Lazy and lacking emotionally

Rating: 7/10 (23 March 2012)

Adapting a first-person story as a third-person film takes out a majority of the story. Katniss's thoughts are what drive her characterization and it's through her that we grow distaste for the Capitol/Panem. If you take out her thoughts, you may as well not bother making the film. Yes, having voice-overs in a movie becomes draining after a while, but not when those voice-overs actually link you emotionally to what's being depicted. Katniss's dialogue, (important when it comes to talking with Peeta) does not deliver enough during most other parts of the story. The Katniss on screen is just a shallow representation of the book's Katniss. Without her viewpoint, Prim, Rue, Cinna, Haymitch, and even Peeta are pointless. You just see people moving on screen.
I don't feel pity for the districts nor for the tributes. Death in the movie, in the end, is just death. But in the books, each death furthered hatred towards the Capitol and President Snow; you want to destroy them and you want Katniss to win. It was that desire that makes the series so endearing and addictive.
The visuals were okay, though. As was the acting. And the countdown was exciting. The costumes, however, were too bizarre without the explanation for them. And the climax was abysmal.
It was just lazy, and laziness is easy to spot in art.