so some movie came out this weekend
I liked it. It wasn't amazing, but it was solid. Jennifer Lawrence was fabulous, and I liked Peeta & Gale much more than I expected to. The acting was great overall, and it was a really good adaptation--Husband, who hasn't read the books, said he wasn't left with any questions and I liked all the stuff they added: Haymitch wooing sponsors, stuff in the Game Headquarters, and particularly all the media and the political propaganda. So there was a lot to love.
Some things I didn't like, though. I hated the camera work, to be honest. Thank GOD the shaky cam got better once they left District 12, but there was still way more camera movement and quick cuts than necessary. And I'm not really sure why there was so much shaky cam at the beginning--I would have expected wide angle and slow shots out in the district, and much more flashy camera work in the Capitol and during the action scenes in the arena. There were also loads of scenes that were out of focus or not centered and just hard to look at. I get that he was going for the reality-tv sort of feel, but it really wasn't enjoyable to watch.
Indoor scenes were really good; they did a good job of showing the opulence of the Capitol in just a few shots. I don't think the outdoor scene-setting was particularly good, though. Other than the town square I have no idea what District 12 looks like. We got a couple of shots of rooms in Katniss's house, but from what the movie showed, they could just live in a place without electricity--there's certainly no sense of the grinding poverty that the districts live in. The Capitol wasn't distinguished enough either. It looked much more like something Mussolini would build (huge scale, white, monumental) rather than the candy colored opulence we get in the books. The Capitol was too sterile overall. When you saw people up close the styling was great, but scenes with crowds just looked like a set : /
The other big thing that bothered me was how much nuance was gone. We get a fair amount just from the expressions on Jennifer Lawrence's face, but there's little of the pre-game strategizing, the attempts to sell Katniss as a player, or the sense (aside from Seneca's actions) that there are all sorts of political manoeuverings going on, especially on Cinna's part. For example, Peeta grabs Katniss's hand during the parade rather than Cinna telling them to hold hands, which is an early indicator that something is going on, and we don't really get Cinna trying to make Katniss look young in the interviews afterwards to 1) show disapproval of the games and 2) make her look like a young girl who could be overcome with love even in an arena where you have to fight to the death. I don't think Peeta and Katniss's relationship was developed as well in the movie as it was in the book, but I do think they made her feelings for him more believable than they were in the books at this point. Husband pointed out that they probably avoided some of this so it didn't tip the film toward drama/suspense, which makes sense, but I'm still sad to have lost some of the layers.
I want to see it again to take in all the details; I think this time I was mostly sitting on the edge of my seat wanting to see how everything would be done. And I have to say, they were really good with ratcheting up the tension--the lead-up to the start of the games was nerve-wracking.
Overall, I give it a B+.