Improvements:
-We get to see a little of the betting/sponsor finagling taking place, which is something I wanted in the books. Yay!
-We get to see the unrest in District 11 over Rue’s death. Something not in the book but what I thought was a really good addition. Unfortunately it came at the expense of the bread.
-Effie and Haymitch’s banter. Really funny and cute. It was touched on in the book, but came off really really well in the movie.
-Katniss and Foxface run into each other and have a nice long stare-down. Mmmmmh.
-I liked going behind the scenes with the Gamemakers. Definitely a good addition.
-I dunno if you could call this an improvement or not but I was happy to see what they did with the Cornucopia. I honestly couldn’t for the life of me picture what it might look like while reading the books, glad I can finally put an image to it. Although I did think it was stocked with way too many weapons.
Movie Character Rankings
(How well I feel the character was represented based on what we know from the book. See the book rankings for how much I actually like each character.):
Effie >= Katniss > Prim > Glimmer > Peeta > Cato > Rue > Clove > Foxface
Just to preface this, I was generally happy with all the performances. I wouldn’t think to swap the any of the actors out with anyone else.
Effie was phenomenal and hilarious and exactly what I wanted.
Katniss was dead on and the scene where she kicks Peeta’s ass was perfect. And Rue’s death scene? That was some great anguished sobbing. And the scene just before she enters the arena? Very good. Two thumbs up Jennifer Lawrence.
Prim did a really great job and for such a little actress. She really put a lot into her performance, I felt. The character is grating but was played very well.
Glimmer was hilariously bad and even more ditzy and useless than in the book. Spot on, spot on. Plus those two blonde braids were really doing it for me for some reason.
Peeta I liked, I thought he was cast well and looked/talked exactly how I pictured him in the book.
Cato I actually preferred in the movie. He seemed more interesting to me than he did in the book, and I’d consider that a good thing. Seeing him rage out and snap District 3 boy’s neck was a lot cooler than reading it. And they even tacked on a little characterization at the very end for him, which is nice.
Rue I thought was cast well, but I just didn’t love the performance. If was fine, but I actually misted up when I read her death in the book. The movie version just didn’t have the same impact for me, although I don’t know if it was necessarily the actress’ fault. Rue just wasn’t as charming to me in the movie. Maybe it’s because we didn’t get her back story?
Clove still good, and cast well I think. She definitely looked like a creepy psychopath, but I think she could have taken it further. And let’s be honest guys, in the end I’m just disappointed she didn’t come on to Katniss while trying to murder her.
With Foxface… I don’t think they did a particularly great job with her characterization, through no fault of the actress. I can’t explain it. I think it’s very difficult to capture her charm from the book and translate it into movie form. Mostly because we obviously can’t hear what Katniss is thinking about her.
Everyone (Gale, Thresh, Haymitch, Cinna etc.) else did a good job acting-wise, nothing to complain about there. Although I will say I didn’t really believe the Katniss/Cinna friendship like I did in the book. Something about Cinna just didn’t quite click with me, I dunno. He seemed kinda creepery, but not to the point of distraction.
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ocean kinda grew on me like a flesh eating ...fungus. -BIGPUN9999