The Hunger Games finished the
weekend with the largest non-summer opening in history. It is a success, but is it good? The answer is yes. The movie takes a very internal book and
gives us a story rooted in the world it creates and still gives us a very character
driven tale. The only way to capture the
depth of the book would have been a voice over and that is extremely difficult
to pull off, so the filmmakers had to present that development in other ways. (SPOILERS FOLLOW)
Before I get further into to what
this film did right, let me pick the few nits that I found.
Haymitch was far too sober. At the start of the book, he is supposed to
be a drunken disgrace who is so smashed he falls off the stage at the
Reaping. He later vomits on the train,
before he gets to know his tributes. Now
don’t get me wrong, Woody Harrelson does a remarkable job as Haymitch. The look of hate he directs at the hovercraft
that takes the tributes to the arena is absolutely chilling and shows a fire
that that he has not been able to drink away.
We just need to see how hard he has been trying drink himself into
oblivion, before we see him get it together.
The camera work in District 12 was
so shaky as to be distracting,
Peeta comes out of the games
physically unscathed.
District 11’s gift of bread not
happening. I understand why they didn’t
show it (choosing to show the start of the rebellion instead), but I still missed it.
The final mutations did not have
the features of the dead tributes.
I know there were more changes, but
those were the 5 changes/omissions that hit me.
Now back to the good stuff. Since a voice over was impossible and
dialogue could not be used to convey Katniss’ inner thoughts, it fell on
Jennifer Lawrence to use her considerable
skills to show Katniss’ internal monologue.
Since Katniss is a woman of few words captured in a situation where her
every word is subject to observation by the Capitol, there is little
opportunity for her to express her true thoughts. We rely on Lawrence
Donald Sutherland was a brilliant
choice for President Snow. He presents
just the right air of menace and establishes the character as a ruthless ruler
who knows just how fragile his domain is.
Lenny Kravitz brought Cinna to life
and I found myself wishing for more interaction between him and Katniss. I look forward to his appearance in Catching
Fire.
Rue, as she should be, is
positively heart-breaking.
When I saw the first trailer for
the film, I commented to my sister (the bright lass who introduced me to the
books) that the film went outside the arena.
This change is what makes the film work.
We see the control room and how they decide to herd the tributes for
maximum dramatic effect. In the book,
Katniss often thinks the games makers will do something to make the show more
exciting. Here we see it. My other concern from the trailer was that
her interview dress looked too plain, but I can see now that the purpose was to
hide how well they had actually done at bringing Cinn’a creation to life.
We also get a welcome glimpse into the
politics of the Games as Snow instructs Seneca Crane on what needs to happen. I must admit his execution was certainly not
what I expected.
Going back to Haymitch, the cut
away scenes from the arena to Haymitch working the sponsors were another
welcome glimpse into what is only hinted at in the books. Watching Haymitch schmooze the sponsors and
even Seneca Crane was a treat, and offered a plausible explanation of why the
“change” to the rules was even considered.
I found the shift in focus to be
very effective and it is what makes the translation for page to screen work. Was it a perfect adaptation? As noted by my nits above, no. But it was effective and delivered a movie
that truly honored the spirit of the book.
I walked out of the theater fully satisfied with this adaptation. If you haven’t already seen it, go!
