Mini-Review: The Hunger Games

[image error] Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen. Source: https://www.deseret.com/2019/10/4/20898787/title-cover-art-hunger-games-prequel-ballad-of-songbirds-and-snakes-suzanne-collins

Currently, the free streaming service IMDB TV has The Hunger Games Trilogy (Quadrilogy as it four movies?) streaming for free. Having read The Hunger Games multiple times, but missing this movie in the theaters and not seeing it when it was on streaming on Amazon (?) a while back, I decided to go ahead and see it before it left the service. I’m glad I did–I actually liked it and felt that it was a good representation of the book.

The Good

There’s a lot to like about this adaptation, but probably the most important thing is that the movie is that it stays true to the spirit of the book. It is a fairly faithful adaptation of the story. Yes, there are some changes to the script–some fairly major, like the ending which doesn’t quite happen as described in the book, but the spirit and essence is still there (probably because Suzanne Collins, the book’s author, was listed as a writer on the movie).

Another thing that I think is really good is the fact that the actors don’t overshadow the characters. That was something that I feared knowing who the actors are in the movie. However, I can see the characters in the movie and not the actors playing a role. This is often a problem for me with movies staring huge actors like Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen–I was able to enjoy several of the X-Men movies with Jennifer Lawrence, but the last one she was in, I could only see her as the actor and not the character. This movie, happily, doesn’t have that issue. I see Katniss Everdeen in Jennifer Lawrence’s performance and I feel she does a great job!

The Bad

About the only thing that I can think of that’s bad for the movie is the compression that has to take place to fit the book into a two hour time frame. I like that the movie didn’t split itself into two parts for each movie (yes, I know Mockingjay does, but I’m assuming that’s because it is a longer, more mature book as it acts as a conclusion to the trilogy). However, some scenes are (necessarily) modified so that some of Katniss‘ inner dialogue has been given to other characters in order to get at her emotions and/or exposition.

The Beautiful

So, this is the first movie mini-review that I’m going to do that does not use “the ugly” paradigm, but rather the “beautiful” paradigm as the movie is gorgeously shot. The cinematography is excellent and the mise-en-scene for the various shots and locations is masterful. While I still think that The Lord of the Rings movies have the best book-to-movie adaptations in recent memory, I do feel The Hunger Games is close behind. I really like both the authenticity of the movie as compared to the book, and I love the choices made, from acting, to locations, to set and costume design, to story construction for the movie.

Overall Rating: A (95)

Rating: 5 out of 5.

In case you can’t tell, I really liked this movie. I thought that it portrayed the book accurately and fairly and didn’t make major alterations to the story–just smaller, minor ones. I wish that we could have gotten some of the exposition and character moments in that we either had to cut or give lines to other characters more closely adhering to the book, but again, time constraints would have made that almost impossible. An “extended edition” could have alleviated some of my concerns, but considering that the movie is as good as it is, I think the producers and directors went for a “well enough approach.” My late uncle’s advice is currently ringing in my ears: “perfect is the enemy of good,” so that’s something I need to remember–this is a good movie and trying to make it perfect might have caused something to have been lost. This is a very good movie and I really enjoyed it!

Sidney

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Currently Working On (10/2020):



Unhallowed (Weird Western Story)
Out to MarketStarlight, Starbright (Science Fiction Story)
Out to MarketThe Independent (Science Fiction Story)
Out to MarketKnightWatch Graphic Novel (Fantasy Graphic Novel)
Drafting: 1st Draft (Issue 1)