About the Movie I Saw Last Thursday...
Short review: THE HUNGER GAMES IS AWESOME. (Mostly.)
Long review...
I'm going to start by saying what I didn't like--the shaky cam. My eyes are not good, so when the camera started shaking more to indicate Katniss's nervousness/fear, it was hard for me to see what was going on. And in the climactic battle at the end, it was impossible to see anything clearly. That's not hyperbole. I quite literally couldn't see anything but flickers of color and light.
This pulled me out of the movie and forced me to close my eyes until that scene was over. For me, rhythmic flickers of color and light are seizure-inducing. They are for many epileptics. And considering that epilepsy is, according to the Epilepsy Foundation, the third-largest neurological disorder in America (Alzheimer's and stroke are the first), I think that someone on the production team should have thought about potential problems.
That's my only gripe, though.
As for what I liked:
* The girl who played Katniss was excellent. She was very convincing in the role. Kudos to her. (Also, and this is probably very shallow of me, but I loved the fact that Katniss's actress wasn't visibly suffering from an eating disorder.)
* Rue. Who was perfect--sweet, smart and terribly vulnerable. And despite knowing what was coming, I cried when she died. That was heart-breaking.
* The three-fingered salute of farewell and respect being given to Katniss in Districts 12 and 11--especially 11.
* Cinna. I never doubted that he was pro-revolution AND on Katniss's side.
* The costumes Cinna made for Katniss, especially the red dress that Katniss wears to her first interview. I'd seen stills of it and I wasn't initially impressed. Believe me, I was wrong.
* Donald Sutherland as President Snow. I hadn't pictured a bearded Snow, but he was every bit as chilling and as evil as his literary counterpart. Snow's observation that nothing was more dangerous than a lot of hope made sense of a lot of politics, as did his comment that he didn't like underdogs.
* The cuts back to the Gamemasters to see how they're reacting to what's going on (or not going on) in the arena.
* Seneca Crane, who I loved for two reasons--his Villain Beard (which rather resembled stylized flames, I noticed) and his conversations with Snow.
* Peeta's skill at camouflage. DAMN. The things that kid can do with mud.
* The romance being visibly fake, because it should have been. These weren't two people who had cared about each other for years; they were kids, one with a crush and one without, who had to play to the cameras to get the things they needed in order to survive. I could almost see the words floating over Katniss's head whenever she talked to or kissed Peeta: "Is this what you want, you people who want me to die for your entertainment? Do you like this story? Am I doing it right?" Scornful, angry words...and yet they both had to hope that yes, it was working.
* Gale's face whenever Katniss and Peeta played up the fake romance for the cameras. Because he was doing what most people would do--accepting that what was presented as reality WAS reality.
* The most meta explanation ever for something looking like CGI rather than something real--it IS CGI. And quickly rustled-up CGI, at that.
* Peeta not being anyone extraordinary. I think that was an excellent choice. He's very much a young Everyman of the sort that Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart or Tom Hanks used to play. He's kind of a dork, but he's a nice dork. He isn't heroic or brilliant or magical. He's just a nice normal guy...and he's far, far better at getting along with people and understanding them than Katniss is. And this makes sense, because while Katniss is brave and determined and fiercely loving toward the people who matter to her, she's terrible at faking emotion and at playing the part that the Games demand.
* The complete disconnect that everyone in the Capital seems to have toward the Hunger Games...such as the now-infamous "tribute becoming a victor" scene (in which one terrified kid grabs a brick to kill a second), or when Effie Trinket tells Katniss and Peeta that they're so lucky to get the opportunity to see the Capital and experience all that it has to offer--forgetting that the kids are going to the Capital to fight and very probably die.
Many people are calling this kind of thing "satire," but I'm calling it "deadly accurate observation." Cannibalism has already been televised on live TV in Holland.
Yeah. Someone decided that this would be a great stunt to get ratings and that it would be entertaining.
So I'm not seeing much difference between us and the people of the Capital. Which is disturbing, and which SHOULD be disturbing, because the people in the Capital don't seem to care that kids aged twelve through eighteen are killing each other for the sake of entertainment.
Then I started wondering if anyone in the Capital believed that no one was really dying, that it was all just stage blood and makeup. That it was about as real as wrestling. And I could see people believing that, because the alternative would be to accept that you were truly a horrible person.
***
I would just like to add one more thing. Everyone I've seen talking about this movie has mentioned how crowded the theaters have been. The theater I was in was a multiplex; that particular room had a capacity of 257. I went the week after it started...and there were only four people in the room, counting me. I mean, it was a matinee showing and I didn't expect many people (indeed, that's why I picked the 12:30 show--to avoid the stares and ridicule of children and teenagers). But FOUR?
Long review...
I'm going to start by saying what I didn't like--the shaky cam. My eyes are not good, so when the camera started shaking more to indicate Katniss's nervousness/fear, it was hard for me to see what was going on. And in the climactic battle at the end, it was impossible to see anything clearly. That's not hyperbole. I quite literally couldn't see anything but flickers of color and light.
This pulled me out of the movie and forced me to close my eyes until that scene was over. For me, rhythmic flickers of color and light are seizure-inducing. They are for many epileptics. And considering that epilepsy is, according to the Epilepsy Foundation, the third-largest neurological disorder in America (Alzheimer's and stroke are the first), I think that someone on the production team should have thought about potential problems.
That's my only gripe, though.
As for what I liked:
* The girl who played Katniss was excellent. She was very convincing in the role. Kudos to her. (Also, and this is probably very shallow of me, but I loved the fact that Katniss's actress wasn't visibly suffering from an eating disorder.)
* Rue. Who was perfect--sweet, smart and terribly vulnerable. And despite knowing what was coming, I cried when she died. That was heart-breaking.
* The three-fingered salute of farewell and respect being given to Katniss in Districts 12 and 11--especially 11.
* Cinna. I never doubted that he was pro-revolution AND on Katniss's side.
* The costumes Cinna made for Katniss, especially the red dress that Katniss wears to her first interview. I'd seen stills of it and I wasn't initially impressed. Believe me, I was wrong.
* Donald Sutherland as President Snow. I hadn't pictured a bearded Snow, but he was every bit as chilling and as evil as his literary counterpart. Snow's observation that nothing was more dangerous than a lot of hope made sense of a lot of politics, as did his comment that he didn't like underdogs.
* The cuts back to the Gamemasters to see how they're reacting to what's going on (or not going on) in the arena.
* Seneca Crane, who I loved for two reasons--his Villain Beard (which rather resembled stylized flames, I noticed) and his conversations with Snow.
* Peeta's skill at camouflage. DAMN. The things that kid can do with mud.
* The romance being visibly fake, because it should have been. These weren't two people who had cared about each other for years; they were kids, one with a crush and one without, who had to play to the cameras to get the things they needed in order to survive. I could almost see the words floating over Katniss's head whenever she talked to or kissed Peeta: "Is this what you want, you people who want me to die for your entertainment? Do you like this story? Am I doing it right?" Scornful, angry words...and yet they both had to hope that yes, it was working.
* Gale's face whenever Katniss and Peeta played up the fake romance for the cameras. Because he was doing what most people would do--accepting that what was presented as reality WAS reality.
* The most meta explanation ever for something looking like CGI rather than something real--it IS CGI. And quickly rustled-up CGI, at that.
* Peeta not being anyone extraordinary. I think that was an excellent choice. He's very much a young Everyman of the sort that Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart or Tom Hanks used to play. He's kind of a dork, but he's a nice dork. He isn't heroic or brilliant or magical. He's just a nice normal guy...and he's far, far better at getting along with people and understanding them than Katniss is. And this makes sense, because while Katniss is brave and determined and fiercely loving toward the people who matter to her, she's terrible at faking emotion and at playing the part that the Games demand.
* The complete disconnect that everyone in the Capital seems to have toward the Hunger Games...such as the now-infamous "tribute becoming a victor" scene (in which one terrified kid grabs a brick to kill a second), or when Effie Trinket tells Katniss and Peeta that they're so lucky to get the opportunity to see the Capital and experience all that it has to offer--forgetting that the kids are going to the Capital to fight and very probably die.
Many people are calling this kind of thing "satire," but I'm calling it "deadly accurate observation." Cannibalism has already been televised on live TV in Holland.
Yeah. Someone decided that this would be a great stunt to get ratings and that it would be entertaining.
So I'm not seeing much difference between us and the people of the Capital. Which is disturbing, and which SHOULD be disturbing, because the people in the Capital don't seem to care that kids aged twelve through eighteen are killing each other for the sake of entertainment.
Then I started wondering if anyone in the Capital believed that no one was really dying, that it was all just stage blood and makeup. That it was about as real as wrestling. And I could see people believing that, because the alternative would be to accept that you were truly a horrible person.
***
I would just like to add one more thing. Everyone I've seen talking about this movie has mentioned how crowded the theaters have been. The theater I was in was a multiplex; that particular room had a capacity of 257. I went the week after it started...and there were only four people in the room, counting me. I mean, it was a matinee showing and I didn't expect many people (indeed, that's why I picked the 12:30 show--to avoid the stares and ridicule of children and teenagers). But FOUR?