I'm one of those annoying pricks who would tell you that the book was better than the movie in a really snobby tone. But this time I thought the movie was better. I watched it yesterday with my parents and missed the first one or two minutes of the film but I probably didn't miss much, unless the climax happened within the first minute. [Insert sex joke here]. I thought the movie was a hit instead of a miss, but what do I know right? I'm biased towards Jennifer Lawrence and the gorgeousness that is Finnick Odair.
Let's get to it:
Spoiler Alert.
Thank god this time the director knew how to stabilize the goddamn camera because during the first Hunger Games I had motion sickness throughout the film. I didn't really have a problem with the directing and cinematography. It was good but at the same time not great enough for me to be plucked from my daze to actually notice the cuts and the pans and close-ups, you know? It was no Anna Karenina, let me tell you that. I didn't piss myself from excitement from the mise-en-scene like I did for the British epic.
The thing with the Hunger Games movies is that they exceed what I imaged the places to look like. The Capitol looked amazing as always, but the arena was incredible. The water, the cornucopia, the forest, I was just amazed at how great it all looked. The amazing CGI didn't hurt either. Nothing's worse than terrible CGI and knowing it's a green screen. Cancer is worse, I guess. But terrible CGI is like, next on the list, I swear.
On to the casting. I've never been too keen on Jennifer Lawrence being Katniss [cue gasp] at first [cue sigh]. I thought she looked too old and looked like she was bred for the 'Games. I've always thought of Katniss as more of a Shailene Woodley type. But Jennifer crawled into my heart slowly, and when she said, "I VOLUNTEER! I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!" in the first film, I was sure she was born to play Catnip. In this second film, she was the star. She's undeniably one of the greatest young actresses in this era. I think she was flawless here, and I cried during her tribute to Rue during the District 11 tour. Either she was exceptional or my PMS was getting the better of me.
Peeta and Gale were great. I mean, they weren't Jennifer Lawrence, that's for sure. They acted the parts the way they should. They didn't exceed, they didn't disappoint, they filled the water to the brim and that's that. But does anyone else feel bad for Peeta? They were both on fire and yet Katniss became The Girl On Fire and Peeta became the Bread Boy? He was on fire too guys. He was. On fire. Too.
Prim, however, that little motherfucker, can't act for shit. I'm sorry, but with the amount of love that Panem has for her as the little sweetheart, she should be cuter and funnier or whatever trait that the book has for her but wasn't brought to the film. She has a big part in the movie, especially later on in Mockingjay, but she's just another pretty face. I'm sure she'll grow up to become a beautiful actress but I never liked her from the get-go. In the first film, her lines were delivered monotonously and her expression deadpan. She has the emotional capacity of a rich housewife on botox and that does not fly well for the film. I hope she steps up her game in Mockingjay because she's going to need all the sympathy from me to make me feel sorry for her. It's too bad though, because I loved her in the books.
The cast of Finnick Odair (a.k.a the father of my child) and Johanna Mason were on point. They were exactly like how I pictured them to be. I've always thought Finnick would be played by Alex Pettyfer but I heard he's a monster on set with a huge ego. But Sam Claflin played a great Finnick and still retained the 'bad boy' look even when he was playing the good guy. That's pretty difficult to achieve.
Casting aside, I thought the movie was pretty true to the book. A few mishaps here and there but I thought it was great. Also, casually mentioning that Katniss' wedding dress was made by Indonesian designer Tex Saverio and I'm patriotic as hell right now. I think I'd give this movie an 8.8/10. It was better than the first and way more captivating. Readers won't be disappointed, and non-readers will be blown away.
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