We didn't fall asleep....

Rating: 8/10 (25 March 2012)

I'm 50, my husband is 58. We never read the book, but have been hearing about this movie for a year from our 18 year old daughter. We went to see it on her recommendation. It's a good movie, and as my husband states, it held his interest, he didn't fall asleep, killed 2 hours and he didn't leave feeling like he was once again ripped off of money spent on a bad movie. The movie The Truman Show kept popping in my head throughout. I'm sure many of the target demographic have never seen that movie. And at the end, with the berries, The Blue Lagoon popped into my head. So not entirely original plot lines. What I couldn't come to terms with is the plot line of killing 23 teens each year as penance for causing an uprising against the government. And why exactly would people want to watch this and allow it? Husband says they explained it at the beginning, but I missed it, I guess. Another point I didn't fully grasp was the caricature, cross between Cirque costuming and the DR Seuss-esque dress and make-up of the people living in the capital. Weird. But again, I didn't read the book. The actors did do a great job and many of the scenes really added to the movie, notably the scene after Katniss was stung by the wasps, and the way Rue's death was handled. Woody Harrelson was great as he usually is. Lenny Kravitz was a nice surprise and also did quite nicely. I just can't get past the fact that these teens were made to kill each other for sport.