an intense adaption

Rating: 8/10 (25 March 2012)

As someone who is generally skeptic when some Hollywood-person attempts to do any kind of adaption for a novel I like, I was terrified when I heard they were filming The Hunger Games. In my mind I already saw squealing teenage girls with "Team Peeta"-shirts leaving the theater in tears for I was completely sure: if they do the Hunger Games they will exploit the hell out of the love story until the political content and the suspense are practically abandoned. Today, after seeing the movie, I can gladly calm anyone who shared these fears. While there were several changes from the book most of them were understandable and probably necessary but all in all it was a good, solid adaption that exceeded my expectations by far. Let me list the best and the worst aspects: Ironically, some of the best aspects of this movie are the things that WERE'NT in it.
+1. No inner monologue. Instead of having a constant babble in the background this movie has perfected the art of "show, don't tell". It is not necessary to tell us the details about district 12 because we see them firsthand. It is not necessary to have an inner monologue because we see how Katniss feels and what she is going through. When I left the theater I was pleased with how little the characters had spoken - simply because it wasn't necessary because a more subtle and effective method was used.
+2. No focus on the love story. I was surprised and incredibly pleased by how little importance was given to this. Actually I expected them to milk the love story for all it was worth and really dig into the love triangle in order to appeal to teenage girls. But it was downplayed and subtle which made sense: in the arena Katniss isn't even capable of falling in love since she is so focused on her and Peeta's survival. While she befriends him and at some point seems to enjoy kissing him, love just isn't an issue for her and she only really explores the possibility of loving Peeta in the next novels.
+3. Jennifer Lawrence. When I first saw that this young woman was going to play Katniss I had serious doubts about this casting choice. I thought she didn't look starved enough,her face seemed too round - I was very nit-picky and kind of paranoid. After seeing her act however I almost feel guilty about the way I thought about her. She did a great job, her acting was very intense and she portrayed Katniss almost perfectly. I also approved of the casting of Harrelson as Haymitch. I always imagined him looking a bit different but the actor really caught the gist of Haymitch and his performance was enjoyable. Effie was good, too.
+4. Interesting additions. Even though they weren't in the books I liked the scenes inside the Gamekeeper Control Room. The movie wasn't exclusively from Katniss' point of view. They wanted to show the impact the Games had, the political decisions behind it and the way this worked in general. When I read the books I always wondered what the control rooms would be like and this movie gave an accurate answer. And Seneca Crane's last scene was smashing. I also liked the general strangeness of the Capitol and its citizens. Their looks and behavior met and surpassed my expectations.
Negative aspects:
-1. Haymitch sends Katniss a message. This was such a blatant mistake and I really had to roll my eyes at this one. It is so obvious that stuff like that would NEVER be allowed in the games. All it would take is for a mentor and a tribute to learn some basic code and the mentor could inform the tribute about everything "Go west, there's water" or "Peeta is lying in the mud. Find him.". Of course I can see why it was necessary: since there was no inner monologue the fact that Katniss's love for Peeta is merely for the show and the fact that this was also brought on by Haymitch had to be shown in a different way. Still, it really bugged me.
-2. Peeta. Maybe this is just me but Josh Hutcherson kind of bugged me, too. He comes off as weak and kind of whiny and always looks like a frightened little rabbit. And while it is true that he didn't have any extreme combat skills in the book Peeta wasn't exactly a weakling either. He was smart, kept hold of his moral values and his priorities... He was strong and kind of balanced in an emotional way - something that Katniss never truly accomplished. In the movie he annoyed me most of the time.
-3.Toned-down violence. It was to be expected. The fighting scenes still felt very intense. Still, sometimes it got kind of noticeable that the gore was missing.
-4. Minor differences. Peeta doesn't lose his leg and it is never really made clear that he was very close to dying which flushes a lot of suspense down the drain. Sometimes things looked very different from the way they were described in the books even though there was no need for that. Like the cornucopia or Katniss's interview dress... Madge doesn't appear.
Still, I thought all of this was forgivable. All in all I was surprised by how well this was done. This was not the teen-flick I was expecting and for that I am very grateful. It stayed true to the book while also adding interesting scenes. This, dear filmmakers, is how you adapt a book.