Well acted, faithful to the book, but a bit long

Rating: 7/10 (26 March 2012)

*POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
Hungers Games, well-acted and seemed to keep the same eerie and dark theme of the book.
I get why (or at least I think I get why) they chose the movie the way they did, no I'm talking specifically about the hand-held "shaky" camera. That would be fine if combined with steady shot scenes after the hand-held camera scenes, however in the beginning of the movie the a lot of the hand-held camera scenes jump directly to more hand-held camera scenes. It takes some getting used to and yes it does get a little better as the movie progresses. I would have preferred they save the hand-held camera scenes specifically for the battle/fight scenes, but if you go in prepared like I did, you should be fine, just don't eat a whole lot before hand.
Now that that is out of the way.
The long and extended scenes without music. As one who hasn't read the whole book, I found a lot of these scenes boring. I'm taking a guess that these long-drawn out music-less scenes were on purpose for realism and emotional pull. It succeeded in creating more realism, but I feel if failed in the emotional pull - Let the actors act, Lawrence and Hutchinson both very talented actors, they were doing fine on their own. I found myself actually dosing off a bit during a few of these scenes where the emotion is felt, and the scenes seems to have no more purpose, yet the camera is still rolling but nothing is happening.
The special fx were pretty standard, but still cool. The film did a good job and trying to show the different lifestyles of each district with vibrant colors and fancy clothes for the rich and wealthy Capitol City, to the dreary and blue collar feel of District 12. It would have been nice to see them go a little more in depth with the 12 districts, but I think you'll get to see jest of it.
The film also gives you a nice simple and straight-forward love story subplot that does a very good job at setting up the potential love triangle. But Katniss' and Peeta's love story is done in a simplistic way that feels a bit more natural, even if it might have more to do with the finale of the competition.
Overall, while the film is slow in parts, and at times wants to make sure you know what emotion you should be conveying , and the camera movements may take some by surprise, it's well acted, and seems to stay pretty faithful to the book.
It might seem depressing, and the tone of the film is definitely dark and eerie. Don't expect flashy battle scenes of fights or deaths: some are quick, some are longer - but all are brutal, and few are beautiful.