Hey guys, Andi here! I went and saw The Hunger Games movie and I wanted to share my thoughts on both the book and the movie adaption. I’ve invited my friend Heather to chat with me. This is her first ever blog post so say hi and be kind 
! We apologize in advance if we give anything away about the book or movie, but it must be said…if you haven’t read the series or seen the movie, get your tush out there and do both!
Andi: Um, I have one word for this movie…FANTASTICAL! Wait, is that even a word? Hmmm… Ah whatever! Word or no word, The Hunger Games was just that…it was FANATASTICAL! I was very, very nervous after all the hype, but the hype, the hype was worth it and more. Would you agree Ms. Heather?
Heather: I would TOTALLY agree. It was, as you put it, FANTASTICAL and then some! The hype definitely gave me pause because when you’ve loved a book so much and then it’s adapted to screen, you get nervous when everyone is singing its praises. I didn’t want to come out of the theater disappointed and I didn’t. Not even a little bit.
One of the things I was most impressed with was the casting. I thought it was so well done. What did you think, Andi?
A: The casting was so spot on. I know there was a lot of contention when the cast was released. I’m not gonna lie, I was one of those worried people. I wasn’t sure Lenny Kravitz would be a good Cinna and not knowing Jennifer Lawrence I didn’t know if she could pull off the awesomeness that is the character of Katniss. But I will fully eat my words because not only was Lenny a pretty perfect Cinna, Jennifer Lawrence carried that film on her back and made Katniss into what she was written to be. She managed to get across the strength, the fear, the uncertainty and the power of the character across with just her looks. I actually believe she was Katniss and that was so important for this film to be a success.
H: It’s funny you say that about Lenny Kravtiz because I thought he’d be a perfect Cinna the first time I saw he was who had been cast in the role! Funny how people see things differently when you picture them in your mind. Maybe it was because I read the books later and the cast had already been announced, but I thought from early on that the casting sounded pretty good. Like you, I didn’t know much about Jennifer Lawrence, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from her, but I think she did a fantastic job and as you said, she really carried the film. She embodied what Katniss should have been, a strong, able heroine.
You know the other thing that struck me about the casting was that I thought Josh Hutcherson was a great choice as Peeta. To me Peeta always seemed like he was the underdog because he didn’t have that established relationship with Katniss like Gale did in the beginning. I thought Josh, and then with Liam Hemsworth as Gale, established that well. Josh is a cutie, but he’s not conventionally hot. Does that make sense?
A: That makes totally sense. Josh has that silent cuteness to him and it worked for Peeta. He was charming when he had to be like the character was in the book, but he also was thinking a lot and you could see that all over Josh’s face. His mind was always moving and calculating what his next move should be to protect him and Katniss. It was really well done and I got the same feelings I did from the book watching him.
I know there was some talk about no chemistry between Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson but I didn’t really get that. To me it came off exactly how the book relationship felt to me. He was head over heels for her and she was kind of aloof because she didn’t know what she felt about him or the games. When they were in the cave I definitely felt it and thought it was real, but after and before that I think it was portrayed spot on. What did you think about it?
H: I was hoping we’d get to the “no chemistry” talk about Jennifer and Josh! I agree with you that it came off exactly as it did in the book for me. As I mentioned earlier, Katniss had an established relationship with Gale and that was evident to me, especially when he came to see her right before she left for the Capitol. The way Katniss launched herself into Gale’s arms; you could see and feel that connection. I think there was a good connection between Jennifer and Liam too.
With Peeta, Katniss didn’t have that connection. All she had was the memory of seeing that young boy throw burnt bread at her feet and I think that was confusing for her when she saw him at first, let alone hearing that this now much older boy had a crush on her and had for years. I think it was perfectly played on Jennifer’s part because Katniss didn’t know how to feel about Peeta’s declaration, then she sees him with the other tributes once they were in the arena and I think she was trying to figure out if he was “with” them or if he was trying to protect her, so the chemistry at that point in the movie might have been less, but I think it SHOULD have been. Once they got to the cave, you could definitely see the chemistry increase and it was there between the actors. I felt the connection between them in those scenes. There is no question that the aftermath of the cave scenes was played perfectly too.
Since we’re still talking about casting, what did you think of Elizabeth Banks’ Effie and Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch? I heard some scuttle that people didn’t care for Harrelson, but loved Banks. Personally I loved them both, but…
A: I thought they were spot on as the characters they were cast as. Banks was the perfect Effie. She was so clueless and worried about appearances. And Harrelson was a great Haymitch. If I did have one complaint about him was that there wasn’t enough. We didn’t get to really see the relationship that developed between Katniss and him. I mean I get that that was a timing thing, but I wish there was just a little bit more. In the book they had a great push/pull thing between them and I just wanted to see that on the screen. But other then that no complaints about the cast at all.
And with that let’s move on to the setting. What did you think about the actual set designs? Was it what you would have pictured Panem and the districts to look like? What about the arena?
I must say everything was spot on to the vision in my head but for one thing and it is really my only complaint about the film and it is so ridiculously minor, but it made me crazy. The Cornucopia. Oh man did they screw up the look of the Cornucopia. Silver mirrored?! I think not. The Cornucopia was gold and much, much larger. That just totally disappointed me. But everything else was exactly what I would imagine it to have looked like.
H: I thought everything as far as set design was pretty close to what I had envisioned in my head with the exception of the same thing you disliked… the Cornucopia. I couldn’t believe that it was silver mirrored! To me that was the biggest disappointment of the film. I, like you, envisioned it being larger, but I also had a vision of it being more rustic. Definitely gold in color, but since they were in the middle of basically the wilderness, I just thought it would not be as modern and futuristic looking as it was, even though this story is obviously set in the future. It looked sorely out of place to me.
I felt they did a great job with the districts. District 12 had that very downtrodden feeling that you got out of the descriptions in the book and I think it really gave you a good feeling of where Katniss came from and the struggles that the citizens of that district faced on a daily basis.
This may not totally pertain to sets, but it does in a way because I’m talking about “Games Control.” One of the things that I really thought was cool was getting to see how Seneca Crane really played “gamemaker.” I had wondered how they would do that in the film and I thought it was done so well. I loved getting an inside look at the control center and how he directed when the tracker jackers were introduced and the fire, etc.
A: That had to have been the coolest part of the whole movie. The room were the Games were controlled was off the hook awesome! That really showed the kind of future world they were living it and gave an even more sinister feel to the “gamemakers”. Getting to see just how much they controlled and how they decided to change the games as they went was pretty ingenious and gave me the chills. It was definitely a more in depth look at it then was in the book.
The other thing that I really enjoyed was how they shared with the viewers the stuff that was in Katniss’ head in the book. Like when she was in the arena in the book we were able to see what she was thinking and since they obviously can’t do it that way in a movie, having Stanley Tucci’s character Caesar Flickerman tell us like we were the actual audience watching the Hunger Games in Panem was a pretty creative way to get it all across.
Now let me ask you what you thought of the camera shakiness? I heard a lot of complaints and was curious what you thought about that part of it?
H: Honestly, I think the camera shakiness just added another layer to what the film was. So much is shown from the perspective of the characters and when you’re running through the wilderness or through a body of water, you’re going to be moving all over the place. It gave it a realistic feel in my opinion. I could see how it would bother some people though because there were some times it was super shaky. You know the one thing I thought was cool about having the shaky effect was? They were able to showcase the killings and some of the more gruesome moments without it being totally gruesome. With the quick, shaky camera shots you got the gist of what was going on, but you didn’t have to look for long at what was happening.
What did you think of it? Did it bother you a lot?
A: I actually think it added to the movie. The shaky camera to me was a tool used to show the fear that these kids were facing both at the reaping and in the actual arena. It made me feel twitchy and jittery and I would imagine that would be how a person would feel if put in that situation. Like you said it made it feel realistic. And that’s a really good point about the killings/violence. It made it watchable when you weren’t looking at it head on. I didn’t even think of that. Nice call Heather.
Favorite scene in the movie?
H: Ooh, that’s a tough one…Can I have two?! LOL There are two scenes that come to mind for me right away and for very different reasons. The first is when Katniss goes in for her evaluation. To me her shooting the apple out of the pig’s mouth was the first time she really flexed her heroine muscle and I just wanted to cheer for her because it’s so rare that the female main character gets to kind of stick it to everyone. I loved that! Honestly I think that is one of the reasons I loved these books so much is because for once the woman was the one to root for! The second scene(s) are those that Katniss had with Rue following her demise and the care she took putting the flowers around her. I just thought that showed the kind of person Katniss really is even if she wasn’t so good with words, as she put it.
How about you? What was your favorite?
A: Those were some really great, powerful Katniss moments. I do love that she was such a fierce heroine. She is who little girls should look up to in books. But as great as those both were mine is when Katniss showed her vulnerable side. She very rarely cried or showed emotion going into the games assuming it would show weakness. She was strong and stoic to a point. So when she was getting ready to actual enter the arena and it was just Cinna and her and they weren’t saying anything but she was visibly shaking I felt the human part of Katniss. She was no longer the girl that fed her family, that looked after her sister, that put her life on the line for Prim. She was a scared 16 year old girl that was about to fight to the death for her life. In that one scene she said so much without saying a single word. That was my favorite part hands down.
H: Good choice! I liked all the scenes that Jennifer Lawrence and Lenny Kravitz had together. I thought they were great scene partners. I also felt like Katniss’ relationship with Cinna in the book was one of the most stable she had and she trusted him to point her in the right direction, she was able to vulnerable with him and his vote of confidence right before she went into the arena was invaluable. I wish they had been able to explore that relationship a little bit more on-screen.
A: It’s funny that you noticed the comfort level between Jennifer and Lenny in their scenes together. It actually wasn’t that far of a stretch for her to trust him. Jennifer Lawrence is friends with his daughter Zoe in real life and has been going over his house for years. Like most kids call their friend’s parents she calls him Mr. Kravitz and got the whole cast doing it. Just a little behind the scenes trivia for you. J
So in comparison to the book, which we both loved to pieces, how do you think they fared in making this into a movie?
H: That’s really interesting about Jennifer and Lenny! I had no idea! Here’s another little tidbit before I answer your question, I read that when Wes Bentley (Seneca Crane) got down here to Charlotte to film, he had a full beard and so the hair stylists just took what he already had and sculpted the beard he had in the movie. The funny thing was that he had his family down here and filming had moved into one of the more rural areas up toward the mountains and he had to go to Target to pick up some formula and he said the people looked at him like he’d stepped out of a different time with the futuristic design. They weren’t used to seeing that type of facial hair!
Okay, so back to your question…I think they did an excellent job of bringing this extraordinary story to life. I’ve seen a lot of films that have been adapted from books and nine times out of ten there is some major flaw or they’ve changed a huge plot point in the film version that makes you grit your teeth. That didn’t happen with this movie for me. With the amazing job they did with casting and the attention to detail, I think they nailed it. There are always going to be things from the book that there just aren’t enough time to include or develop, but when you look at the big picture, I think that The Hunger Games ranks high on the list of success stories when it comes to creating a world that we’ve all imagined in our minds and making it come to life.
A: They really did do an amazing job. They did the important stuff right out of the book and then tweaked other things to make them work for a film adaption. Like you said 9 out of 10 times it just doesn’t translate and I felt like this time it just worked. Makes me hopeful for the last 2 books. Catching Fire is going to be off the hook good!
Anything else you want to add?
H: Catching Fire was my favorite of the three books, so like you I think it will be off the hook good as a movie. I have high hopes for it anyway! Seriously I hadn’t been this excited about a movie in a long, long time and this lived up to my expectations and then some. For the first time in eons I’ve already said I want to see this again in the theater not to mention buying it when it comes out on DVD.
Thanks so much for including me in this. It’s been fun and I hope everyone has enjoyed reading our thoughts. And, like Andi said, if you haven’t read the books, read them and then hightail it to the closest theater and see this great piece of cinematography!
A: And scene. 
Thanks for helping out Heather. It was a pleasure having you.
So these are our thoughts. What do you think?
Title: Tessa Masterson Will Got to Prom [indie bound] [amazon]
