Should I go see Hunger Games?

Do you normally enjoy dystopian stories? 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies, etc? If so, then you’ll probably enjoy Hunger Games.

It is violent, but I don’t think that’s why most people are into it. It has themes of loyalty, of duty, of a strong female character kicking crazy amounts of ass, tons of social commentary…

I can’t tell you if you should see it; I don’t know you well enough. I can tell you that it seems awesome enough that I will pay $10 to see it in the movie theatre, even though I refuse to read the books. If movies like The Dark Knight seem worth the movie price to you, then Hunger Games is probably worth it as well.

Yes. The story has everything to do with social injustice. The reason why it resonates is it strikes a nerve with the discussions a lot of people have been having about the 99% and the 1%. The children are forced to fight to remind the adults of just how very powerless they are, and the rich can take their children.

In addition, there is enough action to keep you interested. Apparently, young women also find the girl character more well rounded than other female characters, but I can’t speak first hand to that.

Yes, you should.

Yes, I think you should. I read the book, and saw the midnight opening of it. It was such a great movie, well acted and everything. It’s not ANYWHERE near as intense as the book, so it’s kid friendly, too. There also happens to be a love triangle, haha. I don’t cry at movies, and this one almost had me. Almost. It’s definitely a must-see.

I heard it’s pretty good.
Naturally, I went to see Act of Valor. But that would have been my second choice.

I’ve heard it’s great, and I really want to see it in theaters. If you have a chance to see it in theaters, I’d go for it!

It is a good movie, but not one that would lose anything in the translation from the big screen to high def Blu-Ray. Movies such as the ones you mentioned need to be seen on the big screen, this one not so much. Unless you read and loved the book (as many of the people who pushed those box office numbers so high did), there is no need to rush out and see it in the theater.

It is going to be the movie everyone sees and everyone talks about.
If you want to join in, you gotta see it.

I haven’t seen it yet, but the books are terrific!!

Armond White is always right

Is it anything like “Sucker Punch?” The action scenes were cool but the story was too weird to get into.

^No. More like the Truman Show with flamethrowers and people in concentration camps forced to watch

Yes, you should see it. See it and read the trilogy. =0)

Yes, see it. Don’t read a lot about it beforehand, or it will kill the story.

The books are fabulous, so yeah.

Just saw it yesterday with my family. I say read the book/s over seeing the movie. The movie was basically a watered-down version of the book. The book was much richer and detailed, and really captured the horror and agony of the situation. The movie touched on the characters fear, but not their suffering.

I had to walk out of the movie halfway throug because the entire thing was shot with a shaky-cam and it made me naseuous.

I thought the book was just okay. The movie did some things really well, especially sound design. The shaky camera is really just inexcusable though.

@Qingu I know that the filmmakers really wanted a PG-13 rating, so they kept the audience from seeing too much of the brutality. One method, shaky camera and lots of quick cuts during the fight scenes. It’s interesting, you can show orcs being butchered by the hundreds, but you can’t show human children.

@GladysMensch, I don’t think that excuses it. For one thing, the camera shook the whole fucking movie. Actual violence was a small fraction of the screentime.

For another thing, there are better ways of suggesting intense violence without directly showing it than just shaking the camera so much that some nontrivial portion of the audience becomes nauseous.

I don’t even think a shakycam has anything to do with how much violence is shown or not shown to begin with. Saving Private Ryan pioneered the whole shakycam “this is supposed to feel like a documentary” thing and it directly showed tons of violence.

@Qingu I’m sorry the style of the film ruined your experience, but I actually enjoyed it. I thought the camera movement did a lot to create the atmosphere of fear and uncertainty of life in their world. I’m guessing a small minority of people are so strongly affected by the motion.

I have not seen the movie yet (not sure if I will, I want to but I’m not into violence), but I read yesterday that critics and bloggers have been criticizing Jennifer Lawrence for her weight, saying she’s too curvy to be in a society where there is hunger. Others have said she’s not supposed to be starving. As I said, I have not seen the movie yet, but I did see Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone and she is not heavy by any means! it’s ridiculous.

Katniss? More like FATNISS!

I was disappointed that nobody ever used that line, actually.

Hmm, this reminds me of what happened at the first performance of Verdi’s opera, La Traviata in 1853. The soprano, Fanny Salvini-Donatelli in the lead role of Violetta, was booed because even though she was an acclaimed singer, they considered her to be too overweight to credibly play a young woman dying of consumption.

@Qingu Probably because, even though the weight thing was true of every single character, only Jennifer Lawrence was picked on for not being skinny enough, so it kinda seemed like people just wanting to complain about leading ladies not being anorexic.

I did see the movie, and while it stuck to the book, except in small degrees (which drives me nuts, btw). One thing that did annoy me is how old everyone looks.
The Hunger Games involved teenagers, and preteens. It is like those High School movies from the 50’s where all the kids look like they are in their late 20’s.
The guy playing Gail looks much older than his 18.
The girl playing Katniss, well, no girl has an ass like that at 16.

@filmfann: Are you saying you looked at Katniss’ butt?

@jca No, Katniss is 16, and that would be wrong.
I did, however, look at the butt of the actress playing her. She is 21.