Did we see the same movie?!?

Rating: 9/10 (28 September 2012)

I have been seeing a ton of bad reviews for this movie and I don't really understand why.
Main complaints by other viewers: The shaky camera - It rips off Battle Royale - Children being murdered - Not violent enough
First, I want to say that I am not a big fan of the shaky camera because it gives me a headache after while, but it was an important tool used to portray the chaos that is unfolding around Katniss. It is supposed to be seen from the perspective of the main character. It is in no way enough to rate this movie with one star...
Yes, there are great similarities between this story and Battle Royal, but that is an issue to take up with the book, not the movie. Avatar rips off Pocahontas...but it is still a great movie.
I have seen some nasty comments about the author for killing children. I think they are completely missing the point of this story. You are SUPPOSED to be disgusted by this. That is the premise behind the entire series. The Hunger Games are what sparks a revolt against the oppressing government. This "disgust" will be a big part of the next movie.
This series was written for young adults. Now imagine that they decided to make this movie so violent that it had to be rated R. That is idiotic! The books are for young adults so the movies should be geared towards them too. Just because you read this as an adult, it doesn't mean that the movie should be geared toward your age group.
I read all of the books before the movie was released and I was hoping that it would be a great adaptation. It was. Yes, the readers could get picky and point out some changes, but every adaptation is going to have a few changes. This one had so few changes that I had to watch it again to pick them out.
It is refreshing to see a movie that portrays a young female as strong and independent. Young teens have been given movie after movie that portrays females as only having one goal or aspiration...to have a boyfriend. This story decided to go a different route; instead of swooning over a young hunk this girl is fighting for her life and the lives of her family. Instead of being sweet and quiet, this girl is strong and outspoken. Young females need more characters like Katniss in their lives.
I thought that the costumes and make-up were done perfectly. They are supposed to be ridiculous and bright. This is important to the story because it is one way that the regular people of the districts find themselves hating the Capitol. It touches on the tensions caused by class division. The poor people can't afford food, yet they see these people wasting their money on outrageous things like getting their skin dyed green.
Most of the important plot points are subtle, like they are in the book since it was written in 1st person POV. You have to take note of the little details to get the full feel of this movie.
The cast was perfect. The only complaint I have is that Katniss could have easily been non-white because she is described as being olive-toned. They could have pushed the boundary a little more and given teens a more ethnically diverse cast.
Overall I rate this movie as a 9 for being a great book adaptation and giving young girls a good role model to look up to. Hopefully this series will reverse some of the damage that Twilight has done. I deducted 1 star for the shaky camera.