So, I know I should have gotten to this sooner. I've been really busy lately. Anyway, here's a quick review (well, more of a nit-pick) of The Hunger Games, because I promised, and I try not to break promises.
District 12 was definitely not how I pictured it. I mean, I knew it was supposed to be in the Appalachian mountain region, and I knew it was filmed in North Carolina, but I wasn't expecting Hick-town, USA, wooden shacks, and that sort of stuff. I was expecting more of a gray-ish feel to everything, what with the coal dust and stuff.
The Reaping was so intense for me. My heart was literally beating so fast, which was so dumb because I knew the outcome, but oh gosh, it was just heartbreaking. I thought Jennifer Lawrence did a really good job with the emotions during the Reaping and the scenes in the city hall building with her mother and Prim and Gale. I think it would have been too cheesy for her to have been crying, but she showed just enough emotion that it felt real, like she was in shock from the whole thing.
The Capitol felt weird to me. It was like it was high-tech, but really bland-looking. Like, I thought, if the citizens dress so crazily, maybe the buildings would reflect the same thing. The Training Center and the 12th floor...well, I kinda thought the same thing. They were a little...too simple, too streamlined, but as I think about it, they might be growing on me.
I loved the relationship between Cinna and Katniss. I enjoyed every scene of them together. The costumes...well, I didn't particularly like the chariot outfit. I think the flames looked really fake and kinda cheesy. Plus, it really annoyed me that they messed with Katniss' hair. In the book, Cinna wanted to keep it in the single braid so that the audience would recognize her in the arena. The interview outfit was pretty good. The flames looked more realistic that time. I really wish they had put all the tributes on the stage at once, and that would have put more focus on Katniss' reaction to Peeta's declaration of love.
I loved the scene where she shoots the arrow into the apple in the pig's mouth. The way she said her lines... "Thank you for your consideration." was perfect. Haymitch's reaction (the thumbs up) was awesome, all while Effie's sitting there fretting and criticizing Katniss for doing something like that.
The transport plane/helicopter was really neat, and I loved the scene between Cinna and Katniss in the prep room under the arena. The whole countdown scene was amazing, but I really had a problem with the Cornucopia. It was way too modernized for me. The bloodbath was really well done. They kept it from being too gory, which was a good thing. The forest in the arena was a bit different than I had imagined, but it was still cool. I had imagined Katniss sleeping differently in the tree...I thought she laid down in the sleeping bag and belted herself to the branch, not leaned up against the trunk, but that's a minor detail.
The wall of fire was insane. Seriously kept me on the edge of my seat. The fireballs were pretty awesome, too. I felt so bad when she got burned, and I loved the scenes of Haymitch trying to drum up sponsors for her in her time of need. The parachutes were really nothing like I expected. I thought they'd be cloth, not metal mesh, and the beeping really bugged me because that would immediately give away your location to anyone in the vicinity of the noise.
The Careers were nothing like I expected. They were too playful, too goofy. I expected cold-blooded killers, not people who chased Katniss through the woods screaming and laughing and taunting. Um, hello, there are other tributes...you might want to be a little more concerned about how much noise you make, even if you are Careers and everybody's scared of you.
The tracker jacker's were pretty neat, though I thought the choppy-skippy camera stuff was a bit stupid. Just give us the visions described in the book. I want ants boring into people's eyeballs...lol. Rue was so cute, taking care of Katniss while she was out, and asking about her and Peeta. That was adorable. The whole blowing-up of the food pile was pretty awesome, though I really wanted more of Cato's reaction...mainly the pounding the ground with his fists, but whatever. Oh my gosh, Rue's death was so sad...she was so tiny and innocent and so not meant to die and then Katniss sang, and I was, like, awww, that so does not make it better, but in some crazy way, it kinda does.
Peeta's camouflage was nothing like I expected. Of course, that stems from the fact that I assumed it was a stream...maybe five, ten feet wide at the most, not a full-fledged river, and that the rocks were more like boulders instead of big, flat rocks. I expected him to be sort of submerged in mud and covered in leaves and little rocks and stuff...so for me, the whole, "let's paint my own face to look like the rocks, even though I don't have a mirror to see what I'm doing" thing really annoyed me. Although, I should admit, I do get annoyed easily.
The other thing that bothered me was the fact that it wasn't raining during the time when Peeta and Katniss were in the cave. But, again, it was so minor I was probably the only one who noticed it. The Feast was good, because after all the kissing and storytime and nursing back to health stuff, I was in need of a bit more blood and gore. Because I'm cool like that.
The nightlock scene was decent, but I wished they had focused on exactly why Peeta and Katniss were heading back to the lake...aka the Gamemakers drying up all the other water sources. Speaking of Gamemakers, I loved every single control room scene, seeing the sort of 'behind the scenes' action was awesome. And the interview bits with Caesar Flickerman were nice, too.
So, on to the mutts. I didn't find them very scary, actually. I think because it was night (um, why did they change the whole scene to night?) and you really couldn't see them that well. Also, we all hated that the mutts chased Peeta and Katniss through the woods, because we all really wanted to see Cato come running past the two of them without even trying to kill them. The battle was pretty good, though, but I found the berry scene kinda boring. I wish they would have at least started to put them in their mouths or something.
I really wanted the helicopter scene, but I guess since they didn't make such a big deal about Peeta's leg (they never mentioned him having it amputated, so I guess it didn't happen), they didn't need the helicopter scene. The final interview was good, though I wished they would have matched Peeta and Katniss' outfits like they did in the book. The train scene was nice, and overall, I came out of the theater satisfied, and I cannot wait until November 2013 when Catching Fire releases!
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