So disappointed...

Rating: 3/10 (5 April 2012)

Okay, so let me say this first - I have read the "Hunger Games" books, all three of them in a very short amount of time. I absolutely loved them - they were suspenseful, catchy, interesting, touching and overall an amazing read. So if you happen to be one of those people who saw this movie, hated this movie and decided not to read the books - please don't. The books are gold, seriously.
The movie however...I honestly have no idea where to start. So many things were wrong with this movie, I'm having a hard time keeping track with all of them.
First off, the shaky camera. This movie is filmed in a Blair Witch project style - ALL of it. That is to say, you get 10 minutes, at most, of focused camera time, before it starts shaking and blurring and giving you headaches. I've heard some people say that this was done in order to censor the violent scenes with kids killing each other and such. That may be true, but it's still a horrible idea. I left the cinema with a huge headache because of it.
Second of all, I think the biggest problem for this movie is that, unlike the books, it was neither emotionally touching or action-packed.
The action is missing, largely because of all the censoring, I'm guessing, so the movie can have its ridiculous and out-of-place rating. Half of the movie is spent with Katniss going through the entire pre-Hunger Games phases, which worked great for the book, but not for the movie. Technically, this part is supposed to make you empathize with the characters and get to know them better, only it fails so hard that, at the end of it, you not only don't care for the characters, but you're also bored because you were expecting action-y stuff if you haven't read the books.
Then, you think, the Games finally start. FINALLY, there will be some action...except there isn't - not really. Because of the shaky camera, you can't understand much of what's happening, and because the movie doesn't really introduce 3\4 of the characters to you, you just get to see some random kids dying, often in stupid, uninteresting ways. Yawn.
*SPOILERS AHEAD!!! BE WARNED!!* The thing that bothered me the most about this movie was the lack of any emotional connection to any of the characters we are supposed to care for. There may be very little of it regarding Prim, Katniss's sister. But other than that - Rue for example - it is severely lacking. In the books, we get to know Rue, and maybe even care for her, and we are sorry to see her die. In the movie, she's just some random black girl who gets killed. Again, yawn. Same goes for Peeta and everyone else. As for Katniss, she gets plenty of camera time, except that she is written poorly. In the end, I felt about as emotionally connected to her as I would feel with a wall. The acting wasn't bad, she was just written poorly. *END OF SPOILER*
You can either approach this movie from a human point of view - make the audience care for the characters and sympathize with their situation, or you can approach it from an action-y point of view - throw in kick-ass effects, lots of action, make it interesting and exciting. You cannot do both in two hours time. That may work for other movies, but these books don't provide the proper material for such blending. The writers tried to do both, and ended up with none. Throw in the awful censorship - the entire point was to show the world how horrifying and terrible the Hunger Games were, which required some good measure of shocking images and display of violence. Add to that the shaky camera effects, some very ridiculous scenes, and you get the worst movie (by far) that I have seen in a long time.
Bottom line - if you are truly interested in this idea, if you found the trailer interesting, if you feel any urge to watch this movie, just pass and buy the books. The books are extremely enjoyable, while the movie can simply be summed up in one word: fail.