The Hunger Games

Rating: 8/10 (23 March 2012)

I saw this movie at a pre-screening and was pretty impressed. The movie follows the general events of the book very well. Obviously, things have to be cut in order to make the movie. The details of the events were not quite on though. I don't think anything major was changed but it did bother me that some small things didn't match up. Why can't they make the events perfect with the book? They had the author working on writing the screen play! I had just read the book the week before so it was fresh on my mind. As long as you don't look for all of the differences, you should be just fine.
One thing that I didn't like was the way they shot the movie. At times, I felt like the movie was shot from someone's iPhone because it was so shaky. I had a hard time following some scenes as the camera was just bouncing all over the place. Surely they could have done better there. Peeta was a bit of a surprise to me as well. I expected Peeta to be a bigger, stronger guy than was actually portrayed. He is supposed to be "strong" but when comparing him to some of the other guys, he just didn't cut it.
I would suggest that you read the book before seeing the movie. There are some things that weren't covered by the movie that I feel you would need to know in order for things to make sense. Especially the turmoil that goes on in Katniss's own mind through out the games. For example, the strategy that Katniss and Peeta use. They decide upon playing up the romance aspect in order to get sponsors. They don't explain that in the movie. So it is hard to understand the quick transition from nothing to madly in love. Also, the reasons that Katniss teams up with Rue and why she feels the need to.
Like I said, the movie was well done and as long as you don't compare it to the book too much, you will really enjoy seeing it.