With the recent release of the movie adaptation of Suzanne Collins's "The Hunger Games," it has generated much hype and excitement, as expected with any teen movie blockbuster (Think Twilight meets Harry Potter). Where the book generates great character development and special relationships between the audience and the characters, the movie unfortunately falls short. Like any movie adaptation, it will never replace your emotions and feelings for the book. While you would expect the movie to somewhat meet your expectations, it doesn't even come remotely close. As someone who has read and thoroughly enjoyed the books, it seems like another terrible Hollywood remake.
Here's my biggest gripe: Character Development. As someone who is interested in cinema, being able to tell a story where the audience can understand, relate and emphasize at an emotional level with the character is extremely critical. In the book version, Katniss was this strong heroine-type figure, yet nervous and vulnerable on the inside. Her father's death is what gave Katniss the strength to sacrifice her life for the most important thing in her world: her family. While dealing with poverty and oppression, being there for her sister and taking care of her family is what let Katniss to persevere though these hard times. Katniss had to act like a women in a teenager's body. As a reader, I not only emphasized with Katniss's struggles, but I felt like I was listening to her inner thoughts. That's character development. The only glimpse of that in the movie is in the Reaping scene, where Katniss sacrifices her life for her sister. However, even that is fast forwarded. The movie focused on the "Games" part of the book, which is fine. However, it's Katniss's strong moral and family values that allow her to preserve through near death experiences and win it all.
In perspective, this movie will probably not win an oscar. All jokes aside, this was a great movie for those who just want to see a fast paced and action pact movie. However, for those who loved the dark undertones and the great character development of the book, you for sure will be truly disappointed. There were themes and parts of the books that were just flat out missing in the movie. At the end of the day, what do you expect? This is just another over-hyped teen love/action movie, not something done by the likes of Hitchcock, Scorsese, or even Malick to name a few ( this is certainly not "The Tree of Life"). So just sit back, relax, and let the disappointed wash over you with this movie adaption of Suzanne Collins's, "The Hunger Games."
