The Hunger Games- reactions? — Page 3

If it's clearer in the book, I think the movie fails at showing how they got to that extreme. To me, none of the Capitol leaders or forces look threatening enough - if at all. The wole thing would have more depth and value if I could see how the population had to accept their defeat and submit to this tyranny.

As the character of Katniss seemed so strong at the beginning, I was almost sure it would end with her convincing the others to go against the organizers, and sabotage the whole thing. I was a bit shocked that all the heroes in the story were nothing but victims of the villains in the end - no winners, all losers. I truly felt I saw a film where the bad guy wins in the end, and spent two hours using the main characters for their entertainment and profit. I certainly felt awful for the "villain" kid at the end. He didn't deserve to die, he just wanted to live. I felt so wrong for having to root for one character, when in reality we should have been rooting for any or all of them.

It was so hard for me to understand why people were so calm about the event. Sure, as Taryn mentioned, it has been going on for decades. But I still needed to see mothers holding onto their childrem screaming in pain before the selection. And as Katniss mentions at the beginning of the film, it would make more sense to not have children than to risk having them go through this.

In the end, without more background related to this stage of cruelty and submission, I found the main characters weak and the villains nowhere near as deadly as to manipulate families and hundreds and people this way. If it is ingrained in society in the future, I can't relate to it in the present without more background and details.

Last but not least, it seems that people in the future will also lose all sense of fashion and will have no taste in interior decorating.

I have not heard of The Lottery, but I'll read about the Milgram experiment.

Thanks everyone for your input.

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There's definitely clearly context in the book about the conflict between Katniss and Gale versus survival and rebellion. Katniss is focused on staying alive to keep her family alive and feels that rebellion is pretty pointless in the first book, while Gale wants to run away or lead the fight, etc.

I think what we're seeing is that the movie didn't adequately give all the viewers a sense of the political context of what's going on for anyone who didn't already know from reading the book.

Does the book explain the obvious physical disadvantage between ages, sizes and gender?

Nah. There's no real concern on the Capitol's part for a fair fight. There's mention that even people in the Capitol don't like it when kids Rue's age get picked (12), but there's no real reason for them to try to even the odds. The Hunger Games are a punishment to the districts.

I think it was just the background thing that bother me the most. And not knowing what other countries did or thought about this.

Yeah, that's not something that gets touched on even in the books. There's no concept of a world even existing outside of Panem.

Finally saw the film and really enjoyed it. I was surprised at how much of it appeared almost exactly how I imagined it. For me, one of the most important elements missing was the explanation of the gift parachutes (the exorbitant price involved and one of the most symbolic gifts was cut from the film). I had to explain it to my boyfriend since he hadn't read the book. The film really glossed over what they were and the importance of sponsors when it could have been easily reinforced in a couple of short lines of dialogue during the game when the audience is more focused.

this could have been a stronger film if they had introduced just 5 minutes of the consequences for standing up against this and other elements explained in the sequels.

I think it would have added far too much time to address and considering it is the catalyst for Catching Fire, we'll have plenty of that in the next film.

Oh, and Josh Hutcherson could easily surpass any Twilight actor as the next major Hollywood heartthrob.

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Slightly tangental here but as this will prob be the big DVD release @ Christmas, think there wll be a directors cut w a tich more of the blood and thunder? or just the standard film w maybe some outtakes?
Any whoo they better get moving on a script like yesterday, or Xmen will take Jen for that film and Mockingjay w out Katniss jes won play. (one of the reasons Ross does not want to direct- too much script to write in the time avail.)

Wow, I'm kinda shocked. While I thought Gary Ross was just an above average director on the film, he gave great indepth interviews about how much he loved every minute of it, how anxious he was for the sequels, how hard he fought to get the movie, etc. It sounds like he thinks there's not enough pre-production time... Kinda too bad, I think these films usually work best under one director (Harry Potter of course fluctuated sharply film by film depending who directed it).

Francis Lawrence is a hack with a good visual eye but not storytelling sense. Actually I probably like some of his music videos best... But his film record isn't great. I Am Legend? Constantine? Water for Elephants which I found a bore, and friends have insisted was a much much better book? Ruh-roh...

Most news sources assumed that the reasons why Lionsgate chose him was because he was the one who was most available and he has experience with special effects. They are also on a tight schedule to finish filming the movie by the end of this year so Jennifer Lawrence can film the sequel to 'X-Men: First Class'. They also want to meet their November 2013 release date.

The issue was that 20th century Fox has dibs on Jennifer Lawrence and there was a risk that Lionsgate would lose Lawrence or have to wait longer to film and not make the original planned release date. The deal was to finish filming Catching Fire by December or they would have to wait until after X-Men First Class finished filming and then not make their November 2013 release date.

I think this franchise is going to blow up, unlike Twilight that is targeted to the women only this has something for the women and men.

As a book reader (and yes you should read the books first), I felt it left out alot but that's expected. I'm glad to hear Mockinjay will be broken down in 2 films because it's ALOT packed into a single book.

Franics Lawrence has officially signed on to direct 'Catching Fire'.

“Lionsgate, the cast, and filmmakers are all thrilled to have Francis Lawrence come on board as director of Catching Fire,” Lionsgate’s president of production, Erik Feig, said in a press release. ”Suzanne’s brilliant book is the intense story of the birth of the rebellion and Katniss’ emotionally charged journey as she takes on the mantle of the Mockingjay, and we all think Francis is the perfect director to bring the story to life.”

“It is truly an honor and a privilege to bring Catching Fire, the second chapter of Suzanne’s beloved trilogy, to the big screen,” added Lawrence in the release. “I fell in love with the characters, the themes and the world she created and this chapter opens all of these elements up in such a thrilling, emotional and surprising way. I can’t wait to dive right into it and bring this chapter to life along with the truly superb cast and filmmakers involved.”

Production begins this fall and the release is still scheduled for November 22, 2013. This means that Jennifer Lawrence will be able to do both 'Catching Fire' and the sequel to 'X-Men: First Class'.


Francis Lawrence confirmed as 'Catching Fire' director

The second book is the best of the three!

Ha, I've never seen anything else he's directed, so I can't really say.