The Hunger Games ...Opinions from a non-fan.

I saw The Hunger Games last night and wanted to give my honest thoughts without trying to spoil it for those that haven't seen it yet. I actually had no idea what this movie even was, and had never read the book.  I became curious after seeing so many fellow bloggers going nuts over the fact that this movie was being made, all the way up to its release.

Honestly, it was a decent movie. Was it great? In my opinion, it was nothing spectacular. I felt like it was very much made for those who had read the book and kind of left the rest of us out in the dark a bit.  It was all very fast paced, which I actually tend to like in a movie because that leaves little overly drawn out scenes. However, at times it did feel rushed. I understand that they had to fit a whole book into a 2.5 hour movie, but I wish there was some more emphasis on certain things.  For example, the deaths all happened so quickly. We're left to wonder what happened to half of the cast. I guess if you read the book you're supposed to already know what happened, but that's an easy example of leaving us non-Hunger Games fans out in the dark.

Secondly, the whole idea of "The Hunger Games" in general is obviously a weird and unrealistic concept, but in a way I guess it just seemed kind of flawed to me. Why were these communities of people simply going along with it all? How did the Capital come to power and have such an insane amount of control over the people? Why were they interfering with the game and essentially killing off people on their own when the whole point was to see how long the tributes could last on their own (that part just didn't seem fair to me, especially if people are supposedly bidding on each district)? This stuff I thought could have been explained a bit better. I'm sure it all made sense for people who had read the book, but for everyone else that hadn't, it seemed like we were just thrown into the story.

I think I just expected to see a lot more things that seemed to be missing from the story.... more story building I guess. The sponsors and bidding on the tributes was something that I thought was going to make it more interesting, but aside from a few instances, this didn't seem help build the story at all. I also found much of it very predictable, even having not read the book. Dustin and I were actually calling what would happen next throughout the film, and it would happen just as we envisioned. I like some element of surprise to my movies, and this one didn't really give me any of that.

One major thing I needed to point out was something that I am SO confused about after reading other fan's reviews of the movie.  They were so enamored with the whole relationship between Katniss and Peeta, and I honestly just don't understand it. I didnt feel the love between the two at ALL. I didn't even know that they were supposed to be in love until reading other fan reviews.

The history of the two was rushed, and from what I gathered they didn't even know each other well. Sure there were flashbacks of one scene from their past when They looked at each other after he did a nice deed for her but I felt absolutely no love from that... In fact I thought that she and the other dude from her district were more into each other than her and Peeta. It kind of surprised me when they suddenly had brief emotions for one another, but even then I didn't consider it a love thing, I just thought that they were sticking together because they were team mates.  I felt as though the whole "couple" thing, if anything, was forced so that the sponsors would fall for this "young love" story. Am I the only one who felt this way!?  Even near the end she was almost hesitant to show the world that they were a "couple".

Being that everything happened so quickly, at the end we were left thinking "oh, that's it? What was the fuss about?"

As I said though, it wasn't a terrible movie, it was still a pretty decent movie, I just don't really understand the obsessiveness with it, and it wouldn't be something that I'd watch again.

On a positive note, I thought the acting was great, the set design was awesome, and I was kind of excited to see my first musical love and past client Lenny Kravitz appear, with his glamorous gold eyeliner and all (lol).

I know my opinions probably greatly differ from those who were fans of the book which is totally understandable. I know how it feels to be completely in love with a story and see it translated to the big screen. When I was a kid my favourite book was Tuck Everlasting and when that was finally made into a movie I was stoked! Barely anybody had heard of it before but I was completely in awe with it. It brought back so many childhood memories just thinking about the short novel. The movie turned out to be exactly as I had pictured everything in my head, from the set design to the characters... Everything. So I can completely understand how something like this can excite the fans.

So there you have it. Now try not to hate me, Hunger Games friends..? ;)

Discuss your thoughts with us in the comments!

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