I know this is a travel blog, but my friend and I went to see The Hunger Games yesterday, and it was so good, I feel that I have to post about it. If you haven't read the book, there might be some spoilers! I wanted to see it right away. I fell in love with the book almost as soon as I started reading it, so I was really, really excited to see what they did with the movie. By the time I got to go see it, I had been hearing from my friends that they did a really good job of sticking to the book and that the movie itself was excellent. So I bought my ticket for a Friday showing at the local cinema and headed out, eager to finally see the movie.
The cinema here seemed very similar to the ones at home--perhaps a bit smaller than the theater I usually go to, but otherwise the same. The only notable differences were that when I bought my ticket online I had to actually choose the seat I wanted to take. The other difference was that in the front of the theatre, they have VIP seats, which are these massive bean bag chairs with what looks like mini tables next to them instead of simple cup-holders.
The movie started, and I was instantly impressed. The way district 12 was pictured was amazing--for me, there was no doubt that it was just as I had pictured district 12 when I was reading the book. When they showed Prim, my first thought was that the actress was perfect for Prim. My second thought was that she looked way too much like my sister did at that age for me to be able to handle. Sure enough, when it came time for the reaping scene, I started crying. A lot. And kept crying for about the next ten minutes. I calmed down in time for the arrival at the capital, and then got all teary-eyed when Peeta and Katniss made their entrance in the Tribute's Parade.
I was very interested in seeing how they were going to film the actual Games--obviously, there's a lot of death and in a movie with a 12A (PG-13 if you're in the States) rating, I knew that they weren't going to be showing too much. Again, I was very impressed. They made it obvious that many of the tributes, who I kept reminding myself are just kids, had died, all without displaying horrible, gory deaths. I'll also say that the Cornucopia in the movie made a lot more sense than the one I had pictured in my head. I had imagined the cornucopias that we see pictures of at Thanksgiving every year--a horn woven from branches and stuff like that. But the metallic cornucopia made way more sense!
When it came to the scene where Rue died, I again cried like a baby. There's a scene in the movie where Katniss is in the forest, basically sobbing and holding her head, and I wasn't too far off from looking like that myself. And then when District 11 started rebelling, I just kept crying. My friend said that at that point, she could even hear me sniffling.
I was impressed with how well the movie was done, from start to finish. It stuck to the book better than most book to film adaptions I've seen. I thought it was emotional in the right places, powerful in the right ways, and all the actors and actresses were perfect for their roles. I can tell this is going to be one of those movies that I'll love to watch again and again. And I certainly can't wait for Catching Fire!
A tout a l'heure!
P.S. I'll return with more travel stories soon, I promise!
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