I finally got around to seeing the Hunger Games today, and came out the other side thoroughly pleased. An unnecessary District 11 riot aside, the movie was really good. But before getting too into those thoughts, a couple generals ones first.
One thing I haven't had the chance to do much of since going to college is see movies at the theaters. A combination of the fact that for the most part I was content waiting to see movies when they came out on Netflix and the fact that, believe it or not, there is almost always something to do at school that sounds just as fun as going to the cinema, I just haven't been to the actual theaters much lately. But wow, is it fun to go. I love watching movies at anytime, but there is nothing quite like the seats rumbling beneath you when the bass kicks in on the speakers that are playing way too loud while you watch that gigantic screen.
And this brings us back to the Hunger Games, which took full advantage of the opportunities afforded by a movie theater. We walked in during the first trailer, which was for some horror flick called House at the End of the Street. This movie would have blown by pretty quickly, but it happens to star Jennifer Lawrence, and the trailer involved some time with her putzing around in a tank top, which will always work for me. I don't know the last horror movie I watched, but #HATES (as was thrown together at the end of the trailer) just might be the next one. I love Jennifer Lawrence. The rest of them were exciting ones as well: The Avengers, Snow White and the Huntsman (which has a chance to be good, but has one serious flaw: Kristen Stewart is not gonna pass as fairer than Charlize Theron anytime soon), G.I. Joe: Retaliation (starring The Rock!), What to Expect When You're Expecting (looked pretty funny, but then again so do most comedy trailers) and a 30-second teaser bit for the Twilight Breaking Dawn part 2 (more on that later).
Then the movie started. I won't bore anyone with my every thought on the film, but I really enjoyed it. I loved the way the cameras were used in that out-of-control sort of way, especially during the time in District 12. It made the movie feel that much more intimate, which was good for a movie that was based on a first-person narrated book. Speaking of the narration, the Katniss in this movie if probably a better version of the Katniss in the book. While Katty seems like a great gal in the books, she is also prone to infuriating fits of stupidity. She just doesn't make very good decisions and never seems to read people the right way. Not having been a teenage girl in my time, it was at times brutal to read what was going on in Katniss' head, because it just wasn't very smart stuff, coming from an otherwise intelligent individual. But making the movie from a third-perspective was a great move, because all that pent up emotion was left in the capable hands of Lawrence. And I gotta say, Jenny killed it. Her wandering eyes in scenes with Peeta and her scenes with both Primrose and Rue were excellent. I got all the Katniss I needed without getting any of the Katniss I didn't want. And that all involved plenty of Jennifer Lawrence. And any review of this movie should not happen without mentioning that Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks and Lenny Kravitz were absolutely perfect as Caesar Flickerman, Effie Trinket and Cinna, respectively. Awesome.
The other big bonus from this film was my major concern coming in. Leading up to the movie, I saw Facebook and Twitter updates about people who had tickets for the movie, and were pumped up about it. At the end of many of these people's updates was the hashtagged phrase #teampeeta. Having read the Hunger Games trilogy, I understood the reference. During the height of the Twilight Saga's reign, there were people proclaiming that they were on #teamedward or #teamjacob, the two young men chiefly involved in Bella's life. Now I have not read the Twilight books, so I don't know if Jacob was actually a love option for Bella or if he was actually worth rooting for in that love triangle, but I assume he was, because many people boasted about their #teamjacob-ness. And that is what upset me. Sure, there are two dudes heavily involved in Katniss' life: Gale and Peeta. She has those confusing teenage-y feelings about both dudes. Of course, the feelings are nonsense, but she has them. But what bothers me is the thought that anyone might proclaim to be a part of #teamgale. Seriously? Gale is hardly even involved in the first book! And in the second and third when he plays a bigger role, he just shows that the disgruntled, moany 18-year-old who can't get over a 16-year-old girl who's a bigger bad-ass than he is. All Gale does is whine about the Capitol and he votes to have a Hunger Games of the Capitol's children (if you've only seen the movie or read the first book, sorry. But this isn't giving much away, you'll get there). How could anyone be on that dude's team?
No thanks, I'll take Peeta, the guy who does nothing but good, says all the right things, has everything awful happen to him in the world but still maintains some sense of himself (a self that is better than everybody else in the supremely f-ed up world Suzanne Collins created). That was my concern. That this movie was going to be portrayed as some Twilight love triangle. That's not what it is. Peeta is always the shockingly better option. Was there really anybody on #teamgale going in? Has anybody who's seen the movie decided to stay on that bandwagon? I hope not.
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