I went and saw the Hunger Games. Twice. Yes, it has only been out three days. For those of you who haven't seen it yet and don't want any spoilers, stop reading now. You can come back to this after you go see the movie. What are you waiting for? Go see the movie. Now!
Ok...are you back? Alright, settle in, here are my thoughts:
I first heard about the Hunger Games Trilogy from Aubree, the 13 year old daughter of my friends, Ben and Tricia. She started to explain the plot to me and as she talked I just stared at Tricia in amazement. Kids, picked at random and forced to fight to the death in an arena and it is required viewing for the entire country and considered entertainment for many? And she is reading this in school? Whaaaa??? Tricia assured me that though the subject matter is pretty intense, it is a great series and worth the read. I trust her judgement and so I borrowed the books.
When I get into things, I really get into things. I read through the series twice. I loved them! Although, Suzanne Collins really doesn't know how to end a book. The books are great right up until the last 10 pages and then she just rushes through the ending. But that is a whole other blog post.
Anyway, back to the movie. To be honest, I really wish I hadn't seen it at midnight. (no offense, Tricia and Aubree, I enjoyed hanging out with you!) I normally get a kick out of going to the midnight showings. I have done that most recently with Harry Potter and Twilight. Yes, I am one of the oldest people in line, but it is still fun. The die-hard fans are there and they are full of energy and excitement. There is a lot of screaming and it makes going to a movie a real experience. For example, in Twilight, when Jacob takes off his shirt all of the teenage girls scream and squeal in delight. It is a bit ridiculous but whatever, I get it. In fact, truth be told, I am holding back a bit of a squeal myself. Let's be honest, Taylor Lautner is pretty ripped! I'm just saying...
What was interesting was that in this movie, whenever one of the kids would get killed in the game, all of the teenagers would squeal with delight. It was sooooo creepy! It is one thing to get excited over some werewolf muscles, it is another to get excited about someone's neck getting snapped. It was so disturbing and honestly quite ironic. The movie is about The Capitol of Panem - a sick society of people that force others to watch their kids kill each other for entertainment and here we were watching the same thing acted out and being entertained by it. Being surrounded by such excitement made me almost feel as though I was a part of The Capitol watching the games. Highly unsettling to say the least.
Another thing that I realized was that the reason books will always be superior to their movie counterpart is because our imagination can create so much more than even the most advanced technology. The story is richer and more intense when read rather than watched. I never thought about this but the opposite is true as well, our imagination can filter quite a bit when reading. As I read about the brutal deaths in the Hunger Games, I didn't have to imagine all the gory details, I was able to kind of breeze over it. In the movie, the scenes that I might not have fleshed out were unavoidable. That being said, the subject matter (which is disturbing no matter how you look at it) was much more unsettling to me when watching the movie, especially while surrounded by a screaming mob of excited teenagers. I left the movie pondering the desensitization of a society in regards to the value of human life and wondering where we were at on that scale.
I saw the movie again last night with my friends, Brooke and Charley and it was much better the second time around. Mainly because I knew what to expect and it was an older audience that reacted more appropriately to events in the movie so I didn't have that same feeling of being surrounded by a blood thirsty mob. I got to enjoy the movie for what it was. Putting everything that I previously said aside, it was a great movie! The characters were all very well cast, I can't think of a single one that I would have changed. Lenny Kravitz did amazingly well as Cinna and Woody Harrelson was just perfect as Haymitch! I was a bit bummed out that they didn't include Katniss' prep team. I really liked them. And they didn't really capture the depth in Peeta and Katniss' relationship but I think they did the best they could. I would imagine it is nearly impossible to adapt a first person narrative to screen without losing a lot of the emotion and depth that is portrayed in the book. All in all... it is a good movie, a great book and I recommend both. I am very excited for Catching Fire!
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