My Hunger Games Review

Sommer and I hit the Hunger Games midnight show last night!  I have never been to such an event, and although I was a bit concerned about the late night and the masses of teenagers...IT ACTUALLY WAS A BLAST!

At 9 pm, Sommer insisted we leave for the theatre.  She was concerned about getting a seat (or missing any of the hype) due to huge amount of texts and twitters from friends who were already camped out (ugh).  I didn't want to dampen her young teen excitement with my old cranky ways, so we compromised and headed out at 9:40.

After picking up my friend Robyn and her girls, we headed to the big event, arriving TWO HOURS BEFORE SHOWTIME! Thankfully, I had Robyn to chat away the time with me (and begin eating our large popcorn).

I loved seeing so many die-hard fans decked out in garb depicting everyone from Katniss to the people of Panem, the Capitol City where the Hunger Games take place.

Excitement was in the air as the movie finally began at 12:01 am...no wait, we first had to watch what seemed like 100 previews that lasted at least 30 minutes.  Not my idea of enjoyment with the late hour!

And then the crowd, roared, "Let the Games Begin!" It was at this point, the camera, while following Katniss on her adventures beyond the gate, was extremely shaky and quite irritating.  I don't know if it was supposed to be an "artsy" moment but geez, it made us all dizzy.

For those that have read the book, the movie followed most of the details without missing a beat.  What did lack was the emotion felt when reading Katniss' feelings.  The movie, went with little dialogue and depended on sullen and concerned faces and few words. This made the movie feel a bit "slow" and let my emotions remain pretty stagnant throughout the movie. 

The actual games were well filmed. I was grateful they didn't take an extremely gory or graphic route with the deaths of the children . But similar to the beginning, I wasn't feeling enough raw emotion that I had felt while reading the book to really "lose" myself in the movie.

Unlike the Twilight series, I LOVED the actors they picked to portray these characters.  Katniss was indeed beautiful but it was understated. She was strong but she was still vulnerable (and believable).  Gale was very good looking. And Peeta...well let me just say...I am now a fan. In the book I pictured him a goofy chubby kid. In the movie, he was strong and handsome.  Both Woody Harrelson and Stanley Tucci gave wicked funny comedy relief! 



I have to take into account that it was after midnight when I was watching the film, I could have been overlly tired thus leading to a "slow" feel. Maybe I will just have to see it again!

What did you think?!