Saw Hunger Games at the midnight showing. Brilliant and brutal, just like the book. There were a number of scenes/themes that I think they could have done better, but I’m being pretty critical because I liked the book so much.
This review comes with a very big warning – the movie makes extensive, obnoxious use of shakycam. I suspect that the film makers decided to do this to try to capture the first-person viewpoint of the book, and convey the distress and disorientation of the characters. Sometimes that works very well, but especially in the beginning, it just looked sloppy.
That said, this movie is great for all the same reasons the book is great, and that well-done speculative fiction in general is great – it shows us humanity in extremis, and in doing so makes a statement about who we are and where we could go as a society, if we don’t watch out.
This review comes with a very big warning – the movie makes extensive, obnoxious use of shakycam. I suspect that the film makers decided to do this to try to capture the first-person viewpoint of the book, and convey the distress and disorientation of the characters. Sometimes that works very well, but especially in the beginning, it just looked sloppy.
That said, this movie is great for all the same reasons the book is great, and that well-done speculative fiction in general is great – it shows us humanity in extremis, and in doing so makes a statement about who we are and where we could go as a society, if we don’t watch out.
I will actually be somewhat disappointed if this is the best movie I see this year. It had its flaws. I want to see it again, though, and it is certainly number one right now. If you can stand dealing the the shakycam (and if you can make it through the first ten minutes, that’s the worst of it), go see this movie.
1. The Secret World of Arrietty
2. Hunger Games
3. The Lorax
4. John Carter
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