Superb acting, and electrifying movie!

Rating: 10/10 (29 March 2012)

The Hunger Games movie was absolutely electrifying! You can tell how much everyone involved in the making of this movie cared about the story, as it showed in every one of the scenes they chose to keep. It is very easy for a film based on a hugely popular teen franchise to turn into something completely different (Eragon!) but Gary Ross was adamant that the film would stay as true to the book as possible. I am so glad he was on board because after a recent piece of news of a new plot piece that was almost added to the film, I'm not sure it would definitely have turned out perfectly, even with Suzanne Collins helping the whole way through. There was a lot of hand-held camera-work and it was very distracting at times, but I can't say it ruined the film because most of it only occurred during the District 12 scenes and intense fight scenes. The shaky cam made it feel as if you were running along with Katniss and it felt very intimate and made you feel really small amongst the surroundings. I think the style fit the story very well and it certainly did its job. At least no one can say it's like Twilight now! No one can say it was too 'Hollywood" either! That's what the hand-held cam was for - to very clearly define the poor districts from the Capitol and show that there wasn't even a hint of Hollywood in District 12.
One thing that I was a bit disappointed with, though, was that the whole thing seemed far too short. Even though it was 2 ½ hours long, everything in the Capitol seemed a bit rushed. There were loads of scenes that I would have liked to see and I don't mind that they were missed out but it just felt like some of them should have been there just to pace it a bit more. I wasn't really sure whether people who hadn't read the book would fully get to know Katniss or Peeta either. I really hope they did because Jennifer Lawrence just IS Katniss! I would happily have sat through 3 hours or more and I'm sure that would have fixed most of the problems with missing scenes and pacing!
The acting was superb throughout the movie! Especially from Jennifer Lawrence because, as I said before, Jennifer Lawrence just IS Katniss, despite being too old and too naturally blonde! The child actors were amazing too! When they were cast, I never thought about whether they would be good at acting or not. I don't know why but all I thought about was their looks and I just thought that if they had been chosen, they must be good! It was only when I saw the trailer, though, that I realised how good Willow was, despite it being virtually her first film! Josh Hutcherson was perfect too and he seemed exactly like Peeta. I loved all the tributes too. I really look forward to the next two to three movies and I hope they'll be as good, or even better than this one!