Good Movie, Not Sure it Matched the Book

Rating: 7/10 (25 March 2012)

Any movie based on a book is going to be different. I know that, so does everybody else. There were deviations in the movie that I understood (the source of the mockingjay pin, for example), but there were deviations that I really don't understand (all tributes in same hovercraft to arena, Peeta not being drugged, the medicine for him curing him completely, Cato not getting body armor). To me, the biggest problem was the fundamental point of the book. A boy and girl, supposedly in love, beat the Capitol at their own game. How many kisses were there? One? No lips? Katniss isn't on stage to show her reaction when Peeta admits his love for her? Peeta himself wasn't very convincing. In my opinion, there was no "star crossed lovers" evident between those two, so in my opinion, the movie created a different dynamic between them that does not support the plots of the next two books (next three(?) movies).
If I had not read the books beforehand, I think the movie would have been somewhat confusing. I commend their additions of the game room, President Snow and Seneca Crane's discussions, showing Haymitch getting gifts, and their use of Caesar to explain some things to the audience, but the movie moved very fast, skipped a lot of stuff, and I think in general would have left an uneducated viewer a little lost. I was absolutely in love with the style of the film and its interpretation of Panem, the Capitol, the arena, etc. I give it a seven as a result, despite the reservations voiced in the first paragraph.