Hunger Games Script Review
So... I was lucky to get my hot little hands on a copy of the script for the Hunger Games movie yesterday. The draft I read gave writing credit to a Billy Ray (not Suzanne Collins). I have to admit, my interest in THG has waned considerably since Mockingjay. I really haven't cared very much who they cast as Katniss or Peeta (though I do have a bit of interest in Gale still of course, and Johanna for the second movie). Still, I always love reading scripts and seeing how they interpret a book into a more visual medium. With the amount of internal dialogue and limited first person-POV of the novels, it would be quite a challenge I imagined.
After reading it, ...I think it's safe to say this may be one of those rare instances when a movie could turn out to be quite a bit better than the book! I really enjoyed the script and while it differs from the novels in many parts, I think it stays incredibly true to the spirit of the books. And improves on some of Collins' plot points/messages as well. I'll get spoilery later, but a few overall notes first.
The script is so much more expansive than the book. Because we are not limited to Katniss's POV, the world really opens up considerably. The very first scene is not in her POV at all actually, and there are a fair amount of scenes that don't include Katniss at all. As a result you get some interesting insights into characters who are bit more evasive or inscrutable in the book: Gale, Haymitch, and, most importantly, the games makers. They are such vivid villains in the script and you get chilling snippets of their insights as the Games are staged. The reality TV/multimedia angle is much more immediate here than it was in the books.
The very beginning scene is a chase through a town with arrows flying and things exploding. And Athens is referenced. I thought this was an interesting way to start it. The first "real" scene starts with the year before Prim is reaped. Katniss is in the HOB trading, which is where Peeta gives her the burned bread. It doesn't have quite the impact that the book scene did... they're older and it's a fairly casual exchange as scripted. It doesn't have the feeling of it being such a huge sacrifice (although the script does make it pretty clear that his mom gave him a black eye for burning the bread.) I thought that was a really strange choice, to minimize the kind of romanticism of that moment. They do make up for it in a way with an added scene however.... more on that in a bit.
There is no Madge in the script! Mayor Undersee exists but there's no scene with selling the strawberries and the pin is now Kat's father's. Her mother pins it to Prim on reaping day, Prim passes it to Katniss when she volunteers. When Kat covers Rue in flowers, she also pins it to her dress. When Thresh saves Katniss, he gives her the pin back. (Kinda rude of him to take it off a dead girl's body, eh? But I get the significance. It keeps popping up/coming back to Katniss.
Gale! He gets his own plotline! As I was reading, I got to Katniss's goodbye with her family, and then I'm expecting Gale to come in, but NO! He just looks at her through a window! I was so disappointed .... and then.... HE RUNS AWAY TO THE CAPITOL after Katniss! ZOMG! Now obviously they've made the distance to the Capitol not quite so big as it was in the books. Because he gets their relatively quickly. But he also gets a really fantastic speech to Haymitch about how much he cares about Kat and how angry he is that Haymitch is not helping her. LOVED THAT. Then he goes to see Kat in her room at the Training Center! However... they don't even hug. And the point of the scene was that he brings her drawings he found in a dumpster that Peeta did of Katniss and tells her she should trust him. I was a little disappointed with that too because I hate when they make the loser-guy in a love triangle be all martyrish and "he's better for you/you should go to him" anyway because it feels so incredibly contrived. So meh on that! BUT Gale it turns out is hanging with the Avoxes in a bunker under the Capitol. Lavinia is helping him (her abduction happens at the beginning of the movie). This is all incredibly cool. But... he narrowly escapes getting caught...and then disappears for a third of the script--when they're at the Games. I thought that was really odd. There are reaction scenes at points but no Gale. Was he still journeying? Had he not made it back to The Seam yet? No idea. But he did make it back into the very final scene anyway.
Katniss and Peeta....It's pretty romancey right from the start. One thing I think you really lose in the script is Katniss' internal indecision. To me...it seems like she hooks up with Peeta pretty quickly and without much reservation at all. They seem much swoonier in the script--although part of that could be because of the time condensation. Related, most of Peeta's lines are jokes. Which kind of makes him seem very humorous and fairly light-hearted. I think they're all things he said in the book, but the way it was cut/condensed here...I just noticed it more. There's a lot of references to Katniss being sullen and she's defiant a lot in the games, but....I feel she's a lot softer/weaker with Peeta than she is in the books. She breaks down sobbing at one point (which I don't recall happening in books) and she's already talking about "I can't go on without you..." Don't know. That stuff felt a little off to me. But bear in mind, it's not my preferred ship.
As mentioned, you get a lot of snippets of the reality show behind the Games and Seneca Crane and the Games Makers come off as INCREDIBLY EVIL and mercenary. Very interesting to see that side of things.
Also as mentioned, all the beloved plot points from the book really remain intact I think. All the moves in the Games--they move swifter but none of them were sacrificed. It's a really well-crafted script I think, very cinematic certainly, and it's revitalized my interest in the movies! Too bad we have to wait till 2012 to see it!
After reading it, ...I think it's safe to say this may be one of those rare instances when a movie could turn out to be quite a bit better than the book! I really enjoyed the script and while it differs from the novels in many parts, I think it stays incredibly true to the spirit of the books. And improves on some of Collins' plot points/messages as well. I'll get spoilery later, but a few overall notes first.
The script is so much more expansive than the book. Because we are not limited to Katniss's POV, the world really opens up considerably. The very first scene is not in her POV at all actually, and there are a fair amount of scenes that don't include Katniss at all. As a result you get some interesting insights into characters who are bit more evasive or inscrutable in the book: Gale, Haymitch, and, most importantly, the games makers. They are such vivid villains in the script and you get chilling snippets of their insights as the Games are staged. The reality TV/multimedia angle is much more immediate here than it was in the books.
The very beginning scene is a chase through a town with arrows flying and things exploding. And Athens is referenced. I thought this was an interesting way to start it. The first "real" scene starts with the year before Prim is reaped. Katniss is in the HOB trading, which is where Peeta gives her the burned bread. It doesn't have quite the impact that the book scene did... they're older and it's a fairly casual exchange as scripted. It doesn't have the feeling of it being such a huge sacrifice (although the script does make it pretty clear that his mom gave him a black eye for burning the bread.) I thought that was a really strange choice, to minimize the kind of romanticism of that moment. They do make up for it in a way with an added scene however.... more on that in a bit.
There is no Madge in the script! Mayor Undersee exists but there's no scene with selling the strawberries and the pin is now Kat's father's. Her mother pins it to Prim on reaping day, Prim passes it to Katniss when she volunteers. When Kat covers Rue in flowers, she also pins it to her dress. When Thresh saves Katniss, he gives her the pin back. (Kinda rude of him to take it off a dead girl's body, eh? But I get the significance. It keeps popping up/coming back to Katniss.
Gale! He gets his own plotline! As I was reading, I got to Katniss's goodbye with her family, and then I'm expecting Gale to come in, but NO! He just looks at her through a window! I was so disappointed .... and then.... HE RUNS AWAY TO THE CAPITOL after Katniss! ZOMG! Now obviously they've made the distance to the Capitol not quite so big as it was in the books. Because he gets their relatively quickly. But he also gets a really fantastic speech to Haymitch about how much he cares about Kat and how angry he is that Haymitch is not helping her. LOVED THAT. Then he goes to see Kat in her room at the Training Center! However... they don't even hug. And the point of the scene was that he brings her drawings he found in a dumpster that Peeta did of Katniss and tells her she should trust him. I was a little disappointed with that too because I hate when they make the loser-guy in a love triangle be all martyrish and "he's better for you/you should go to him" anyway because it feels so incredibly contrived. So meh on that! BUT Gale it turns out is hanging with the Avoxes in a bunker under the Capitol. Lavinia is helping him (her abduction happens at the beginning of the movie). This is all incredibly cool. But... he narrowly escapes getting caught...and then disappears for a third of the script--when they're at the Games. I thought that was really odd. There are reaction scenes at points but no Gale. Was he still journeying? Had he not made it back to The Seam yet? No idea. But he did make it back into the very final scene anyway.
Katniss and Peeta....It's pretty romancey right from the start. One thing I think you really lose in the script is Katniss' internal indecision. To me...it seems like she hooks up with Peeta pretty quickly and without much reservation at all. They seem much swoonier in the script--although part of that could be because of the time condensation. Related, most of Peeta's lines are jokes. Which kind of makes him seem very humorous and fairly light-hearted. I think they're all things he said in the book, but the way it was cut/condensed here...I just noticed it more. There's a lot of references to Katniss being sullen and she's defiant a lot in the games, but....I feel she's a lot softer/weaker with Peeta than she is in the books. She breaks down sobbing at one point (which I don't recall happening in books) and she's already talking about "I can't go on without you..." Don't know. That stuff felt a little off to me. But bear in mind, it's not my preferred ship.
As mentioned, you get a lot of snippets of the reality show behind the Games and Seneca Crane and the Games Makers come off as INCREDIBLY EVIL and mercenary. Very interesting to see that side of things.
Also as mentioned, all the beloved plot points from the book really remain intact I think. All the moves in the Games--they move swifter but none of them were sacrificed. It's a really well-crafted script I think, very cinematic certainly, and it's revitalized my interest in the movies! Too bad we have to wait till 2012 to see it!