As someone who reads a lot, let me summarize my opinion on the Hunger Games trilogy, then I'll get to the movie...
I thought it was a very interesting story, that the characters each had distinct personalities and that they made decisions like an actual person would based on their information/emotional state, and that the traumas of war/fighting were displayed and that the resolution neatly tied everything together.
It was, however, sorely lacking in detail. You don't ever get a solid description of their appearance, even the main characters. Their hair color, eye color, relative height and vague qualifier such as "handsome" or "braided hair." Further, the surroundings are never described much other than a general layout of buildings and major features. Not many smells or physical sensations other than "cool" "hot" "humid" "dry" are ever given either. The books also ended individually in very unsatisfactory ways save for the last one, and if I had not had all 3 books on hand when I started reading them I would have been sorely disappointed with what I was left with while waiting for the next.
Boiling it all down, it was in my opinion a skeleton of what it could have been had the detail been flushed out, but the plot and dialogue and action was good enough that it kept you hooked throughout the entire trilogy.
Now for the movie.
I have never seen a movie which was based on a book which was at least what I would call "decent" (Except the last two movies for Harry Potter, which they smartly split into two, two hour long movies and were thus able to actually cover most everything) if it was meant to follow the book. This is for a myriad of reasons, first and foremost that an hour and a half to two hours is far too short a time for the time frame in most books. Secondly is that producers and directors take artistic liberties in order to, in their view, enhance the story or make it more exciting, but in the end cause plot holes or stupid actions. Third, the special effects are always better in my head than on screen, because I make them how I think they should be, while on the movie they are how the director thinks they should be.
Having said this, I think that the Hunger Games actually stands a chance at being a good movie. The failing of the books is something which can be capitalized on in that the lack of description leaves a wider arena for the director and producer to work with and not royally screw up the details. Also, since the books are largely just dialogue and action, and doesn't focus too much on details and instead skips from high action point to high action point, it already flows as most movies do.
I read this whole series in about 14 hours. Not straight through, but as a combined total of all my time spent reading them. I DEVOURED them. A lot of people from my class are all going to the midnight release, and I can't wait. Personally, the ending could have been better. I was for Peeta the whole series, because of his emotions and his compassion, but I wish that the problems between him, Katniss, and Gale could have been resolved. And I kind of empathize with Peeta, I sorta have the whole unrequited love thing with this girl, but that's for another forum thread...
I read the whole series about a year ago, and I can't help but smile when people at my school have just found out about it. It's a "been there, done that" situation for me.
I've read the first one and i must say it was very easy to read. (in 2 days, my record for reading a book that fast)
and it was one of the best i've read in a while. granted i haven't really read any books in a while.
I really want to see the movie, not midnight premeire though.
the only thing i have against it, is that there was another series almost just like it called battle royale manga. Haven't read that series so i can't really say it's any better or worse than Hunger Games.
Oh, and despite those who think that katniss should be with gale, I kinda disagree. It seems like he's that really good friend that you can't get closer to than you already are, but you can't be with them because of some vague reason.
Oh, I'm going on a field trip (the first one in almost 2 years of high school lol) to see that this Friday! I'm in honors English and didn't read it (regular and enriched did), but I read other books like 1984, Fahrenheit 451, read various poems, and watched V for Vendetta all as a part of a semester long dystopia unit.
I've read the series and i thought the first book was great, but the others aren't as good.And im going to see the midnight premier of The Hunger Games.
WTF IS WRONG WITH THE COSTUME DESIGNER IN THAT MOVIE??????? PEACEKEEPERS WEAR GREATCOATS, NOT ASTRONAUT SUITS! AND SINCE WHEN COULD DISTRICT 12 PEOPLE AFFORD CLOTHING THAT ISN'T STAINED WITH COAL? GRRRRR! THEY RUINED IT! HOPEFULLY MORTAL ENGINES WON'T BE AS BAD!
I watched it today (finally) and it was pretty good, but I was kind of bummed out at the end because they had a huge cliffhanger. They cut it off right after they got out of the arena and I wanted to see if there would be an uprising in the districts or something Oh well, they'll pick back up if they make the second movie.
