Jennifer Lawrence's performance is gripping and solid. The piece of music when the credits roll at the end by Arcade Fire is a true delight. 7/10
I look forward to see how Lionsgate develop The Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness.

[canadian_turtle]

Okay I've had time to think (and sleep!) so here's my review:

Overall I really loved the movie. It was a superb adaptation from the novel with not very many changes, if anything there were additions to the story as we know it as we did not solely see it through Katniss' eyes any longer, but got to see the scope of the Capitol and the Gamesmakers beyond her vision. I was really impressed by this and loved the glimpse into how the Games were being created.

What I did not like:

- The shaky cam. Just terrible. I'm never a fan of this camera option and this movie was no exception. I know why they did it but I much rather they upped the rating to a 15, the books are aimed at older teens too (the 12 rating now meant we had some REALLY annoying little girls sitting next to us gasping audibly for every single little thing and giggling throughout the film. Ugh!)

- And on that note: they glossed over the violence far too much, I would've liked to see more of the impact of the fighting and deaths. As it were it didn't quite show how terrible the Games truly are. [spoiler]Except for the Rue scene of course, and yes I cried[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]The CGI for both fire outfits was terrible[/spoiler]
- There were a few book changes I did not like. The main one being the origin of the pin. [spoiler]There is no emotional background to getting it from Greasy Sal. And the character Katniss really gets it from in the books (the mayor's daughter) becomes quite important later on (primarily because of the origin of the pin!), so I'm interested to see how they'll handle this.[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]The mutts didn't have the eyes of the fallen tributes This particularly disturbed me in the book assuming at first that they were the actual eyes, it would've been a nice addition to an otherwise quite action-free finale.[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]The grand finale with the berries didn't quite make the impact on film as it did on paper. It's of huge significance to the story and the rest of Katniss' live but I didn't really get that feeling from it. If anything, the "Stop, stop" made the audience laugh.[/spoiler]

Wow, it sounds like I didn't like it all, but I did. I love the story in the novel and the movie was an excellent adaptation of it, one of the best I've seen so far. The casting was spot on (Cinna and Katniss in particular were amazing - Haymitch wasn't quite sleazy enough though) and despite the length of the movie it didn't bore me once. I actually went "nooo" (in my head) when it finished as I wanted to see more.

I hope they get rid of the shaky cam and up their budget for the CGI but either way I cannot wait for the next one!

9.5/10

[Jayman]

Oh yeah, did anybody notice? Last year's Amex screening was X-Men First Class starring Jennifer Lawrence.
This year's Amex screening was The Hunger Games starring Jennifer Lawrence.

Will next year's will be Serena?