Sell Outs

Rating: 1/10 (2 April 2012)

The Hunger Games was the first book I have ever read from start to finish in my entire life. I thought that the movie trailers looked stupid before I ever even picked up the book. However, I did not want to trash talk my friends, who had read the books, without having any idea of what their infatuation was. So one day I decided to read the first chapter of the book in order to have some clue before I could just say "You guys are retarded and so is this book". Its not that I do not read, I have tried to read many books recommended to me before and nothing ever makes an impression. I thought this book would be the same as all of the other books I have tried and trashed in the past, but I was SO WRONG! After something like three pages into the book, I was hooked. I ended up finishing the whole trilogy in one week -- which was hard with work and three kids -- I just could not get the book out of my head. As soon as my kids were asleep, I would read until my eyes became too blurry to read anymore. I would go off of only a couple of hours of sleep each night and eat while I read as well. I finished all three books before the movie came out in the theater and became excited for the movie to hit the big screen.
-- This is where the review starts -- I have always heard that the movie adaptations are never as good as the book, so I read all of the spoilers in order to prepare myself for any disappointment. What I was not prepared for was the fact the the directer was a complete "sell out". All of the things I liked so much about the books were ripped away for the big screen adaptation.
I knew that they had changed her mocking jay pin before I saw the movie. But what I did not know was that they took a very important heirloom -- which, in the book, was given to her by the daughter of Katniss's district's mayor and her only companion which she had contact with in her grade at school -- and turn that heirloom into a souvenir from a box filled with them at a local store, taking away all sentimental value. This set me off right from the git-go. Regardless, I tried to keep an open-mind and enjoy the movie.
I know they are trying to fit a lot of content into a short amount of time, so I expected a rushed pace. I had thought that the movie would take a break at some point and give the audience an introduction to the characters and allow them to get attached to them. I also thought that the violence would be reflected very well in the movie which would give the audience a since of awe for these characters which they felt connected to. Instead, I saw a continuously rushed movie with no character attachment what so ever and no display of real violence. In the book, Katniss comes so close to death from dehydration, during her first few days in the arena, but she keeps going and you really get a good since of her character and her willingness to survive.
By mid-way through the movie, I knew that Lion's Gate had "sold out" the vision of the books for the sole purpose of making money rather than art. I can only look at Lion's Gate and Gary Ross as corporate monsters who would cut every corner possible to make an extra dollar. I remember thinking about how the movie "Scarface" had to challenge group after group to try to keep an R rating, so their movie could be shown in theaters. The makers of "Scarface" ended up winning their battles and instead of putting out some cheesy cut version of their movie, they ended up leaving every gruesome shot in their film and it is a classic movie even now.
This movie does not deserve the positive reviews that it is getting. They have taken a great movie about an innocent girl who slowly realizes the corruption and evil of the world she lives in, and turned it into another movie about a three-way love triangle (another unoriginal way to get more team Edwards and team Jacobs gossiping in their nail salons).
In the books, Katniss slowly recognizes how much of an evil and greedy beast her government really is and how the citizens of the Capitol see the tributes as contestants on a game show or something rather than the real people they are. Watching the movie, I felt like the books view of those citizens in the Capitol; I could only the tributes as a bunch of actors making a movie. I felt no connection to them what so ever. And when Rue died in the movie, I really could not have cared less; where as in the book her death his gripping and tragic.
That's why I gave this rating a ten, so I could sell out to a larger audience and have more people read this review who otherwise would have ignored this negative review.