(2012) The Hunger Games

[FireCat]

Well, this movie looks pretty decent.

 

[thewrongvine]

Yeah, according to my school as well, the movie was good. Again, not as great as the books they said, but it was entertaining.

 

[Wiseman_2]

I saw it this afternoon. I was really rather surprised. Bear in mind that I haven't read the books, but I really enjoyed it.

There is a definite sense of tension in the way it builds up towards the games themselves, and once they kick off, it holds that tension; you feel the nerves as the tournament progresses and the tributes are killed off. It is fairly violent in some scenes; however, the camera is kept close in and fast moving in these parts, so you don't see the worst of it ((un)fortunately?).

There are some rather touching scenes in amongst the violence too; I won't mention them here as they may be spoilers, but the way the subtle score suddenly swells in these scenes is brilliant, and really helps emphasize the various character's feelings. Furthermore, it's well performed too. The two leads do very well, and the support cast is also rather good at bringing the dystopian world to life.

For the most part, this is an excellent film that I can only recommend.
And don't listen to anybody comparing this to Twilight; this is far, far superior, and not some bland love story with weak, weak characters (in both senses of being weak).

Um, I seem to have done a mini-review of sorts, so I'll stick a number on too: [4.5/5]

 

[Ninja_sheep]

Imho it's not nearly as good as most people say.
I really liked the atmosphere in the first half but as soon as the competition started it just got stupid and there are quite a few plot holes. There are some plot lines that are introduced but never actually matter.

Spoilers for more specific ranting.

Spoiler

-Why do they introduce the mentor as an alcoholic? As soon as they talk to him he gets cooperative and helps them. Later in the movie he doesn't take a drink from a serving woman but that's all for that. Not relevant to anything :<

-Her boyfriend in the district doesn't matter either. He does nothing at all except being a dick by startling the deer. Why would he possibly do that when food apparently is so precious in this district? Well, maybe it's for the next movie and we get some twillight-ish love triangle.

-The sponsors... They're so important! You have to impress them! What do they ever do? They send her that cream to heal her burn. That's the only thing they do the entire movie. And that burn is shitty in the first place because it was caused by the Host for her breaking a rule she didn't know about in the first place.

-The evil gang... They just team up. How did they make the alliance? Why doesn't anybody get killed in their sleep? No clue.

-The medicine that heals the guys leg... Really? Some cream can heal a cut from a sword over night? I have no problem with unrealistic healing but it has to be introduced or hinted at earlier in the movie before it's used. Can't just pull it out of your hat almost at the end...

-The love scene was reasonable. Incredibly cheesy of course. It's one of those you like if you take the movie seriously but if you don't it's just ridiculous.

-Blurry combat scenes aren't acceptable :7

-Also, changing the rules back and forth in a game about life and death is just retarded. And it makes no sense at all. He changed the rules in the first place to prevent a riot. Then he changes them back and forces them to kill each other? How would that turn out if one of them died? The people in district 12 sure would be happy.

/rant

 

[C-Death]

After seeing the movie I can say: It's alright.

Spoiler

The camera men should be shot, half the movie is blurry, especially during action scenes

 

[Wiseman_2]

Spoiler

The camera men should be shot, half the movie is blurry, especially during action scenes

You can say that about a LOT of action movies these days. It is especially inexcusable in some action films; but here you kind of have to let it fly, because slow, more graphic shots would have meant the film would have ended up with a higher certificate, ruling out much of its target audience, as this is, after all, minors fighting minors. If it was adults fighting adults, it would not be so bad, but as the subject matter is those of a younger age, it needs to be shown like that to get a lower age rating. They also cut about 7 minutes of other footage deemed too violent or bloody... I do hope they get included on an uncut DVD with a higher rating...

Also, with regards to the 4.5/5 I gave it, that could be in part due to the fact I haven't seen a properly good film in the cinema in ages. But on the other hand, I really, genuinely did enjoy it, so I'm gonna stick by that, even if it did have a few faults here and there.

 

[Lyerae]

Imho it's not nearly as good as most people say.
I really liked the atmosphere in the first half but as soon as the competition started it just got stupid and there are quite a few plot holes. There are some plot lines that are introduced but never actually matter.

Spoilers for more specific ranting.

Spoiler

-Why do they introduce the mentor as an alcoholic? As soon as they talk to him he gets cooperative and helps them. Later in the movie he doesn't take a drink from a serving woman but that's all for that. Not relevant to anything :<

-Her boyfriend in the district doesn't matter either. He does nothing at all except being a dick by startling the deer. Why would he possibly do that when food apparently is so precious in this district? Well, maybe it's for the next movie and we get some twillight-ish love triangle.

-The sponsors... They're so important! You have to impress them! What do they ever do? They send her that cream to heal her burn. That's the only thing they do the entire movie. And that burn is shitty in the first place because it was caused by the Host for her breaking a rule she didn't know about in the first place.

-The evil gang... They just team up. How did they make the alliance? Why doesn't anybody get killed in their sleep? No clue.

-The medicine that heals the guys leg... Really? Some cream can heal a cut from a sword over night? I have no problem with unrealistic healing but it has to be introduced or hinted at earlier in the movie before it's used. Can't just pull it out of your hat almost at the end...

-The love scene was reasonable. Incredibly cheesy of course. It's one of those you like if you take the movie seriously but if you don't it's just ridiculous.

-Blurry combat scenes aren't acceptable :7

-Also, changing the rules back and forth in a game about life and death is just retarded. And it makes no sense at all. He changed the rules in the first place to prevent a riot. Then he changes them back and forces them to kill each other? How would that turn out if one of them died? The people in district 12 sure would be happy.

/rant

Spoiler

1) They explain this in one of the books. Since Haymitch one his Hunger Games, he's had to mentor every team that came after him, and all of them died, and he could do nothing about it. As you can imagine, this can make even the best of us a little depressed.
2) Well, Gale isn't exactly her boyfriend. He is her hunting partner, and has been for a long time (it's explain that they taught each-other the skills they had. Katniss with her bow skills, and Gale with his snare skills).
3) They pay for the gifts to be sent into the Games. Without large quantities of money, it wouldn't have been possible to send those items.
4) I'm not sure if it was ever explained, but I believe they make these alliances on the practice floor, and it was supposed to be better to work together, and then kill each-other in the end, because they can focus the resources they had on tracking everyone else.
5) The Capitol is explained as having extremely advanced medical technology.
6) It's a little different in the book, but I think I may agree. It wasn't played out nearly as well as it should have.
7) Agreed, though they weren't that bad.
8) That was done in an attempt to get Peeta and Katniss together, so they could play off the "star-crossed lovers" thing, and distract the attention away from what happened with Rue, if I'm not mistaken, and they revoked it because they never had any intention of letting more than one tribute live.

I hope I answered well enough?

---

Anyway, I feel that the book was most certainly better than the movie, but it was still a pretty good adaption. I dragged a few of my friends to see the movie with me, and got at least two of them interested in reading the books.

 

[Ninja_sheep]

I guess all those things make more sense in the book where there is more time to explain and introduce.
In the movie all those plot points just felt very cut-off and/or pointless.

 

[Sajin]

I haven't heard much about the book or the movie (though I'm not around people who jump on things like that right away a lot) but I picked it up hoping to knock it out before I go and see the movie and I'm enjoy the book very much, I'm not quite at the games yet but the character progression is very interesting. I have a feeling Kaitness will be my favorite protagonist in any book or movie for a while.

 

[Wiseman_2]

I'd like to add a couple of points onto what Lyerae said... but bear in mind I haven't read the books, and this is just what you get from watching the film:

Spoiler

1) The fact that he's an alcoholic is merely a character trait. Sure, it's explained in detail in the book, but in the film if nothing else it helps to make him a more three dimensional character, make him seem a bit more interesting.
2) In the book there is obviously more to it, but in the film I still see need for him to be at least mentioned - it adds tension to the relationship between Peeta and Katniss during the games, as you can understand that there are obviously feelings between Katniss and Gale; this is why you see shots of Gale watching the games throughout the film.
3, 4, 5) Never mind that this is a sci-fi film or anything, where such technology might exist, or that what happens to the characters are part of the story, to add tension and drama...

Wow, I just defended it like a total fanboy. Rest assured I hadn't even seen a trailer until 2 weeks ago

 

[Ninja_sheep]

Well, it's an opinion thing.

I just want to adress what you said about 3,4,5.
I'm not really complaining about it being unrealistic. I'm complaining about something so important not being introduced before it gets into action.

Harry Potter fights Voldemort with magic -> unrealistic but okay. Magic got introduced earlier and therefor makes sense in the context.

Harry Potter pulls out a gun and shoots Voldemort in the face -> realistic but not okay. Guns haven't been introduced as a tool for combat and it would just be weird.

Just sayin'

 

[Lyerae]

In the books, they give several examples of how advanced Capitol technology is, but you're right, it does seem to me like they left that detail out of the movies.

@Wiseman_2,

Spoiler

He also becomes a main characters in the later books, so it would be a bit odd for him to appear out of nowhere without any context as to who he was, and his relationship with Katniss.

 

[The Helper]

Went and saw the movie with my kiddos last weekend and it was very good. Best thing I have seen in a while. About the same awesome as Avatar to me.

 

[Sajin]

Just finished the first book and it was amazing in my opinion, the part where they

Spoiler

turned the dead contestants into those wolf mutations really pissed me off though, how could they do that to rue, also while on the subject of her. I honestly think that her death wasn't as powerful as I would've hoped it to be. It was moving sure, but I think they should've given her more character development, made us like her more, but they seemed to kill her off too soon in my opinion. ALSO HATED THE ENDING!! Damn cliff hangers x.x

Cant wait to see the movie sometime soon.