To be on board and make this blog is truly a gift. I have been planning to keep an eye of my time to have this thing done but heck, time was so elusive. But here I am, this is really it!
Let me tell you a story about how I acquired the books and how I came about watching the movie.
The first time I ever heard of this was from a friend. My friends and I often call her "Klutz". It was December 2010 when she told me how great this book was from Suzanne Collins. She was dying to buy the book but she was thinking twice about buying it because she was checking her budget at that time. While she was trying to say something about it, at first I was kinda like, "Okay, not familiar". Then she said, "This book was great. Have read a lot of good reviews about this book or have heard that this book was good." And I just replied, "Okay, let me buy that when time permits." It all started there.
I had a chance to buy my collection of Ms. Collins' master piece last October 2011. Just like any other Hunger Games fanatic out there, I never thought that buying the books would provoke me to unleash something deeper from it. A few months ago, before it was announce that they were doing a film of the said series, I came across this feeling or shall I say a need to watch it if it will be filmed. So, I was surprised when I knew that they were filming the first book a few months later. From reading it, to imagination of what it's like to become part of the book itself is really hard to comprehend. What I did was to check my calendar, have my cellphone put some updates about when will this film be on theaters. It was so tiring waiting for the film on theaters. It's like you're waiting for a seed to become a tree or plant right away. I must confess, I am not an overly dramatic fan. But the book is something worth reading and that was mainly the reason why I chose to watch the movie without even thinking twice.
The trailers went on in http://movies.yahoo.com. But of course, I did a check on the trailers right away. I have found it interesting at that moment. It is really something to watch out for. Though the actors were not as great as Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro and any other artists alike, I still found my mind gazing at the thought of watching it in one of the big cinemas. I had believed that since the book was great, I had also concluded that the film will be as great as the book.
It was March 22nd when I started to be rattled at the thought of watching the movie. I remembered telling myself, "This is it!". So, I ransacked all my resources just to make sure I would be able to watch the film on that same day. Gladly, I was able to watch the movie together with my friend, Wilhelmina. My shift ended at 6:30AM and hers was 5:45AM. We really did not care how many hours we waited before we could watch it but it's really worth the wait. We even chose a particular cinema at the Gateway Mall where only 28 seats are alloted. Cool isn't it? So that was the story!!!
Watching the movie with a friend was a fulfilled feeling because we shared good thoughts about the movie and it is something to remember while I am still on my journey in this life. But it is not all about good reviews. There are rooms for improvement.
The one thing that I hated most about in my whole experience on the film was the cameramen themselves or how they went about filming it. I was kinda like thinking, "Hey, did you try to check if you filmed it right or not? or Were you really trained on how to use the camera effectively?" I was really disturbed because some portions of the film were not clear to my eyes. Pardon me but I have to say this, I hate Lionsgate. It's a personal experience whenever I watch a film that they made. Lionsgate has a bad reputation of putting up a film. I hope the next time they put up a film as big as "The Hunger Games", they really need to make it sure they can compete with Warner Bros.
The characters did well in the film. The people in the Capitol was described in the book as elites but when I had seen them on film, they were like clowns to me. But it was how the filmmaker chose the people in the Capitol looked that way. I liked most about Josh Hutcherson who played the role of Peeta's character because he conveyed the needed feelings about the character he portrayed. And he really transformed from a poor-like-scavenger to a handsome victor. There was some lack of feelings with (Jennifer Lawrence) Katniss Evergreen's character. All I could say with Liam Hemsworth who played the role of Gayle, he's adorable. There were some parts in the movie where her eyes were like in blank expressions. If I were the movie director, I could have seen that beforehand. But thing was, they did a great job.
The storyline was kinda incomplete and they changed some parts. I was looking for small details that are needed in the film though. The Capitol should have been manifested correctly and accurately. If we would compare the film from the book, Katniss acquired the mockingjay from Madge, daughter of the mayor and her close friend. I was kinda disappointed that Madge' character was eliminated from the first film. How are they going to survive in the next film? We'll let's see their brilliance out of nothing. :)
What I loved most about the film was the parade where the 24 contestants were introduced. The film has also its way of bringing the emotional side of the viewers. I cried three time but I did the most when Rue died. It was actually a lousy death because her life could have been spared if Katniss was very attentive. But that was how the story in the book went though.
The movie in general, was a wonderful experience for me. It was not perfect but it did well in some aspects. There were some minor details not included but the filmmaker was able to find a way to remedy it. There were some points that they did well but there were some as well that they missed. As a movie critic, I would give it a grade of 7.8 out of 10 for taking me to a different kind of film this year.
I hope that in the next film, it would be Warner Bros. who would distribute the film. I have heard that Gary Ross will not be the director of the second film. Glad he will not be. The second film will be showing November 2013 according to some websites.
By the way, The Hunger Games mania has just begun. I can not wait for the next series to come out. Guys, I hope that you were not bored after reading this blog. Until next time. :)
