Possibly Great if...

Rating: 8/10 (27 March 2012)

Ill start off like most people Yes I read the books before seeing the movie, that being said I think the movie is a solid. I'll break down my review because there are some elements that need to be addressed and this is the easiest way I can think of doing it. I'll do my best to not give any spoilers.
Story:
I don't read a lot of books but I was compelled by my wife to read the books before we go and see the movie. I thought the books were great and the story in the movie follows pretty darn close to the first book, with some elements from the second book thrown in. This leads me to believe that the second movie will not only contain elements from the third book but some from the first book as well to tie it all together. Yes the movie does move along at a fast clip which I could see it making the movie confusing for some people, but it kinda had to move fast in order to be a two and a half hour movie. It was not as dark as the books and some of the traumatizing elements that you are supposed to be left with happened so fast they didn't quite sink in.
Characters: So the main characters such as Peeta, Katniss and Gale and even Effie were done great and were introduced very well. However like I said in the "Story" portion the movie does move along fast so a lot of the other Important characters such as Hammich, Cinna and his team were introduced but not developed very much (This may be corrected in the second movie). But the time everyone spent on screen was done very well.
Directing: OK so my main gripe, the shaky cam thing was overdone. There were times when a shaky cam would be fine but shook so much you could hardly make anything out (may have been necessary for the PG-13 rating for the gory stuff). And other moments when a shaky cam is not necessary at all it was used (the reaping seen WTF?). The time when you were supposed to have your heart strings tugged on where there and did what they were supposed to but the action scenes tend to happen so fast you would almost miss it (once again PG-13). Would this director have been my first choice being his biggest movies were Seabiskit and BIG, no. He has not done a future/Sifi/action/suspense flick before. But he did the drama portions very well, but needs to work on fast moving action scenes a little more.
Overall score: The movie is a solid 8 on its own with a possibility of being raised to a 9 or 10 if the subsequent movies are done right. Was everything perfect no, but the movie did succeed in me wanting more which if the next movies deliver it will be Awesome!