Great Movie!

Rating: 9/10 (24 November 2013)

I've also never read the books, so I'm judging the films for what they are. As pure entertainment, this film was very good, although in my opinion if someone were to see it without the benefit of having seen the first film, they would be pretty lost. The writing was done well, the acting was OK (no Oscar nods here), and the costumes as well as visuals were what you'd expect from a large budget film these days. SPOILER ALERT: A few plot points that I found odd....the game director has the island spin to keep the combatants from knowing which direction was 12 o'clock, but this is never utilized in the film. Also, Katneis tells Gale she can't even think of telling him she loves him with all that she has going on (leaving me to think they have hope of ending up in love), THEN kisses Peeta as if she loves him as well. She also seems to have an endless supply of arrows in her quiver, and when she gets picked up by the ship towards the end of the film, all of the blood on her neck is gone and her uniform is not torn. I thought the film ended with a lot unanswered, so not being a fan of sequels that don't stand on their own...I can't say I applauded the end credits. I really feel Phillip Seymor Hoffman as well as Donald Sutherland are being underused in their roles, and would have liked to see the newly introduced granddaughter become pivotal to the plot.