Enjoyable, but had more potential.

Rating: 7/10 (28 March 2012)

I delayed a day to consider this, to let it sink in. First off, the acting was very good, considering the screenplay they had to work with. Jennifer Lawrence IS Katniss, save for the lack of the malnourishment she should have had. Josh Hutcherson was very good as Peeta. I just wish They had more of the dialog we saw on the roof before the games.
I know people complained about Donald Sutherland's limited screen time, but he did get more than his character's time in the first book. He's terrific, and he should get a much larger opportunity in the second movie.
But I am so sick of the "unsteady cam." I'm sorry, but it's now just a gimmicky distraction. It really took away from the movie. Enough, already.
I wouldn't have minded a 3 hour movie, if they had just fleshed out the other characters more. A lot more. The rest of the tributes were not much more than caricatures of typical movie teens. You didn't feel for them when they died so young for basically nothing. I wish Rue had more screen time, so they didn't have to extend Katniss's sobbing to get the sad point across. And I was disappointed with the last death scene at the cornucopia, where they used the stereotypical psycho-character speech before his demise. They should have stuck to the drawn out torturous death as portrayed in the book.
And the control room was given way too much screen time. Just show us one or two scenes, and at least make the capital control room folk show a bit more realistic reaction to some of the harsh events they help cause in the games. Too black and white. Where's the gray?
There were some positives, though. Peeta's camouflage was awesome, and Woody's portrayal of Haymitch was delicious half the time. At other times, though, it seemed they made him too nice just to speed things up. But back to the positives, many scenes were exactly like I pictured it. And Lenny Kravitz was excellent as Cinna. I just wish his scenes weren't so rushed.
I really hope they dive into character development much more in the second movie - even if it makes the movie longer.
Ultimately, I do recommend the movie, especially if you read the books. Although Katniss's internal dialog is gone, Jennifer Lawrence does a great job of conveying her feelings with her eyes and actions. I just wonder what people who haven't read the books would miss.