Thanks for the seizure

Rating: 6/10 (28 March 2012)

I like a lot of movies. I am in no way a movie snob. Not to say I love everything, but I'll try to find something good in most movies. I really struggled with Hunger Games. Like other reviewers have said, (and they are 100% on the mark) the camera work, the scene changes every .17 seconds, the shakiness, and the constant extreme closeups were beyond annoying and solidly detracted from the movie. I don't think the camera stayed fixed for over 2 seconds in the entire movie. This fact alone made the experience extremely unnerving and is a sure sign of a poorly made movie that is trying to compensate for a complete lack of substance. Which is really too bad because the premise at least sounded somewhat interesting, albeit slightly overused, and the books have sold like hotcakes so there must be some appeal to them. Towards the end the jittery/strobe-camera overpowered the value of the movie and I left when the parents started rioting. I believe this was the first time I've ever walked out of a movie, which was frustrating because I wanted to like it. Twilight and this turkey are aimed solidly at teens which is sad because it had the chance to be good, but is definitely not. Update 1-14-2015. After a second viewing I came to accept the camera shakiness. I stand by my review, but could have been a little more forgiving. 6 of 10 stars.