Make a film not the book.

Rating: 7/10 (27 November 2013)

The opening of the film is positive – I felt it had a strong definition and a good tempo. The early stages of the movie did a good job building motives and some of the confusion in the character development really did help build the plot. The film got to a critical point where something great could have been unleashed. Then just when you thought it was about to get good, that something was really going to kick in it didn't.
Firstly, the introduction of the other districts characters seemed rushed. Secondly, the fight scenes totalled a couple of minutes, the biggest fight scene with some monkeys (I know baboons) was poorly lit. I enjoyed the concept of Amanda Plummer's character discovering the time zones but this was never developed in the plot (I think the director just wanted her to act a little Pulp Fiction). I did think Jeffrey Wright's character was interesting and needs a little spin off series- how to kill people by science. However, the ending was lazy - the cliff hangers only purpose was to sell the next film in the series.
I actually got to the point during the tournament where there were a few little yawns – did anyone actually care when someone died? I wasn't even sad when the nice old bird got cannoned by the gas. In summary – the film starts with good tempo then moves into scenes which are disjointed and unorganised, most running at double speed during important moments. The film could be just so much better if Francis Lawrence had made a film and not tried to make the book.
Note, I do still recommend watching the film as its entertaining – and no disrespect to the book is intended in this review.