I am a huge fan of The Hunger Games books, so when the film was announced, I was very eager. But I’m not going to lie, I was also very excited. The trailers looked good for the film, but I was always a bit skeptical.
So the film is now out and and was a huge hit and was very successful. Critics and fans loved the movie. I thought the film was pretty good. I think it was an almost perfect adaptation of the book. But they did leave out some elements of the book that did seem important. I know things change from book to screen, so I’m not really complaining at all.
The acting was good for the most part. I was a little nervous about Josh Hutcherson, but he was fine in it. Jenifer Lawrance was perfectly cast in the role as Katniss Everdeen. Liam Hemsworth was good as Gale, even though he wasn’t in the movie that much. All the other kid actors were passable, but could’ve been better.
The action was well directed and the shaky camera was effectively used. The film has a nice gritty feel to it. All the sets and locations are fantastic. I think all the scenes during the actual hunger game, are all effective.
The CGI is good for the most part. All the sets are enhanced by CGI and most of those look fine. The animals and things are a hit and miss. The wolf creatures at the end aren’t that good, but the insects look fine. The scenes in the movie with fire are also mixed. The forest fire is a blend between practical fire and CGI fire, and you can totally tell.
The pacing in the movie is fine for me. The hunger games don’t start until about an hour into the movie. It was nice to get a build up of what the hunger games is and see what these characters have to go through. I think the ending of the movie leaves you wanting more and that good.
Overall this is a satisfying adaptation of one of the most popular teen novels. Its a dark toned film with very adult topics and it works very well.
Final Score: 8.7
The Blu-ray version of this film is top notch. The sound and picture are fantastic. On the Blu-ray of this film you get about three hours of special features and they are a good insight on how the film was made.
There are three different versions of the film on Blu-ray, in terms of boxing. Target, Best Buy, and Walmart are all selling a different version. Best Buy has a huge box with Blu-ray, DvD, digital copy, and Ultra violet. Its a nice box and it comes with a special gift with it. But its sort of plain. Walmart has the most uninspired boxing out for the film. Its just the regular Blu-ray with a necklace included, all stuffed inside a card board box.
Target is your best option, It comes with three disk. One disk is the film, the second is three hours of special features, the third is an exclusive disk with an extra hour of the special features. The case is in a nice slip cover, the slip cover is all black that has the mockingjay pendant of the front and has the title on it. Its very effective. The actual case is very nice and you cant get it any where else. Go to target.com to see what I’m talking about.
