Ok, you can't really see it but I have lightning bolts coming from my right eye and he has lightning up the right side of his neck. (District 5's industry is Power by the way).
*Side note: I feel like I look young in these pictures. Do I look anywhere near 25? (Ok, 24 yrs, 11 mo, 4 days...)
On with my review! (I am not a "writer" so this isn't laid out very well, and it's not supposed to be a professional review... just my opinions)
I thought The Hunger Games movie was wonderful. I have read comments from others who really didn't like it because it "left out too much" . I guess it all depends on what you were expecting. I think some of those people weren't being realistic - the movie is already 2 1/2 hours long! In my opinion, they included everything they needed to. Yes, there is a lot they had to cut - backstory, character development, lots of beautiful details - but nothing that was pivotal to the story. I think they included all they important stuff (even if it was mentioned then just forgotten.) Plus, if you've read the book, you know the whole story anyway. I heard Suzanne Collins herself use this phrase and I totally agree: the movie is a nice compliment to the books. I have been recommending that you read the books before going to see the movie, to get the full effect. I've also talked to a few people who saw it without having read the books and they've all had positive reviews. One person said he was a little confused at some parts and he knew he was missing something but overall, he enjoyed the movie.
Other than the lack of backstory of the characters, which they had nothing to do with, I thought the actors were great. I had my reservations about a few of them but I have no complaints after seeing the movie. I can say, I thought Stanley Tucci and Donald Sutherland were PERFECT!
*WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! IF YOU'VE NOT READ THE BOOKS, OR SEEN THE MOVIE YET, PROCEED WITH CAUTION*
I read a lot of information about this movie and watched a lot of clips before it came out, so it was mostly just filling in the blanks for me. I was disappointed about the mockingjay pin storyline after seeing the trailer, but I later read why they did it and that was ok with me. The reasoning was that they needed to establish the relationship between Katniss and Prim very quickly and Madge was only in about 2 pages of the book. She was unnecessary in the movie because of the time constraints. It's a waste of time to introduce a small character like that, to never see her again... They had to do the same sort of cutback with Katniss's design team - they wanted to focus more on her relationship with Cinna (although there is a pretty important moment in Mockingjay involving her prep team... I wonder what they'll do about that.)
The biggest thing that bothered me was when they showed the memory Katniss has of Peeta giving her the bread. This is when someone who hasn't read the book would really be at a loss. It doesn't express how important this moment is for Katniss. It doesn't show that she is starving - and may starve to death that night - or that she even takes the bread that Peeta throws on the ground. This is her only memory of Peeta and he's already trying to save her but they didn't really complete the scene.
There were a couple things added that I loved! After Rue dies, Katniss solutes District 11 and they solute her back, then Rue's father (we can only assume) starts an uprising right then. For me, this was very moving. I was already an emotional wreck from Rue dying and Katniss singing and then they showed that! I can't even find the words to express what I felt. I don't think I breathed for that whole scene. It was beautiful. I also enjoyed the addition of Seneca's death scene. We never actually see it, but we know what's going to happen. (We also don't know that he is executed until the 2nd book...) They show Seneca being led into a room and then locked in. The room is bare except for a bowl of Nightlock berries sitting on a table in the middle. He is given 2 choices: starve to death or eat the Nightlock and die right away. It's very poetic (rather than him being shot or hanged.)
There were also times they included details just to make sure they were there, then forgot about them and moved on. The time that this is really apparent is when Katniss blows up the Careers' food and damages her ear. We know that she's lost her hearing in that ear when Cato comes back and his voice is muffled, but by the time we hear the "rule change", they've forgotten this detail and never mention it again.
I can't wait to see it again and expand on this a little bit more. I'm going to see it at least 2 more times while it's in the theatre =)
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