The Hunger Games

First let me say that going in the afternoon was an inspired idea, thanks to Fiona for that. Normally to avoid the crowds at the cinema I wait until the week after and go early on a Thursday evening. However this time I was a bit more eager to see the film than usual. So I went before the crowds, on Friday afternoon. Most other people are at work or school at the point, but working for myself means I can reschedule things like that. You know who else goes to the cinema on a Friday afternoon? Just a handful of students that's who. It was the perfect amount of people, not completely empty but enough space that all the different groups could have their own space.

Second, Odeon Sheffield have put brand new seating in screen one since I last visited. They're pretty comfy but there is still a lack of leg room unless you're in one of the spots where the row in front has fewer seats leaving a gap. Another reason to go at off-peak time for a choice of seat.

Now about the film itself. As I've mentioned before there are not many films I have seen where I read the book first and never before has it been so soon afterwards, just a month in this case. So the story was still very much in my mind. I was surprised at the start by how quiet things were. No huge musical score just low key hunting in the forest. This introduces us to Katniss and Gale in much the same way as the book does but this is where most of the detail is skipped to make a film runtime possible. We spend a lot less time getting to know District 12 and the film gets us to the Reaping as quickly as possible. Will this lessen the impact of certain events in the third film? I suppose that depends on how they decide to deal with the beginning of book two. So Katniss and Peeta are quickly whisked of to the Capitol and that looks great. Vast sci-fi cityscapes are something that CG always excels at. As to be expected certain elements of the book are skipped here as well but they still managed to cram a lot in. It seemed to go by very fast. I found myself wondering if someone who had not read the books would be understanding everything and catching the subtle references. Possibly not on the first viewing but it's hard to tell because I do have the knowledge from the books. Finally off to the area and this is where we have the issue of violence in a 12 rated film. I was of course watching the cut UK version but still most of the more gruesome moments were taking place just out of frame. It seemed pretty tame to me compared to some of the things I've seen. Why is it that a teen book can be explicit about death but a teen film cannot? Hopefully there will be an option of an uncut DVD in the future.

Acting was good throughout. It falls very heavily on Jennifer Lawrence to hold everything together and I'd say she managed it well. Woody Harrelson and Lenny Kravitz were great as Haymitch and Cinna. Even though they didn't look anything like I originally imagined them, the characters were spot on. It's been interesting to read the Internet's views over the last 24 hours, it seems to be getting a Marmite reaction. I'm on the 'love it' side. It's not perfect but it was an excellent adaptation and does a good job of living up to all the recent hype. I look forward to hearing what they're going to do with the other two books which complicate the story much more.