Before I can jump into Hunger Games, I feel that I have to talk about Twilight first. I have not read the Twilight books, but was pretty excited about seeing the movie. In fact, I bought the DVD having not seen the movie thinking it was pretty much a slam dunk, since I am totally into vampires and everyone was raving about it. Yeah not so much a slam dunk. I didn't like it. I didn't connect with it at all. I don't think the Edward guy is good looking at all, and I found myself not caring at all about anything. I did have a bit of a "OMG I am getting old" moment when I realized that I thought Bella's dad was the hottest guy in the movie. Actually, I've crushed on Billy Burke for a while, so that wasn't anything new.
Lesson Learned: Massive Hit Book + Massive Hit Movie = Not necessarily something I'm going to like.
Enter Hunger Games, maybe not quite as big a book hit as Twilight, but definitely an eagerly anticipated and much hyped about movie. Taking my lesson for the previous movie, I decided I would read the book first, and downloaded it. (I use the Kindle app on my iPad) I didn't get off to a great start. It took me THREE attempts to get past the first chapter. Yeah, I was not impressed with the book at all. I know it is considered a Young Adult book, but there was no meat to it at all. I was expecting a lot more out of it. It was funny because one of my co-workers read it, and said that it was an easy read. She wasn't kidding.
I should back up a bit. I had gotten the movie from Netflix by accident, and had decided to give reading the book another go before watching it. That was my third attempt, but then I'm telling you there were a few times I almost gave up on it. I thought, I'll just watch the movie, and be done with this. I just wanted to see how it ended, and that's what kept me going through all the nothingness that was going on.
I was finally able to finish the book, and sat down to watch the movie. Honestly, I did a double take at the running time. 142 minutes, are you kidding me? There was nothing to the book. She ran over here, she ran over there. Really?
Okay, what did Hunger Games have that Twilight didn't (IMHO), better actors. I do think that Jennifer Lawrence is very talented, way more so than the other girl who only seems to have one expression. I also think that Josh Hutcherson is adorable, and totally crush worthy. He did a good job with what he had to work with. Oh and what exactly did they do for 142 minutes, I can't remember. I think I ended up doing laundry in the middle of it.
You know, it is pretty obvious that there are two ways a film adaptation can go. They can either ruin a book or improve upon it. Usually it is the first case. In my opinion they had an opportunity to improve upon Hunger Games, but I didn't see where they did. I think I was even less engaged in the movie because I knew what was going to happen. I really wanted to like it, but I didn't.
With that said, I really really like Sam Clafin, and he may be enough of a draw for me to watch Catching Fire. We will see. There is a potential for a better movie there. Plus Francis Lawrence will at the very least make a prettier film, and I'm sure there won't be as much running up the hill, running down the hill, running back up the hill. =)
