Posted by Kromey at 3:24pm Apr 16 '12My thoughts having now seen the movie, in no particular order:
Overall: Fucking LOVED IT! Definitely buying the Blu-Ray the moment it's released!
Gale: I thought they did a really good job on him, actually, given the limitations of the format (i.e. can't do the inner exposition that told us in the book how important he was to Katniss). They could have done better, I'm sure, but they did pretty doggone good I thought.
The Hob: I liked it. True, they didn't ever establish that it was an illegal black market, but again with the not having the internal exposition to outright tell us such things. I fully expect they will burn it down in the next one, and will probably say something along the lines of "This is an illegal black market!" as they do so.
The Peacekeepers: Could their uniforms have been any more stupid??
The riot in 11: Having now seen it in context, I retract my earlier rants against it. It remains true that the bread from District 11 that Katniss received in the book was a much more powerful symbol of what was starting to build, but it was also a helluva lot more subtle, and required knowing about the different districts' breads, as well as knowing that the districts are isolated and cut off from each other, with no communication at all. True, a note a la those from Haymitch could have said something like "With our thanks --District 11", but we still would have missed the significance without establishing first that the districts cannot co-mingle in any way. So, I think the riot was a good way of establishing what was beginning to build here. However, they missed an awesome opportunity to show off The Capitol's brutality and inhumanity in their response to the riot -- water cannons certainly are an effect suppression tool, but they hardly work as a tool of intimidation and fear. Who else was expecting to see the Peacekeepers open up with their guns and start indiscriminately dropping bodies left and right, only to be disappointed by what could have been a riot response by good ol' USA instead of brutal and oppressive Panem?
Katniss' ear injury: Not at all upset by its removal. Does mean she won't likely be able to "hear" forcefields in the next one, though, but that's just fine by me.
Peeta's leg injury: The Games' finale in the book when Peeta removes the tourniquet so that he'll bleed out and Katniss will win was a much more powerful moment than him looking at Katniss and just saying, "Go ahead." It was also an incredibly powerful moment when the Capitol doctors took him away, and Katniss was pounding on the door and screaming his name. Despite my earlier defense of this change, I now resent that they did it.
The Mutts: Just... they dropped the ball so bad on this one. Sure, they were big and scary, but nowhere near the psychological mind-fuck of making them match the dead tributes. Seriously, how hard would it have been to have each one be the color of a tribute's hair with said tribute's eyes, and then have Katniss say something like "Fox-face?" as she recognizes the red-head? Speaking of which...
Fox-face: Goddamn, but they cast this girl PERFECT! The very first shot we see her in, I instantly recognized her! Spot on, casting director, spot fucking on!! I thought they managed her death quite well, too, especially with Katniss frantically calling out to and searching for Peeta, and then they find Fox-face dead shortly after.
Rue: I like that they got her into play early by having her fuck with the tributes during training (I don't recall that happening in the book, but I could be wrong). And they kept her four-tone signal, which was awesome. And her death was outstanding, especially how Katniss responded to it -- one of the movie's most powerful moments, which is fitting because it's one of the books'. That being said, I didn't much care for their casting of her, the girl they picked just didn't seem as quick and nimble as Rue was, which I guess is why (aside from her inexplicably being in the rafters in that one scene during tribute training) she didn't do anything even remotely quick or nimble during the movie. There was also absolutely no similarity between her and Prim, one of the key reasons Katniss got so attached to her so quickly.
The tracker-jackers: HATE that the idea for dropping the nest onto the Careers was Rue's! It instantly transformed her from sweet and innocent to calculating killer. It would have taken just an extra 2-3 seconds to have Rue simply point out the nest (as she does in the book), Katniss to look surprised, and then Katniss warns Rue away while she goes up and cuts it down. And it would have preserved Rue's innocence while being truer to the book anyway. I do like the cutaway to Cesar and what's-his-face to provide commentary on them, though -- an excellent way of handling that. Hate that Cesar became a part of Katniss' venom-induced hallucinations, though, smacking the audience in the face with a sledgehammer to tell them what's happening to her!
Shakey-cam: I generally like this effect, even when it's taken to an extreme level and you can't tell quite what's happening -- like in the fight between Katniss and Glimmer(?) at the Feast. However, there's no excuse for extreme shakey-cam like what we saw at the beginning when we first see District 12, making it impossible to tell what handicraft that person was engaged in on their front porch.
The Capitol vs. District 12: The contrast was amazing, and I think they really nailed the extravagance of The Capitol so perfectly! District 12 wasn't quite what I pictured in my head -- actually, wasn't anything like what I pictured -- but was still well done. The perimeter fence was way too small, though, although I think the sign was sufficient to make it clear that Katniss wasn't supposed to go through it into the woods.
Random hovercraft in the woods: WTF? If the not-yet-an-Avox girl had then come around the corner and gotten caught, that would have worked. But she didn't, which made the thing even being there at all completely pointless!
The mockingjay pin: I think it could have worked if Katniss had let it become visible as soon as the Games started. I still would have preferred that it had been a perfectly legit trinket, and that every tribute had something from home, but as it is it makes no sense that it becomes not only her symbol, but her very identity later on, since no one fucking saw it!! I also dislike that they removed the whole "What made you think you could trust me?" "The pin" exchange between Katniss and Rue.
Overall: Fucking LOVED IT! Definitely buying the Blu-Ray the moment it's released!
Gale: I thought they did a really good job on him, actually, given the limitations of the format (i.e. can't do the inner exposition that told us in the book how important he was to Katniss). They could have done better, I'm sure, but they did pretty doggone good I thought.
The Hob: I liked it. True, they didn't ever establish that it was an illegal black market, but again with the not having the internal exposition to outright tell us such things. I fully expect they will burn it down in the next one, and will probably say something along the lines of "This is an illegal black market!" as they do so.
The Peacekeepers: Could their uniforms have been any more stupid??
The riot in 11: Having now seen it in context, I retract my earlier rants against it. It remains true that the bread from District 11 that Katniss received in the book was a much more powerful symbol of what was starting to build, but it was also a helluva lot more subtle, and required knowing about the different districts' breads, as well as knowing that the districts are isolated and cut off from each other, with no communication at all. True, a note a la those from Haymitch could have said something like "With our thanks --District 11", but we still would have missed the significance without establishing first that the districts cannot co-mingle in any way. So, I think the riot was a good way of establishing what was beginning to build here. However, they missed an awesome opportunity to show off The Capitol's brutality and inhumanity in their response to the riot -- water cannons certainly are an effect suppression tool, but they hardly work as a tool of intimidation and fear. Who else was expecting to see the Peacekeepers open up with their guns and start indiscriminately dropping bodies left and right, only to be disappointed by what could have been a riot response by good ol' USA instead of brutal and oppressive Panem?
Katniss' ear injury: Not at all upset by its removal. Does mean she won't likely be able to "hear" forcefields in the next one, though, but that's just fine by me.
Peeta's leg injury: The Games' finale in the book when Peeta removes the tourniquet so that he'll bleed out and Katniss will win was a much more powerful moment than him looking at Katniss and just saying, "Go ahead." It was also an incredibly powerful moment when the Capitol doctors took him away, and Katniss was pounding on the door and screaming his name. Despite my earlier defense of this change, I now resent that they did it.
The Mutts: Just... they dropped the ball so bad on this one. Sure, they were big and scary, but nowhere near the psychological mind-fuck of making them match the dead tributes. Seriously, how hard would it have been to have each one be the color of a tribute's hair with said tribute's eyes, and then have Katniss say something like "Fox-face?" as she recognizes the red-head? Speaking of which...
Fox-face: Goddamn, but they cast this girl PERFECT! The very first shot we see her in, I instantly recognized her! Spot on, casting director, spot fucking on!! I thought they managed her death quite well, too, especially with Katniss frantically calling out to and searching for Peeta, and then they find Fox-face dead shortly after.
Rue: I like that they got her into play early by having her fuck with the tributes during training (I don't recall that happening in the book, but I could be wrong). And they kept her four-tone signal, which was awesome. And her death was outstanding, especially how Katniss responded to it -- one of the movie's most powerful moments, which is fitting because it's one of the books'. That being said, I didn't much care for their casting of her, the girl they picked just didn't seem as quick and nimble as Rue was, which I guess is why (aside from her inexplicably being in the rafters in that one scene during tribute training) she didn't do anything even remotely quick or nimble during the movie. There was also absolutely no similarity between her and Prim, one of the key reasons Katniss got so attached to her so quickly.
The tracker-jackers: HATE that the idea for dropping the nest onto the Careers was Rue's! It instantly transformed her from sweet and innocent to calculating killer. It would have taken just an extra 2-3 seconds to have Rue simply point out the nest (as she does in the book), Katniss to look surprised, and then Katniss warns Rue away while she goes up and cuts it down. And it would have preserved Rue's innocence while being truer to the book anyway. I do like the cutaway to Cesar and what's-his-face to provide commentary on them, though -- an excellent way of handling that. Hate that Cesar became a part of Katniss' venom-induced hallucinations, though, smacking the audience in the face with a sledgehammer to tell them what's happening to her!
Shakey-cam: I generally like this effect, even when it's taken to an extreme level and you can't tell quite what's happening -- like in the fight between Katniss and Glimmer(?) at the Feast. However, there's no excuse for extreme shakey-cam like what we saw at the beginning when we first see District 12, making it impossible to tell what handicraft that person was engaged in on their front porch.
The Capitol vs. District 12: The contrast was amazing, and I think they really nailed the extravagance of The Capitol so perfectly! District 12 wasn't quite what I pictured in my head -- actually, wasn't anything like what I pictured -- but was still well done. The perimeter fence was way too small, though, although I think the sign was sufficient to make it clear that Katniss wasn't supposed to go through it into the woods.
Random hovercraft in the woods: WTF? If the not-yet-an-Avox girl had then come around the corner and gotten caught, that would have worked. But she didn't, which made the thing even being there at all completely pointless!
The mockingjay pin: I think it could have worked if Katniss had let it become visible as soon as the Games started. I still would have preferred that it had been a perfectly legit trinket, and that every tribute had something from home, but as it is it makes no sense that it becomes not only her symbol, but her very identity later on, since no one fucking saw it!! I also dislike that they removed the whole "What made you think you could trust me?" "The pin" exchange between Katniss and Rue.
I've finally seen it! (spoilers) - Kromey