Posted by Someone Else at 4:52pm Mar 26 '12My major annoyances at the movie were:
-Where the fuck was Madge?? Her character's not terribly important in the first book, but I'll be curious to see how they set things up for Katniss going into the mayor's house and seeing the broadcast and such in the second movie. I guess it won't be THAT hard, but still.
-Katniss never would have wasted resources on that gold mockingjay pin, even for her little sister. And she wouldn't have really been able to afford it anyway--finery is more expensive than the hunting bounty she and Gale would bring in.
-The Hob wasn't explained at all, nor was it addressed just how illegal the hunting was (yeah, sure, she went through an electric fence that was off, big whoop).
-Almost NO backstory on Katniss' dad, just a little bit where she was snide towards her mother about not shutting down like she did when dad died.
-The relationship with Gale was severely underdeveloped. But the actor who plays Gale looks like the brainless twat from the Twilight movies, so I wasn't entirely sad to see him not get much screen time.
-The exposition was a little lacking with some things, albeit nothing particularly vital--things like the jabberjays weren't really explained. (However, I was impressed with how they handled the trackerjacker exposition--I was really concerned they'd just treat them like normal bees, and right as I'd resigned myself to being angry about that, they broke away to show the announcers explaining it, wootwoot.)
-Some characters were severely underdeveloped--most notably, Rue. She was in the book, too, but I think the only reason I found her death so tragic was because I remember her from the book--I think just watching the movie, I woulda shrugged her death off a bit.
-The pacing was kinda bleh...there wasn't nearly enough in District 12 to set up the world Katniss comes from, and then other things were sort of dragged out a little, mostly random bits of the Game.
-They didn't even mention the forcefields around the roof of the building the contestants were staying in--not vital to this movie, but they'll have to be introduced somewhat abruptly for the next movie, and I think that lack of setup will make it less awesome.
-They didn't address Katniss' ear nor Peeta's leg...the leg isn't all that vital (though it does show that the Capitol really does a rather amazing repair job on the victors), but without Katniss' ear, I'm curious how they'll handle her "hearing" the forcefield in the next movie.
-The Muttations!!!! They just made them dog-jaguar-things. They were scary enough and all, but they were SUPPOSED to be much more sinister, resembling the contestants and such. I was INCREDIBLY disappointed with that--it shows just how twisted and fucked up the Capitol is. I donno how they could've done it really, so I can't entirely fault them for it, but it did really bug me.
So, yeah. Overall, not much to be terribly disappointed about. Those are all nitpicks. There was really nothing GLARINGLY wrong with anything. I will be curious how they pick things up for the next movies. And I'm a bit pissed at Lionsgate already for following the obnoxious trend of dragging out adaptation series by breaking the last movie into two.
-Where the fuck was Madge?? Her character's not terribly important in the first book, but I'll be curious to see how they set things up for Katniss going into the mayor's house and seeing the broadcast and such in the second movie. I guess it won't be THAT hard, but still.
-Katniss never would have wasted resources on that gold mockingjay pin, even for her little sister. And she wouldn't have really been able to afford it anyway--finery is more expensive than the hunting bounty she and Gale would bring in.
-The Hob wasn't explained at all, nor was it addressed just how illegal the hunting was (yeah, sure, she went through an electric fence that was off, big whoop).
-Almost NO backstory on Katniss' dad, just a little bit where she was snide towards her mother about not shutting down like she did when dad died.
-The relationship with Gale was severely underdeveloped. But the actor who plays Gale looks like the brainless twat from the Twilight movies, so I wasn't entirely sad to see him not get much screen time.
-The exposition was a little lacking with some things, albeit nothing particularly vital--things like the jabberjays weren't really explained. (However, I was impressed with how they handled the trackerjacker exposition--I was really concerned they'd just treat them like normal bees, and right as I'd resigned myself to being angry about that, they broke away to show the announcers explaining it, wootwoot.)
-Some characters were severely underdeveloped--most notably, Rue. She was in the book, too, but I think the only reason I found her death so tragic was because I remember her from the book--I think just watching the movie, I woulda shrugged her death off a bit.
-The pacing was kinda bleh...there wasn't nearly enough in District 12 to set up the world Katniss comes from, and then other things were sort of dragged out a little, mostly random bits of the Game.
-They didn't even mention the forcefields around the roof of the building the contestants were staying in--not vital to this movie, but they'll have to be introduced somewhat abruptly for the next movie, and I think that lack of setup will make it less awesome.
-They didn't address Katniss' ear nor Peeta's leg...the leg isn't all that vital (though it does show that the Capitol really does a rather amazing repair job on the victors), but without Katniss' ear, I'm curious how they'll handle her "hearing" the forcefield in the next movie.
-The Muttations!!!! They just made them dog-jaguar-things. They were scary enough and all, but they were SUPPOSED to be much more sinister, resembling the contestants and such. I was INCREDIBLY disappointed with that--it shows just how twisted and fucked up the Capitol is. I donno how they could've done it really, so I can't entirely fault them for it, but it did really bug me.
So, yeah. Overall, not much to be terribly disappointed about. Those are all nitpicks. There was really nothing GLARINGLY wrong with anything. I will be curious how they pick things up for the next movies. And I'm a bit pissed at Lionsgate already for following the obnoxious trend of dragging out adaptation series by breaking the last movie into two.
added on 4:53pm Mar 26 '12:
Oh oh oh, also, having Cinna sneak her pin in instead of addressing that it was a tribute trinket? DISLIKE that change, a lot.
The Hunger Games (with spoilers!) - Someone Else