Intense and Emotional

Rating: 10/10 (13 December 2014)

To preface my review, yes, I'm a fan of the book. I've heard and read a lot of negative reviews about this movie. People who haven't read the book felt that it was boring and that Hollywood was just trying to drag it out to make two movies. So, I was a bit skeptical when I finally went to see it today.
Let me just say, I did NOT feel that it was "long" or "slow". I was waiting for that feeling to sink in since I heard so much about it, but it did NOT occur to me. I was captivated the whole time. I thought the movie was very intense and full of emotions.
Maybe it's meant to be slow, so that the viewers (including those who have not read the book) can glean more than just the surface of the story. We got to see Katniss being vulnerable and having genuine feelings to Peeta and treating her sister as an equal (rather than the scared little girl she was back in book 1). We got to see Gale and Katniss grow apart and why. We were immersed with the other districts as to why the Capitol is evil and not to be trusted. The producers were also able to let us know that President Coin is not the "good guy" necessarily just because she is the president of district 13.
I thought Jennifer Lawrence did an amazing job with the singing scene. It was so emotional and the song was so fitting. I think this movie was spot on with translating the book to the big screen. Most of the 1/2 of the last book was to setup Katniss as the "symbol" of their fight and how District 13 carried out that goal. The propos and the film crew that followed Katniss around is a big part of book 3 and leads to a lot of the story that will be Mockingjay Part 2. We get to know Finnick for real, he's not the play boy we thought he was in book 2 and we learn why he became a play boy. We get to see Effie and Katniss really bond and Effie's affection to Katniss.
And helloooooo!! It also really setup Katniss showing that she truly loves and cares Peeta. Yes, she has some sort of lust thing for Gale, but her true love lies with Peeta.