Wow, slow

Rating: 4/10 (27 April 2012)

I saw this movie a bit under duress. As I get older, I get much less tolerant of violence against children. While the brutality didn't warrant an R rating, it was over the top ... and children as young as six were watching the film at the time. It was frustrating that there was so little back story that it was really nothing more than a story about kids beating the snot (and the life) out of each other. But what really bothered me is that the movie is SLOW. Really, really, slow. So slow that my discontent with the violence against children was almost irrelevant. My wife agrees that the movie is slow, and my wife and mother both assure me that Twilight was worse, much worse, but it's hard to believe. Stan Tucci was good. Woody Harrelson was better. The children were OK, but it was hard to tell because the characters were so shallow! And the writing was predictable. When the "scores" for Peter and Katniss were announced, I turned before hand and told my wife what they'd be. I had a perfect score.
Like Twilight, fans of the book will freak out and love this show. For the rest of us... well... it's not going to win any academy awards.