Reviews

I was so hyped to see this movie and when I missed it in theaters I couldn't wait for the blu-ray. Well I picked it up yesterday and watched it…damn it. I was kinda let down, the fights were the best part and were nice and gritty and awesome. But the in between was so freakin slow, they could have cut half of her running and walking out of the movie. Seriously the movie could have been called "watch Gina Carrano walk and run". And the 70's music was stupid. Worth seeing, regretting the blu-ray perches would be an OK walmart $10 bin movie buy. I give it a 5 cause the fights were good and it had a good cast, just the director should have left more on the cutting room floor and made the movie a little more fast paced.

Ill start off like most people Yes I read the books before seeing the movie, that being said I think the movie is a solid. I'll break down my review because there are some elements that need to be addressed and this is the easiest way I can think of doing it. I'll do my best to not give any spoilers.

Story:

I don't read a lot of books but I was compelled by my wife to read the books before we go and see the movie. I thought the books were great and the story in the movie follows pretty darn close to the first book, with some elements from the second book thrown in. This leads me to believe that the second movie will not only contain elements from the third book but some from the first book as well to tie it all together. Yes the movie does move along at a fast clip which I could see it making the movie confusing for some people, but it kinda had to move fast in order to be a two and a half hour movie. It was not as dark as the books and some of the traumatizing elements that you are supposed to be left with happened so fast they didn't quite sink in.

Characters: So the main characters such as Peeta, Katniss and Gale and even Effie were done great and were introduced very well. However like I said in the "Story" portion the movie does move along fast so a lot of the other Important characters such as Hammich, Cinna and his team were introduced but not developed very much (This may be corrected in the second movie). But the time everyone spent on screen was done very well.

Directing: OK so my main gripe, the shaky cam thing was overdone. There were times when a shaky cam would be fine but shook so much you could hardly make anything out (may have been necessary for the PG-13 rating for the gory stuff). And other moments when a shaky cam is not necessary at all it was used (the reaping seen WTF?). The time when you were supposed to have your heart strings tugged on where there and did what they were supposed to but the action scenes tend to happen so fast you would almost miss it (once again PG-13). Would this director have been my first choice being his biggest movies were Seabiskit and BIG, no. He has not done a future/Sifi/action/suspense flick before. But he did the drama portions very well, but needs to work on fast moving action scenes a little more.

Overall score: The movie is a solid 8 on its own with a possibility of being raised to a 9 or 10 if the subsequent movies are done right. Was everything perfect no, but the movie did succeed in me wanting more which if the next movies deliver it will be Awesome!

I know there is some fanboy out there that thinks I just committed sacrilege by saying that but for me it's very true. Don't let the PG-13 throw you off; consider the standards of today, you have to be 1 step from a snuff film to get an R rating now a days. To me a scary move doesn't just make you jump or squirm in the theater, but its stays with you. Making you check in the back seat, under the bed, and question every little bump in the night. Well Insidious did it, the first thing I said leaving the theater was, "well I'm never sleeping again, how bout you?" and what's more amazing it's not gory, which is something I would have expected having the SAW guys on board. Instead the movie works from the Paranormal Activity angle; building suspense to the point where your almost screaming "oh just do it already" cause you can't take it anymore (but in a good way). And one of the biggest things I noticed while sitting there was the "cold" feeling I had through most of the movie, I haven't had a movie do that to me in a long, long time. If this is the type of movie was can expect from the Paranormal Activity and Saw guys then they need to make more movies, and pronto!