The Hunger Games

After spending two hard-working days at Chris and Jen's building new steps on their deck, Larry and I took Sunday to rest and go on a movie date. I just finished reading The Hunger Games book, and started the second book of the trilogy. I was determine not to see the movie until I finished the book. I was glad I did.

We enjoyed the movie. It was entertaining enough and had a great soundtrack. Jennifer Lawrence does a good job as Katniss Everdeen. She is the main reason I wanted to see this movie. I love strong female characters, and the book created a very powerful young woman in Katniss. Jennifer's performance was believable, but the chemistry between her and Peeta portrayed by Josh Hutcherson lacked the same flair as the book. Is any movie really as good as the book? The hype of this trio including Liam Hemsworth as Katniss' best friend, Gale, was just that: hype. Liam's role in the movie was minimal at best and gave us no clue about the friendship. What information was given was sparce and bland. Again, the book's details offered so much more "meat".

I love Stanley Tucci. He is fabulous as the "MC" of the "Games": Caesar Flickerman. I hope this movie gets a nod for Best Costume and Best Set at the Oscars. The movie does a decent job recreating characters and scenes of "The Capitol". The characters looked like the clowns I expected from descriptions in the book. The special effects were decent as well: not too many; just enough to make the movie interesting.

The film was shot in North Carolina, and all the forest scenes were just lovely. I plan to buy some of the songs from the soundtrack. Taylor Swift creates some very nice music and her voice is the best I've heard. Songs at the end of the movie during the credits reminded me of the folk music sung by "The Trio": Dolly Parton, Linda Rondstadt and Emmie Lou Harris. It was eery and very Appalachian-esque.

 Donald Sutherland plays President Snow. He can be so creepy and was an excellent choice for this character. I see in the second installment that he will play a larger role, and can't wait for that movie to come out. I assume Hollywood will make a trilogy of movies to follow each book, like the Twilight Saga, so I look forward to seeing each one.

I am hooked on these books. The story is engrossing with great imaging and depth of character development. It portrays society at its worst, as do many of the "tween" books these days. But I can't resist a survival story, and this is a really good one. Check it out.