Nothing "Mellarkable" here

Rating: 7/10 (23 March 2012)

With this movie, there are two groups: those who haven't read the books and those who have. I am in the second group, having read the books before there was even a thought of a movie and I really enjoyed them. I went to the midnight premiere and was really excited to see it unfold on the big screen. Did I like it? Well, that's complicated. I'm not going to bother describing the plot but just get right into the pros and cons. I may mention some spoilers, so be warned.
Pros: -The acting. No one was bad, everyone believable, even the newcomers such as Prim and Rue. Josh Hutcherson was impressive as Peeta, although most of his lines were awful, and Liam Hemsworth was good as Gale. I personally don't like Jennifer Lawrence, her voice irritates me and I felt like she was too tall and "well fed" to be Katniss. However, I was surprised, she was really realistic and I think she carried the role well. I was most impressed by the Careers though. They had hardly anything to work with but managed to make them believable and interesting, Cato and Clove especially. I was actually disappointed when Cato died, because he was an interesting character to watch.
-The plot. I was happy to see that there were hardly any changes. Sure, no Avoxes or how she really gets the pin, but it stuck close and that was great. The violence was toned down, but it still worked. I thought the side story with Seneca Crane was cool, because we get to see what's happening outside of the game, with the game-makers and the president.
Cons: I had lots of issues with the film, but most of them are nitpicky, silly things like goofs, but here are some of my bigger issues.
-The settings/costumes. I get that not everyone has the same idea of the locations in their head, but District 12 was way too nice looking and The Capitol didn't seem to have the futuristic "wow" factor I was looking for. I felt like most of the costumes were tacky, especially the other tributes outfits and some of the sets had a cheap look. I get that there's a budget, but still.
-The directing. I know everyone has complained about this too, but I have to say something. The shaky cam was so annoying! My eyes never adjusted to it and I had a hard time knowing what was happening. Its amateur and makes it seem like there is more happening than there really is. I felt like the director was one of the major issues with this movie. I was not impressed by him at all.
-The plot. I'm glad they stuck closely to the plot, but it felt like it was the overview of the Hunger Games that your friend would tell you, not a movie. Everything happened fast with no buildup. When Rue died, I wasn't even upset, because she'd only been on screen for like 10 minutes and hardly had any back-story. Why did Katniss care? If you haven't read the books, you wouldn't know about how she saw Rue as someone similar to Prim. The climax went nowhere and the Katniss/Peeta thing never was explained. Call me a fangirl, but I really wanted the cave scene to have more and been more realistic than two kisses and crappy dialogue. We get no feeling about the fake love story, why it's necessary or how Peeta and Katniss feel about it.
So, all in all, it was enjoyable, but I was very disappointed. I hope they can fix things or get a new director by the time Catching Fire happens.