The Girl who Smoldered
Last weekend, I watched The Hunger Games for the first time with my roommates and Martie, who is over so often he might as well be a roommate and should start paying rent. I was… not impressed.
It was good, don't get me wrong. It was just… boring. I didn't care about anyone. There was literally not enough time spent on anyone to make me care about them. The pacing was really fast in some parts where I was expecting it to be delved into more. Like with Cinna. He showed up and was nice for like a minute, then the Tributes were paraded in the chariots at the Opening Ceremony. Why does Katniss trust him? We only see them interact for that part before she trusts him absolutely. And Katniss and Haymitch communicating via the parachutes. There were only two, and only one was when she was with Peeta, so Katniss pretending to love him was pointless and mean. One of the key points of the book was to serve as a critique of trickledown capitalist structure, which were very interestingly fleshed out in the text. In the movie, however, the structures are only hinted at before moving on to feature special effects, the internal/ritual conflict of the games, and the relationship between Katniss and Peeta. The point was that keeping entire groups of a civilization oppressed and killing their children for sport would fester enough anger that rebellion and uprising would occur once given the proper spark, that no matter how much control you have over someone, something will eventually give. Katniss wasn't valuble for herself, she was valuble because she was a survivor, and that survivalist core inspired people.
The books were entirely from Katniss's point of view. She is a very internal character; she doesn't speak all that much and she thinks about everything. That thought process allowed us to make connections with her, dispite her being sort of bland herself, with her society, and with the supporting characters. The movie didn't have that. Without her inner dialogue, there was nothing to link the cast together.
I enjoyed it aesthetically and the scene where Katniss was poisoned by the Tracker Jackers and hallucinating was brilliantly done and an inspired piece of editing, but otherwise, it was pretty much just another action movie. The sets, costumes, effects and cast was lovely, they just weren't given enough to work with.
I hope Catching Fire and Mockingjay are handled better. Lord knows if they screw up Finnick, dead men are walking.
It was good, don't get me wrong. It was just… boring. I didn't care about anyone. There was literally not enough time spent on anyone to make me care about them. The pacing was really fast in some parts where I was expecting it to be delved into more. Like with Cinna. He showed up and was nice for like a minute, then the Tributes were paraded in the chariots at the Opening Ceremony. Why does Katniss trust him? We only see them interact for that part before she trusts him absolutely. And Katniss and Haymitch communicating via the parachutes. There were only two, and only one was when she was with Peeta, so Katniss pretending to love him was pointless and mean. One of the key points of the book was to serve as a critique of trickledown capitalist structure, which were very interestingly fleshed out in the text. In the movie, however, the structures are only hinted at before moving on to feature special effects, the internal/ritual conflict of the games, and the relationship between Katniss and Peeta. The point was that keeping entire groups of a civilization oppressed and killing their children for sport would fester enough anger that rebellion and uprising would occur once given the proper spark, that no matter how much control you have over someone, something will eventually give. Katniss wasn't valuble for herself, she was valuble because she was a survivor, and that survivalist core inspired people.
The books were entirely from Katniss's point of view. She is a very internal character; she doesn't speak all that much and she thinks about everything. That thought process allowed us to make connections with her, dispite her being sort of bland herself, with her society, and with the supporting characters. The movie didn't have that. Without her inner dialogue, there was nothing to link the cast together.
I enjoyed it aesthetically and the scene where Katniss was poisoned by the Tracker Jackers and hallucinating was brilliantly done and an inspired piece of editing, but otherwise, it was pretty much just another action movie. The sets, costumes, effects and cast was lovely, they just weren't given enough to work with.
I hope Catching Fire and Mockingjay are handled better. Lord knows if they screw up Finnick, dead men are walking.