The Hunger Games!

The Hunger Games.  The first of a series of three---is an amazing book.  And to those comparing it to Harry Potter and Twilight: STOP RIGHT NOW.  All three of those series are so different and should never be compared to each other--so stop it.

The Hunger Games is a series that appeals to a very large audience--men and women; teenagers, young adults, adults; readers and non-readers.  It's full of political, economical, and ethical issues that will stay with you as you read about a government so controlling that it throws 24 kids into an arena to fight to the death once every year while forcing everyone to watch and celebrate.  It's not a book focused on the violent actions themselves so much as the cruelty of the government: The Capital.  It's emotionally riveting and I highly recommend it.

And the move was fantastic as well.

As we maneuvered through the Effies, Katnisses, Peetas, and Haymitches (notice that no one dressed up as Gale) Paige and I discussed which scenes we were most pumped to see:





SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD-this will contain plot spoilers and spoiler photos from the movie

The cave scenes.  
I don't need to explain why to those who've read the books.  The movie didn't do every single cave scene--just the big ones.  And they were good.  The only drawback was that any middle school girl in the audience giggled and laughed because they are too young to appreciate it.  I'm also not entirely sure a non-reader quite understood Katniss' motivation in those scenes--and that's important. 

One the big things I wanted to see in the cave scene was Katniss forcing Peeta to pass out so she could go the Harvest feast to get the medicine he needed.  They didn't do that.  Instead she waited until he fell asleep and took off.  She also didn't pass out from blood loss as soon as she got back--but by that point she had already gone through a lot so I figured that's why they redid it a bit.  Which leads me to....


The Capital Outfits /Cinna and stylists.
Oh the "fashion" of the capital.   The film did not shy away from this at all.  It went wild with the outfits and the hair and it was really enjoyable.

Cinna is one of my favorite characters and I was super excited to see Lenny Kravitz play him and he did not disappoint. From his gold eye shadow to his calming tone of voice...sublime.






Tracker Jacker Scene.
Oh--this scene was phenomenal!  The set up, the trakerjackers, the dead body, the hallucinations----very well done.  I was so nervous for Katniss the entire time and seeing Rue and Peeta come to the rescue was awesome.  The camera and sound effects in this scene made it my very favorite scene in the entire movie. 

Mutts.
The mutts are one the scariest things in the books.  They're different each time you see them and they make their first appearance towards the end of the 74th Hunger Game.  Why are they so scary?  Because they are dead bodies that have been manipulated into a creature--in the film they resemble dog like creatures.  The film doesn't touch on what the mutts are though, which is fine--it may have been a bit hard to explain.

The Arrow to the Apple.
Such a fierce moment for Katniss: book and film. 


Rue.
Rue and Prim are the source of many tears for me--especially Rue.  In the film she is super cute and adorable and I was definitely caught bawling during a certain scene.

 
This scene was also fantastic.  Katniss glances up to the sky, waiting for them to stop her while Peeta, blissfully unaware of her plan, touches her braid lovingly.  It was a perfect display of what their relationship is at this point: Katniss playing to the audience to survive and Peeta completely in love.