The Hunger Games (spoilers itt)

[jumpluff]

Metal Bagon: If you're a fan of the books, you'll almost certainly enjoy the film. It's a solid adaptation. Try not to get too hung up on the little things that got cut (like we are currently doing itt because we're all opinionated and/or passionate and/or have read the books too many times); overall it's quite faithful and most of the characters were portrayed pretty accurately.

Response to von

von: A lot of character-defining moments, particularly Katniss's, were missed though, and as people who love the book, it is diminished for us to see those moments were gone lol. Ditto is reminding me of all the things I forgot but noticed weren't in the film that established a lot of her character, especially for the future books. Obviously I know things have to be cut, and I'm pretty calm about that in general since they kept many important things, but there were a couple I really feel were vital to her; I alluded to those in the OP but idt I've actually listed to them, but the one where she goes to shoot Peeta after the rule change is revoked automatically is pretty telling.

I even stated in the OP you can follow it fine and it works well as standalone, but I still think all the flaws the people itt are pointing out come down to either the omission of significant moments we wished were in the film or the fact that you can't hear Katniss's thoughts. I don't think anyone means to say that you can't work these things out for yourself without exposition, but several of those factors are more ambiguous, although like you said that may be due to the medium it's in. I've said several times I'm more of a book person; I rarely watch films and I have trouble doing so, though I do think you might have a point about that, as did Jebus McAzn.

As for Ouro's list, Prim/Katniss was done just as well in the film as it was done in the book (in fact, it showed more Prim than the book does), Gale was just kind of nerfed in general (although the snapshots of him were good in that 'show and tell' sense von mentions), Rue/Katniss was fine really because you could draw the comparison to Prim yourself (even if it wasn't as emphasised as it was in the book), Katniss's dependence on her father was barely mentioned iirc, her relationship with her mother was pretty obvious, Peeta's love was emphasised pretty well. But I still believe that if he felt any of these were missing, it was due to the perspective switch.

 

[tape]

No, no it did not. I did not read the book, but [...]

welp.

 

[vonFiedler]

welp.

The irony here is that you clearly did not read my post.

Things that READERS were confused about, MOVIE GOERS understand just from the acting and direction. Which is how you express in a movie, which is a format that is not books.

I mean of course the book was gonna be more thorough, but it's a book. A book by contrast to movies cannot skimp on the details because the written language loses a lot of things that human interaction conveys. But a movie has to be to the point while showing motivations instead of explaining them.

 

[Stratos]

I honestly think that in general, the entire romance was done pretty terribly. I mean, throughout the movie, you get a sense of "young love~" instead of "young love?" to the point where at the end you don't even get a single doubt as to whether Katniss loves Peeta, and they pushed Gale to the shelf. Further in the book there's the sentiment of "fuck young love" that Katniss is trying to hold to while in the movie they turn it into god dang Twilight where it's "pick me or him." While this could be explained if, as Jebus said, you're supposed to be the capital audience during the movie, I still really didn't like it. I'm sure Von will rush in here to say "no i got that just fine!" but that's really not true, in the movie it wasn't NEARLY as pronounced as in the books. also i more or less agree with Ditto's list of all the outtakes that they shouldn't have outtaken, but you forgot Madge. I thought Madge and the pin was extremely important, not necessarily for the Hunger Games but for Catching Fire. The point that the mayor of District 12 was "corrupt" by which i mean a pretty cool guy who supported the rebellion was a big point that was established when Madge gave Katniss the mockingjay pin.

 

[vonFiedler]

I'm sure Von will rush in here to say "no i got that just fine!"

Yeah

but that's really not true, in the movie it wasn't NEARLY as pronounced as in the books.

Cause it is a movie

Do you people just not watch movies?

 

[Stratos]

do you not read books? honestly go read the book if you want perspective on what we're saying here, jeesh. We don't need every other post to be you saying "no the movie is crystal clear" when you haven't even read the book on which it was based! You won't get any of the outtakes we're mentioning because you've never seen them intaken!

edit: no offense intended in this post but your perspective will be very skewed if you haven't read the books yet.

 

[vonFiedler]

edit: no offense intended in this post but your perspective will be very skewed if you haven't read the books yet.

No, your perspective is skewed. You are the one rating it as an adaptation. Aside from entirely cut plot points no one has brought up anything that wasn't portrayed in the movie. "Oh my god, wasn't it just so certain that Peeta and Katniss were in love at the end of the movie?" No, no, no it wasn't. Cause he asks her what happens now and she VISIBLY pauses*. MOVIES. See I'm gonna read the books but I'll never be wrong here because you are saying the movie is worse exactly because it displays a trait that movies are supposed to have. If a movie can't follow the rule of show don't tell, it shouldn't be adapted (and as far as I can tell no one is saying it was a bad adaptation).

There's a difference between things just being left out, which I could tell some were (and I get that, and I'm gonna read the book for that, but that is different), and things being expressed through showing and not telling. There is a reason the theatrical release of Blade Runner is considered universally worse than the Director's Cut. How many movies do you watch and think "man, you know what this is missing? all the thoughts of the characters". It just feels like you can't handle the lack of narration because if we have to fill in the blanks we might get it wrong.

And don't say "you don't need to make every other post" when you brought up my point by name.

To elaborate on an earlier point*,

Hide

Cause he asks her what happens now and she VISIBLY pauses. This represents both the foreshadowing of what they might need to do about the corrupt government and the question of where their relationship goes both genuinely and as a symbol, and shows the unease at all questions because they are hard to answer and she has to think about them. Did I miss something? Did I miss something that wasn't a cut plot point?

Also Gale wasn't tossed to the side because we see him when their love scene is being televised. This is our cue to think about him and his relationship with her at the beginning of the movie, and how he must feel, and to keep in mind that somewhere in her head he is a factor.

tl;dr

Not saying it is better than the book
Not saying they didn't cut things
Not saying it is exactly like the book that I did not read
Just saying that show don't tell is what you are supposed to do in a movie and they did it pretty well

On a different subject, I can't believe I haven't yet talked about how stupid the rock face paint was. It was hilarious.

 

[Jebus McAzn]

I felt that there was a good amount of stuff missing that could have easily been implemented into the story and the absence of took a lot out of it for me.

Hide

1. Katniss screaming out Peeta's name when the rule change was announced. Instead she just whispered it and then went looking for him. The whole idea of that moment is that it is a gut reaction that she has no control over, which is why she forcibly covers her mouth after. While the overall romantic connection between Katniss and Peeta was more pronounced than in the book (in my opinion), this would have just enhanced it.

2. Similarly, they cut out the part where Peeta says "I don't have much competition here." and Katniss says "You never had much competition." That is such a strong moment from the audience's perspective, and showing the star crossed lovers act.

3. I didn't like the implementation of the notes with the parachutes. It ruined the intellectual connection between Haymitch and Katniss. Along with this, but understandably cut, were the scenes where she has no water and when she gives Peeta the sleep syrup.

4. I really missed Haymitch's "Stay alive" line while on the train and later before the arena. Also the point where he says that they may actually have a chance in the arena because they both seem like fighters, again on the train.

5. They never really mentioned the strategy of staying together all throughout training, and took the hand holding idea from Cinna and made it an impromptu move for Peeta. They also didn't show the Katniss that flirts with audience during the parade.

6. NO LOVE SEAT! The whole point is that they now have to show they are in love, or rather Katniss has to perform, and there is lack of physical connection that was very important in the book (in my opinion) during this scene.

7. This one would have been harder to implement seamlessly into the movie, but the ending with the muttations. The eyes and numbers, as well as the torturing of Cato and dreadful agony of Peeta almost dying because of his leg. This also would have led to the moment on the aircraft where she screams for him when they are apart. Another incredibly powerful moment for their development.

8. The ending where Katniss says that she's not sure how much of her love her Peeta was an act and how much of it was true. This is a huge part of the story. I guess they are gonna begin Catching Fire with that or something.

Hide

1. I missed this too. I think this is something that they could have put in without affecting much else, and I was sad that they removed it.

2. The problem with this one is that it'll make the "romance" between Katniss/Peeta too transparent. In the books, you KNOW that she's putting on an act to get sponsors. However, in the movie, it's not as clear, and if they show Katniss suddenly becoming this hopeless romantic for Peeta, it'll seem fake or forced. The way they did it portrays Katniss as someone who doesn't love Peeta in a romantic sense, but will still do everything in her power to keep him from dying so they can go home together. Since we can't hear Katniss's inner monologue at all, putting in this particular scene would only be confusing, IMO.

3. Again, this is one of the drawbacks of third-person storytelling, in that we don't know what Katniss is thinking and we don't know how she can deduce messages from Haymitch's packages. We can't have her explain it, and having Haymitch tell the audience what's going on would also seem artificial or, again, forced.

4. I missed this as well, in addition to the scene where Peeta slaps the booze out of Haymitch's hand and he punches Peeta as a retort. Then, after seeing that they're fighters, he tells Peeta not to cover the wound with ice, since it'll make it seem like he's already been a fight and make him seem tougher.

5. Agreed.

6. Refer back to number 2, but kinda agreed. I was disappointed that they didn't put in the scene where Caesar asked Katniss to come out after Peeta confesses his love for her.

7. They might have removed this just because it would make the movie too long, or because it would have made it way too graphic to keep a PG-13 rating.

8. Again hard to implement because we don't know exactly how much of an act Katniss is putting on during the movie. Refer back to number 2.

 

[PK Gaming]

Hosy lit. I just watched this last night, and it blew me away. Didn't expect the movie to be so meaty, they covered so much in 2 hours + something minutes and I loved every minute of it. I was enthralled by the 1st half of the movie. (The build up to the games themselves was basically perfect) and the 2nd half was extremely well executed. I heard that the hunger games had several sequels, so I was afraid the movie would abruptly end during that really sad scene, but it didn't!

Hide

My only gripes was the somewhat bland main character (not saying she was bad... I enjoyed her character, but I found her to be a bit boring. Though i'm guessing she's more fleshed out in the book) and the cartoon-esque moments. I can count 2 times where Katniss should have died.
1) When the girl had her at knife point, but wastes her time taunting her
2) The guy who killed that knife girl could have easily killed her

Idk, in a movie as serious as this I would have expected less plot armor. I'm hoping it plays out differently in the book, but those kinds of situations annoy me.

PS: Fuck the other 2 love interests, I'm on team Cinna(sp?).
♪Sneaking into the Hunger Games… Heavy risk… but the priiize…♪

 

[Snorlaxe]

the hunger games would be so much more popular if it was about a food eating contest js

wall of text featuring ~SPOILERS~ so beware

idk, i was a little disappointed. ive read the book twice - the second time i finished it just days before i went to see the movie on friday - and i felt that, while it was an extremely faithful adaption, the director seemed to fail to capture the raw spirit and power of the books. firstly, it's a tough book to adapt for the big screen in general due to the fact that the whole novel is an interior monologue. on screen, you dont have the luxury of having a running interior monologue, so a lost was lost in translation in that sense. additionally, the director had his priorities all mixed up. he spent almost an hour and a half focusing on all the build-up towards the arena; you know, the training, the interviews, all that capitol ~DrAmA~. while this was solid and entertaining imo, it left only like an hour for the actual ARENA, which is, well, the focus of the books???? it was fairly well done on some things - i cried bucketloads at rue's death, letsbehonest who didnt - but i felt that they could have played up the katniss and peeta romance. several parts of the movie just felt like a wasted opportunity to me, such as when katniss fails to scream out peetas name after the rule change is announced. also, the ending/conclusion seemed extremely abrupt to me, especially compared to how ridiculously drawn out the first half of the film was. however, i enjoyed the movie at the end of the day. as i previously stated, it was a very faithful adaption, and jennifer lawrence is an absolutely flawless katniss. i also really enjoyed the light comic relief elizabeth banks's effie trinket brought to the table. it was a pretty good adaption, but it wasn't the great one that i was hoping for.

 

[Nix_Hex]

leave it to Pwnemon to derail a thread into a literature vs. cinematography debate @_@

Anyway, I thought this movie was fantastic. I just finished the book series a few days ago so everything was pretty fresh in my mind. I was worried that they were going to emphasize the Peeta&Katniss make out scenes to Twilight levels but there were what, two kisses? Also, why hasn't anyone talked about the arena? Most of the arena scenes were nearly exactly what I imagined while reading the book. I hope they explain the mockingjays more fully in Catching Fire, at least better than that "nothing bad will happen to you" bs. The Capitol citizens were SO well done, just way over the top and better than I imagined. Caesar Flickerman was just as hilarious, sweet, and naive as in the books. Effie was portrayed so well, and delivered the ambiguous "may the odds be ever in your favor" line perfectly. Something else, the movie seemed really understandable to the casual movie-goer who has never read the book, unlike Harry Potter 4-7 and the last couple of Twilight films.

PS: Fuck the other 2 love interests, I'm on team Cinna(sp?).

PK, Cinna is clearly gay.

 

[Dave]

I watched Battle Royale opening night, I mean the Hunger Games. Battle Royale was better imo. (Hunger Games wasn't bad though, just kinda cheesy and stuff)

 

[TheWalrus9]

hey S_C :)

well, don't you worry, Collins "never heard of [Battle Royale]". And the original was of course better. It was gritty and violent, much more what I would expect if there was a "Darwinian Olympics".

Hunger Games is good, enthralling, but its definitely targeted for the teen/young adult demographic. Hence the PG-13 rating to make sure the kids can get in the shows.

 

[Stratos]

Hide

My only gripes was the somewhat bland main character (not saying she was bad... I enjoyed her character, but I found her to be a bit boring. Though i'm guessing she's more fleshed out in the book) and the cartoon-esque moments. I can count 2 times where Katniss should have died.
1) When the girl had her at knife point, but wastes her time taunting her
2) The guy who killed that knife girl could have easily killed her

explanation of why thresh & clove didn't kill her... SPOILERS

I think it's pretty obvious why Clove didn't kill Katniss. She was pretty steamed about Katniss blowing up their food, killing half her alliance, and especially dropping the Tracker Jackers on her. She wanted to enjoy her death, and she had absolutely no reason to believe that thresh would do anything other than take his bag and gtfo while he had the chance.

Of course, just as she was getting to the actual killing part and Thresh was getting to the take the bags and gtfo part, Clove makes the very unfortunate mistake of mentioning Rue. It's clear that Thresh had some sort of close relationship with Rue, and he gets pretty ticked off about this. so he kills clove. In the books, he then starts yelling at Katniss, asking "Did you kill her?" Katniss explains how she and Rue were in an alliance to take down the careers and it went all wrong and she got killed, but Katniss got a revenge kill on Marvel for it. Thresh, because of his friendship with Rue, decides that he would let Katniss go in order to repay her for being Rue's friend.

There weren't really any parts of the book i thought were Deux Es Machina (well of course the entire game, but what I meant was that it all made sense and there weren't any "if she wasn't the main protagonist she would have died there" moments)

 

[uragg]

haven't read/watched but felt the need to say

jennifer lawrence mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 8=D

 

[VKCA]

Relevant:

 

[PK Gaming]

explanation of why thresh & clove didn't kill her... SPOILERS

I think it's pretty obvious why Clove didn't kill Katniss. She was pretty steamed about Katniss blowing up their food, killing half her alliance, and especially dropping the Tracker Jackers on her. She wanted to enjoy her death, and she had absolutely no reason to believe that thresh would do anything other than take his bag and gtfo while he had the chance.

Of course, just as she was getting to the actual killing part and Thresh was getting to the take the bags and gtfo part, Clove makes the very unfortunate mistake of mentioning Rue. It's clear that Thresh had some sort of close relationship with Rue, and he gets pretty ticked off about this. so he kills clove. In the books, he then starts yelling at Katniss, asking "Did you kill her?" Katniss explains how she and Rue were in an alliance to take down the careers and it went all wrong and she got killed, but Katniss got a revenge kill on Marvel for it. Thresh, because of his friendship with Rue, decides that he would let Katniss go in order to repay her for being Rue's friend.

There weren't really any parts of the book i thought were Deux Es Machina (well of course the entire game, but what I meant was that it all made sense and there weren't any "if she wasn't the main protagonist she would have died there" moments)

rebuttal

Maybe so, but that doesn't change the fact that Katniss got saved by plot armor. Clove was blood lusted at that point, so I figured she'd kill her after getting the minute she got the upper hand, instead of holding herself back. Oh well, I didn't care for character anyway.

Tresh said he'd kill her the next they meet up. Am I the only one who sees a problem with that line? It seems really cartoonish (which ended up being his undoing). If I were Tresh and Rue was my younger brother (someone who I care deeply about), i'd kill her now anyway so I wouldn't have to deal with her in the future, I wouldn't "honor" a relationship that I heard off hand. It sounds crazy, but they're playing for keeps, which is why it rubs me the wrong way when a person in a movie neglects to kill a defenseless person due to plot based reasons. Tresh coming out of nowhere to save Katniss was the very definition of DEM.

Nixhex, he only wants you to think that. Again, he's going in for the priiiiiiize.

 

[AnEntAmongMen]

I haven't seen the Hunger Games yet but from what I can tell it's more or less a Battle Royale knock off. I haven't read much of this thread due to spoilers and such but I'll be back with my opinion once I see it.

 

[Blkmage0253]

I read all the books and I saw the movie. Did anyone else think it was hilarious when Thresh jumped out and killed the career tribute girl then ran away after saying like 2 lines? I know it happened more or less that way in the book but it was still pretty awkward

 

[Feathers]

i'm not huge on book > movie adaptations but for me the hunger games was something else. i usually get really absorbed when reading but this time it was the movie that literally had me sweating. i was holding my breath for most of it even though i knew what was going to happen. i was fine with all changes, which is very unusual for me. it was still incredibly effective, in my opinion.

the games were exactly how i imagined they would be, in all honesty. i don't usually ever have any emotion towards characters at all, but i shed a few tears twice (the cornucopia slaughter and rue). though just as i did with the books, i liked neither gale nor peeta at all. but i could definitely deal with it, i was fine with basically everything they did (though the dog change was not needed, but it was still pretty good).

one of my favorite scenes was the tracker jacker death. i'm not sure why, but the whole thing seemed really horrific. i do wish they'd been able to expand on the tributes more, but i understand why they couldn't. it's a lot easier in words than on screen.

nearly every moment felt really intense for me, with so much build up until the games began. the capitol was exactly how i imagined it, same with the people. cinna was great, everyone was great, though haymitch could have had a bit more screen time.

i am very excited for the sequel, and i hope to make midnight showing this time. i was busy and couldn't make it to this one. johanna is my favorite character so i hope she gets a chance in the spotlight (here, let me take this tree off and get naked, allow me to cut a hole in your arm without telling you what i'm doing). so i guess i should get my district 7 shirt eventually. who needs arrows when you have a bunch of axes

but seriously, great movie. i'll be seeing it at least once more before it's out of theaters. so far i'm happy it hasn't suffered what i call a "twiangle". in other words, it wasn't some terrible twilight he loves she loves debacle. if i had to pick though, it would be gale. peeta is a bread.

 

[ginganinja]

rebuttal

Maybe so, but that doesn't change the fact that Katniss got saved by plot armor. Clove was blood lusted at that point, so I figured she'd kill her after getting the minute she got the upper hand, instead of holding herself back. Oh well, I didn't care for character anyway.

Tresh said he'd kill her the next they meet up. Am I the only one who sees a problem with that line? It seems really cartoonish (which ended up being his undoing). If I were Tresh and Rue was my younger brother (someone who I care deeply about), i'd kill her now anyway so I wouldn't have to deal with her in the future, I wouldn't "honor" a relationship that I heard off hand. It sounds crazy, but they're playing for keeps, which is why it rubs me the wrong way when a person in a movie neglects to kill a defenseless person due to plot based reasons. Tresh coming out of nowhere to save Katniss was the very definition of DEM.

Nixhex, he only wants you to think that. Again, he's going in for the priiiiiiize.

tl:dr answer

I don't actually think its 'plot armour'. Clove herself (in the book) promised Cato that she would 'give the audience a show,' if Cato let Clove kill her. With Cato waiting to intercept and take out Thresh, Clove felt confident that she could take her time on killing Katniss. Its never explicitly laid out however there is a strong implication that Cato misjudged his location while waiting for Thresh, which ultimately lead to her death.

Thresh is a different case. Technically, he didn't some to "save" Katniss, he took the opportunity to eliminate a player in the games (Clove), the fact that he suspected at the time she killed Rue was merely a bonus. Thresh lets Katniss live when he finds out that that she actually cared about Rue as a friend etc etc. He also finds out that his district publicly thanked Katniss by sending her a gift meant for Rue, (the bread) and thus, lets her go to repay the debt he felt he owed. You could look on that as plot armour if you want, as someone who has read the entire series more times than I can count, I disagree but w/e. The point is that (even in the first book) there are multiple debts that are mentioned that constantly get brought up, for example how Katniss always feels that she owns Peeta for the bread, even for making her desirable in the Pre Games interview etc etc. Katniss owes Gale a debt for hunting for both his AND her family while she was in the games (and if she died he would continue to feed them), so the idea of Thresh owing Katniss for teaming up with Rue, allying themselves and indirectly increasing Rues chances of survival, and then caring enough to sing to her until she died, I don't see that as far-fetched. Maybe your different and wouldn't give two shits but personally I can easily see where Thresh is coming from.

I agree the line used in the movie is awkward, and I really encourage you to read the books so you actually understand some of the subtle moments that the movie didn't cover as in the book its more of a "lets call it quits" rather than, "ill kill you later" (subtle difference but w/e).

tl;dr Thresh did'nt set out to save Katniss, and he didn't kill her since he felt morally owed for the care and devotion she showed to Rue. You can be cynical about it if you want lol although personally I can understand fully with Thresh's decision and feel that it fits with his character (especially when factoring how his own district felt towards katniss) better than, 'who gives a shit if you saved a friend, ill just kill you anyway'.

Also quick point, letting Katniss live didn't really end up to being his own undoing. In the books, he is killed by Cato after he takes Catos body armour with him, as well as the thing he needed. Considering how Katniss didn't have a hand in the death of Thresh I don't really know how you can call it that lol.

Also, READ THE BOOKS, since it makes understanding a few things a LOT easier

 

[Delibird1]

where were the avox's i did't see them in the movie but i saw them in the credits

 

[Stratos]

rebuttal

Maybe so, but that doesn't change the fact that Katniss got saved by plot armor. Clove was blood lusted at that point, so I figured she'd kill her after getting the minute she got the upper hand, instead of holding herself back. Oh well, I didn't care for character anyway.

Tresh said he'd kill her the next they meet up. Am I the only one who sees a problem with that line? It seems really cartoonish (which ended up being his undoing). If I were Tresh and Rue was my younger brother (someone who I care deeply about), i'd kill her now anyway so I wouldn't have to deal with her in the future, I wouldn't "honor" a relationship that I heard off hand. It sounds crazy, but they're playing for keeps, which is why it rubs me the wrong way when a person in a movie neglects to kill a defenseless person due to plot based reasons. Tresh coming out of nowhere to save Katniss was the very definition of DEM.

RE: buttal

while ginga explained it pretty well, I'm just going to say I didn't find it as DEM so much as one of the humanity-saving moments of the games, in a league with decorating Rue's corpse and shooting Cato to put him out of his misery. Thresh couldn't find it in himself to kill the defenseless, weaponless girl who had passed up the opportunity to do the same to Rue, and not only that, but had been her friend even though they both couldn't win. If Thresh had to kill her, he didn't want it to be then, because that would be a terrible disrespect to the memory of Rue. If he had to kill Rue's friend, it would be when he absolutely HAD to.

i can see we're just going to have to agree to disagree on this, though

 

[Snorlaxe]

where were the avox's i did't see them in the movie but i saw them in the credits

they pretty much just hovered around in the background in district 12's capitol suite. they were never elaborated on, or even addressed, in the movie, another thing that kinda disappointed me.

 

[bearsfan092]

I actually enjoyed the movie more than the book. I don't think the book was written particularly well, but the movie did a great job bringing the story to the big screen.