Will there be an uprising? How will fans of “The Hunger Games” books react to the recent visual interpretation of “The Hunger Games” Trilogy, written by Suzanne Collins?
I will admit, I was not aware of this trilogy until the movie trailers began popping up. However, they caught my attention and I decided right then that I wanted to read the trilogy before watching “The Hunger Games” movie.
Just from the first couple of pages I knew I was hooked, losing myself for hours inside the world of Panem, District 12, the reaping and Katniss’ life.
Within the course of a week, I finished the 378-page story of bravery, tragedy and star-crossed lovers from District 12.
It was then time to go see if the movie could hold a candle to how I imagined the story as I was reading.
The great thing about books is that the words paint such a vivid picture in your mind about what the sights, sounds and emotions are in the story that it is easy to be disappointed when the moviemakers do not capture its essence properly.
I will not lie; I was concerned that the movie would not live up to my imagination.
However, I was pleasantly surprised by the attention to detail and skillful acting that made the movie come alive just as the books had.
There were aspects scattered throughout the movie that varied from the representation in the book. Such as Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta’s (Joshua Hutcherson) prep teams were not portrayed as the overly chatty charismatic Capitol citizens, but as cold and distant attendants waxing, cleaning and beautifying the tributes for their public appearances.
This was disappointing because I was curious to see how Venia (Kimiko Gelman), Flavius (Nelson Ascencio) and Octavia (Brooke Bundy) were brought to life. The book painted them in such an overly decorated, tattooed and flamboyant light as was normal for Capitol residents.
Other details were also changed, but not in a way that affected the suspenseful nature and over charged emotion of this story.
One detail that I was overjoyed to see relatively unchanged was Katniss’ alliance with Rue (Amandla Stenberg), the 12-year-old girl from District 11.
I think the strength of this alliance would be confusing to the audience since, unlike the book, we are not privy to the inner thoughts of Katniss.
Though it was never said, to those of us who have read the book we know that Katniss’ need to protect Rue is due to her resemblance to Prim (Willow Shields), Katniss’ younger sister who was originally called as tribute.
Since we are now an outside viewer we are able to see the uprising begin in District 11 after Rue’s death, something that Katniss was only able to guess at in the book.
The movie also gives the audience an insight on exactly what the game makers do in manipulating the hunger games and how they are capable of creating an obstacle at the push of a button.
I will not spoil the ending of the story, but I promise that you will be sitting at the edge of your seat while reading or watching “The Hunger Games.”
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