My reactions to the midnight viewing of the Hunger Games. ( Spoilers at the very end)

[Baitball Blogger]

First, the line which started two hours before the movie began was like a combination of Twilight moms and daughters with Star Gate fathers and college aged boys. The ratio of male to female was probably two guys for every three girls.

You knew it caught everyone's attention because it felt like nobody was breathing for the first fifteen minutes. That's how quiet and captivating the scenes are. In fact, most of the movie is quiet (I don't remember the score at all, if there even was one.) It's like you're pulled into the moment as it was happening. At one point I needed to cough and waited for a loud moment to occur to drown out the sound and it never came. I felt like I was ruining everybody else's high.

I generally go to midnight shows to catch the first audience's reaction, but I will say there was very few moments where you realized you were there with an audience. The few moments that were light received laughter at the appropriate times, but then we were back into the seriousness of the Hunger Games. Jennifer Lawrence did an amazing job of making you understand what was at stake, and throughout the movie you were right there along with her.

I was surprised there was no roaring applause at the end, but I can only attribute this to the fact that even to the end, you felt a tension that you knew was leading into the next movie.

This is a movie I would see again--this weekend.




Spoilers Below:
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Everything worked. I disagree with reviewers who said that Peeta looked too young next to Jennifer Lawrence. He was the perfect Peeta.

Seneca Crane is a superb character, but I don't remember that he was dispensed with until the second book.

[RandySF]

1. The plot sounds just like the Japanese movie "Battle Royale".

[Baitball Blogger]

2. I have to see that movie, because everyone is saying so.

[sakabatou]

11. It's a movie, but it was made from a manga

[Baitball Blogger]

12. No idea what a manga is,

but I checked the net and it says that it's coming out on DVD. (Probably being resurrected because of the Hunger Games.

[sakabatou]

13. Manga = Japanese comic book

And if you have Netflix, you can get it right now.

[Hayabusa]

19. If I remember correctly,

it was a book first. I almost got the movie a year ago at a comic convention, but when I went back to the booth all they had was the sequel...

[sakabatou]

22. Yes, it was a book/manga first

[sakabatou]

10. My thought too

[PassingFair]

3. My daughter went to the "midnight" premier last night. She's a HUGE fan of the books...

and she has a crush on Josh Hutcherson.

She loved the movie BUT...

She didn't love the "shaky-cam", Cloverfield, hand-held filming technique.

She came home at @ 2:30 or so and threw-up.

I can't believe she made it to school on time today.

[Baitball Blogger]

4. The shaky-cam was at its worst at the beginning.

I worried about the same thing, but as the movie progressed, it became more of a collection of quick snapshots of what was going on. Especially when it came to the blood baths. Whenever a kid was killed it wasn't sustained graphic, except for maybe the tracker wasp scene.

It was enough to get the point across, but, for adults, it might have been too much Novocaine. I didn't leave my seat hating the capitol as I should have. Nor did I hate Seneca Crane as much as I should have.

(Of course, I couldn't get my eyes off that beard that Vi Neill created. If it hadn't have been for that beard, Crane wouldn't have come across as fierce as he should have.)

I'm sorry about your daughter. I suffer from the same problem, but I guess I was so engrossed in the movie I worked through it.

[PassingFair]

5. She still liked the movie...

but she's hoping for smoother camera direction on the next two.

[siligut]

6. I wanted to go tonight, with Mr gut, to an 18 and up theater that serves food and alcohol

Now I am glad he is so much more rational than I am. From your review, the food and alcohol would have just been a distraction and even though the theater is for adults, it still would be very crowded.

Thank you for sharing, I am sure we will go see it and it seems like it is a big screen sort of movie too, so we will see it in the theater, though probably not the one that serves food and alcohol.

[Baitball Blogger]

7. Definitely a big screen event.

Also see it early. As movies go through their run times you end up with people who have seen it multiple times and you'll be distracted with side comments from the other viewers.

[siligut]

9. Maybe the 25th at 10:20 AM?

It will be showing in IMAX at one of my favorite theaters and then I can take my guy out for lunch. Win Win I am sure he will enjoy it too, you have described it wonderfully without really giving anything up.

[Baitball Blogger]

8. One other bit of advice.

Our movie ran right after the last showing of the Lorax and while we waited there was a distinct odor of deodorizing from diaper linings. Some people insisted they could smell baby poo-poo.

So make sure you get a theater dedicated for the Hunger Games.

[lapislzi]

14. My "other" daughter kept me up until 4 a.m.

and for the remainder of the weekend with her commentary, most of which was accurate, but the opinion of a deep reader and diehard fan.

My biggest criticism (SPOILER):

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What happened to the bread from District 11? That was a seminal event in the coalescence of the revolution?

[Baitball Blogger]

15. I don't remember that.

I'm rereading it now. Give me a synopsis.

[lapislzi]

16. SPOILER ALERT

After Rue's death and Katniss's makeshift funeral and salute, District 11 sends a parachute with a warm loaf of their special regional bread. Katniss (and the Game Makers) read this as a gesture of gratitude for Katniss's humanity and the early stirrings of rebellion.

The scenes from 11 with the riots substitute, but less subtly.

Of course, I was in a row of sobbing teenage girls while all this was going on...

[Baitball Blogger]

17. Yes, of course.

I'm only guessing here, but I suspect they left it out because the rioting is what was important, and it was immediate.

Also, District 11, like most of the Districts, was a poor. So where did they get the money and pull to make such a quick gift?

That may be the advantage of a movie vs. a book. Or disadvantage, depending on your view. But, pictures get the point across quicker. In a book where people have to absorb the details and connect them to their own reference points, it may take some subtle suggestions.

[lapislzi]

18. IIRC...

Katniss makes reference to how costly the gift must have been.

I like to think that the inhabitants of 11 chipped in and expedited the gift via the district mentor.

That being said, I thought the riot scene was very good.

It was chilling, sitting there in a long row of girls, all of whom stood and saluted through their tears.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

27. I was one of those sobbing messes at that point in the film.

The spear hit Rue and it felt like my gut was ripped out.

[LWolf]

20. I saw it Saturday.

I had to; my students have been avidly reading the series for 3 years now, and we expect to come back from spring break ready to talk about it.

I thought it was, on the whole, well done and reasonably faithful to the book. Well cast, too.

The opening, leading up to and including the reaping, was powerful, and the quiet intensified that.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

21. More spoiler:

Seneca Crane was killed immediately after the games. They just didn't mention it until the second book.
Did you see people are freaking OUT that Rue was black? She was black in the book if they actually read the freaking thing. And they didn't like Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, even though I found him BRILLIANT in the role. I love that guy like a fat kid loves cake.
I loved the movie. I had second thoughts about Josh Hutcherson as Peeta....Then he smiled and I was in love. What an adorable kid. There's a great Q&A with Josh, Jennifer and Elizabeth where they ask each other fan questions and it's about 12 minutes long. You should find it. It is awesome. They have a great dynamic.
That is Mahogany! LMAO

[Baitball Blogger]

23. Too bad that beard won't get another appearance in the second movie.

That beard did all the acting. Seneca came across as someone who wasn't intentionally malicious, but he also didn't have any special regard for human life either. He just superficially wanted to put on a good show, but didn't understand the politics which was the president's priority. That was his downfall.

As for Rue, anyone who didn't expect to see a black actress didn't read the books.

I always wanted to see a native American as Katniss. I think that the make-up could have been darkened up a bit more on Lawence, but it was obvious she was darker complected than her mother and Pru, which was pointed out in the book. That said, Jennifer Lawrence blew me away.

As for Cinna, I saw a caucasian when I read the book. Probably a young Tim Gunn. But Lenny Kravitz worked his way into my heart. At one point I was thinking to myself, no way that gold eyeliner would show up on a caucasian.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

24. LOL The Beard!

Skip, my husband, was wondering how they did that. I said he probably grew it out and they totally just shaved it in. I'd be interested to hear.
I never thought about the Native American angle. Interesting. Nice catch. When I was reading, I was thinking of Katinss as a young, darker headed Natalie Portman until I found out who was cast in the film.

[Baitball Blogger]

25. Vi Neill designed the beard.

She's one of the jurists in that sci-fi competition show called Face-Off. But her main gig is special effects make up for movies.

I read in an interview that the actor appeared on set with a full beard, which he tends to do to give the make-up people something to work with. Vi Neill was thrilled to see it and just stared at him for a long time and came up with the design.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

26. God I love you. LOL

Thank you for that. That is AWESOME.