Finally saw The Hunger Games

The story didn't interest me because the premise is, as far as I know, that a bunch of kids kill each other for entertainment. It made the story seem like Death Race 2000, only meant to be serious. To have a society or character that cruel is something I'd take as a bad joke.

It would be like if I had a villain in my story who throws a puppy off a cliff every time he gets angry, and yeah, he keeps puppies with him just so he doesn't have to go out of his way to get a puppy when he needs to kill one. They're stress balls to him. I think at one step better than my best writing, maybe the reader--if s/he's a dog-lover and happens to be sad about something else while reading--empathizes the first time. The second dead puppy makes it obvious it's satire. The third dead one is a running gag. The fourth, an unfunny joke that should just stop. After that, the reader hates me for subjecting him/her to this crap.

Don't get me wrong... there were Hitlers throughout history, so yes, a certain level of cruelty can be believable. But I heard of the book and saw the preview, and that was enough of either for me. I'm happy for the author, though. Like Harry Potter and Twilight, deserving of success, but not my cup of tea.

 

Yeah, I did hear it was well-written. That it was written in present tense made me that much more likely to read it. Still... that dead puppies thing popped into my mind before my hand could even touch the physical copy. I don't remember if I bothered to read the back cover.

I suppose if you're reading, you're not necessarily picturing adorable teens with perfect teeth killing each other in front of spectators wearing clown make-up. That's the impression I got from the preview, which turned me off from a story that already had strikes against it with me.



EDIT - Maybe I saw the preview during the summer. As a high school teacher, I should be for teens killing each other.

I'm kidding!!!!!

 

I have read the three books of The Hunger Games and watched the movie more than ten times already, and now I cannot wait for November when Catching Fire will hit the theaters...

I know that many people (my sister, for example) believe that the story is simply about kids and teenagers fighting to the death, but the truth is that The Hunger Games is so much more than that: As I see it, The Hunger Games is a story about life, courage, the value of family and friends, love and a lesson of pacifism.

As a person with many challenges and troubles in my life, I find life inspiration in Katniss. I think that she has taught me that even if terrible things happen to you, you can find ways to recover from it and be happy again. Life is worth living, it's worth to continue even if you have to face great challenges and pain.

You should read the three books before criticizing this beautiful story, I really recommend it =)

 

My sister is a big fan of the series. She got me to read the first. It was easy reading and took only a few days to finish. I thought it was okay but certainly didn't captivate me enough to devote anymore time to #2 or #3.

Many people adore the story though, so there's no doubt in my mind, Suzanne Collins did something right. It's just not for me. If my attitude towards the book is so blasé, I don't see much point in seeing the films.

 

I watched the movie before reading the book, it kept me on the edge of my seat, I cried a lot and that's why I decided to start reading the series.

In cases of movies inspired by books, I believe that it's better if you watch the movie first and read the book later, because fans of a book usually have very high expectations for the movie.

Many things are different in the movie, but that always happens with adaptations. The Capitol people are crazier and scarier in the books (I prefer their movie version) but the movie followed the story with little changes... It's quite accurate really, if compared to other book/movies out there =)

I cannot wait to watch Catching Fire!!

 

When I was watching the movie, there were parts where I could feel the "Hand of God" poking in and moving the pieces as needed instead of letting things progress more naturally. BUT, despite the obvious flaws there's something that plucked the right strings for me. Maybe because I haven't read the books yet--though I intend too--I came in with low expectations and experienced something palatable.

I'm throwing this on my guilty pleasures pile next to the Resident Evil movies.

 

If you want to see her in a good movie, check out Winter's Bone.

Winter's Bone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

First, I posted about this a long time ago when I saw the movie in theaters, and I'm responding now having no idea what I said back then. It'll be interesting to look in a moment.

I think, once you get over the shock value of the concept, the story falls apart. I think too much of the fighting was hedged because it was children fighting children, and hedged in a way that made it feel forced. Much of the casting, and the worldbuilding, and the science fiction, just seemed a bit goofy to me. And I didn't think the lead character was well written.

Still, I enjoyed the movie going experience and don't regret seeing it in theaters. That's not always true. But I think I would have a lot more trouble trying to watch it at home.