Kind of Disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (14 September 2012)

I rarely write reviews - but this movie sort of made me want to write one. I just read the book and saw the movie a few days later. I thought the book was great and it was a very emotional read. I understand adapting a book like this to a movie is difficult, however the great directors find a way. When watching this movie, I got the feeling the director was just filming scenes in the book, rather than creating his own work. Cinema and books are a different medium and the major themes of the book have to be conveyed differently. A movie I like to compare book adaptations too is The Lord of the Rings. What Peter Jackson did with that was stunning and amazing. He made it his own and didn't just try to stay 100% faithful to the books and just film scenes from the book. He was creative and I think created an absolute masterpiece. This director failed miserably in conveying the major themes of the book - ie the relationship between Katniss and Peeta was awful and non existent in the movie. Rue had about 5 minutes of screen time and therefore the viewer was unable to connect to her death and why it was so devastating to Katniss. I could go on, but I think my point was made. I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with me, however I just did not feel any emotional connection to this movie as I did with the book. I was just very disappointed with this movie. I am now reading the second book and I hope they can make a movie worthy of it.