The Hunger Games (Spoiler Free)

Movie: The Hunger Games 

Genre(s): Dystopian, Sci-Fi, Action-Drama
Runtime: 2:22
Format: regular
Rating: PG–13
Studio: Lionsgate
Country: USA
Language: English
Official Website: The Hunger Games Movie

Director: Gary Ross
Producer(s): Jon Kilik, Nina Jacobson, Suzanne Collins, Robin Bissell
Writer(s): Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, Billy Ray
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley

Release Date: March 23, 2012
Find it: Currently in a theater near you.
Scores:

• Metacritic: 68/100 (critics); 7.8/10 (users) [http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-hunger-games] 
• Rotten Tomatoes: 86% (critics); 95% (users) [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hunger_games/] 
• My rating: ★★★★★

Yesterday was the release day for the hugely awaited movie based on Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. The dystopian tale of survival featuring Katniss Everdeen and her role in the deadliest games in Panem.

Disclaimer: For those of you who have not read the book yet or do not plan to read it, this is my shorter, spoiler free review of the movie The Hunger Games. If you have read the book and would rather want to read my spoiler-splashed review click here.

Whenever I see that my favorite books are being turned into movies or TV, I get small panic attack. It is so rare for a movie to follow a book closely that most of the times I feel like I am watching a completely different story. Sometimes these adaptations/variations simply work, for example: True Blood (I love what they did to Lafayette’s character) other times they fail to reach the bar set by the book.

In this case, I can breathe easily and honestly say that the movie The Hunger Games stuck extremely close to the original story. The few variations that the movie had weren’t that bad. Although I’m not sure how they are going to introduce the characters they eliminated when the trilogy continues on November 22, 2013.

The movie is, in one word, amazing! But then again, so is the book. My only complaint is that the few light scenes from the book –like the everyday on district 12 and such– where eliminated which made the movie even more emotionally heavy than it already is. The only comic relief comes from Effie Trinket’s character, which the actress nailed to perfection. This in turn made the movie slow; even the action scenes felt slowly paced. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the movie, I did – I think is one of the best book-to-movie adaptations to date; but that doesn’t alter the fact that it felt like it lasted an hour longer than it truly did, sorry folks.

The bottom line is that I loved it. I knew what was going to happen, yes, but still I enjoyed my time. I cried twice, at the Reaping and later at a specific scene on the arena. The changes were subtly done. The movie is well worth the time and the money. Can’t wait for Catching Fire and Mockingjay!

Now it’s your turn, did you saw the movie? If not, will you see it at some point? What did you thought? Loved it or hated it? Make your opinions known in the comments sections below.

Do you like this post? Please link back to this article by copying one of the codes below.

URL: https://soireb.blogspot.com/2012/03/hunger-games-spoiler-free.html HTML link code: <a href="https://soireb.blogspot.com/2012/03/hunger-games-spoiler-free.html">The Hunger Games (Spoiler Free)</a> BB (forum) link code: [url=https://soireb.blogspot.com/2012/03/hunger-games-spoiler-free.html]The Hunger Games (Spoiler Free)[/url]