Hunger Games: We hardly knew ya

Rating: 7/10 (13 April 2012)

This movie just flew by. It was over before I knew it.
Maybe it went by so quickly for me because I've read the book, all 374 pages. Unfortunately it's impossible to give 374 page book the treatment it deserves in a little over two hours.
What we got was entertaining, but it's just a shadow of the book. There's so much cut out. We hardly get an idea of what life was like in District 12. I don't think they even used the words "the Seam" in the movie. Rue had about 5 minutes of screen time. Gale had even less.
Even Peeta was hardly developed. There isn't much of a sense of Peeta's bravery from the movie. There was one scene where Peeta showed some strength by throwing the medicine ball in the gym.
Gale only has a few minutes of screen time. You'd think Katniss's best friend would have more than a few minutes.
I think they cast the wrong actor for Gale. The actor was just too nice. Gale is more of an edgy character. He has a fierce temper, but a heart of gold.
I did enjoy some things in the movie. It was interesting to see actors portraying the career tributes, such as Clove and Cato. I wish we could have seen more of Glimmer too. The boy from district 1 hardly got any screen time. Woody Harrelson was entertaining. But I thought all the shaky camera work near the beginning was unnecessary. It made the reaping all too real, and all too creepy. If I want to be creeped out I'll go watch a horror movie.
I would have liked to see some key scenes. They could have included the scene when Katniss and Gale first met. Katniss offered him the bow, and he smiled like a little kid in a candy store.
Also I was really interested in seeing Lenny Kravitz play Cinna. He only had about five minutes of screen time.
And was it really necessary to cut short Clove's death scene? And Cato's reaction afterward? How much time did they save? A minute? Also I really like the Foxface character. Her success gave me a sense of hope. But, unfortunately, Foxface's starvation ultimately lead her to eat some poison berries.
It was nice to see Thresh, if only for a few minutes. Thresh is really unique because he mostly kept to himself and was strong.
And was it really necessary to cut out the death scene of the girl from district 4? She also died from the tracker jackers. You'd think they could at least leave in the death scenes. But I was glad that they cut short Cato's death scene. That was pretty gruesome in the book.
Too bad they didn't split the first book into too movies.