Brooklyn

But wasn't that character killed by the dogs? At least in the film I believe he was, and that would take that out of the equation. I haven't read the books and from that standpoint I wasn't able to deduce the genetic melding plot point from them at all (other than they looked slightly odd). Was anything shown on screen when they were calling them up that I may have missed?

JumpCutz

Definitely a middling affair. The direction was unimpressive. Entertaining enough, but entirely forgettable.

2.5/5

Abob Teff

His death was offscreen and I don't think the cause was revealed ... right afterwards they run into both the dogs and Cato ... could go either way.

Even if you read the books it was very poorly presented ...

As for the creation, yes it was shown ... one of the "studio techs" created one and they showed the 3-D rendering of it on her console; the Head Gamemaker complimented her on it before she put it in. While the first one was chasing Katniss and Peeta, two more simply popped up from the ground when the studio tech pushed a button (or something similar).

Brooklyn

Iirc, it was down to him, the main bad guy and Katriss and Peeta, with him dying right after they implement and release the dogs. I took that as the film's way of showing the dogs were worthy adversaries, as well as giving him an offscreen death since he had been 'nice' to Katriss (which was ridiculous as he would never have known Katriss had even encountered Rue at all). I saw that they were computer generated, what I meant was did the film highlight anything that would show the audience that they had been genetically altered? If so, I missed it completely.

Michael Corvin

Parachute drop with a note isn't out of the question.

Brooklyn

It is in the sense that the game is every contestant for themselves. Dropping that note only puts the recipient at risk (they hesitate/second guess when an opportunity arises). ...Though, to that end, the film was full of examples where that rule was broken, so what's one more .

You've read the books, right? Was that explained there, or was that a movie only thing (his saving Katniss)? I also thought I'd read, maybe in this thread, that the notes were a 'snuck in by Haymitch only' type of thing, though not having read the books myself that could be wrong. To me the movie made it appear common knowledge, as if in that instance the screenplay had been written as if it had forgotten that the contestants were not watching it onscreen as everyone else on the planet was.

onebyone

In the book,

I do think that he could've figured out the two were at least allies by overhearing the fight between Katniss and Clove in the movie though.

superdeluxe

Hunger games film in fall, x-men filming in winter

mr_jbloggs

Saw the movie yesterday, and OMG what utter rubbish almost fell asleep for the first time ever in a theater. The story line has been done a million times.."put a bunch of people in an arena, kids in this case, and last one standing is the winner"...can it get more pathetic. Its a cross between "Lord of the Flies" and "Running Man". How are people so gulliable.

Strevlac

Photography, camerawork and editing give this one an automatic F. Nothing else matters when the basics of filmmaking competence are so thoroughly trashed. This is not cinema....the quality on display here isn't even good enough for a syndicated TV series. I can't believe so many people accept crap like this as sufficient for a theatrical movie ticket.

Abob Teff

Nothing in the film suggested the genetic angle ... they could have worked it in even though the dogs were "digitally created from scratch." When the Head Gamemaker was so delighted with the tech's creation, I expected him to say "But there is one little change ..." and then show the dead Tribute's pictures being overlayed onto the wireframe dog and melding into the hybrid. It serves no real purpose, but it actually would have made more sense than the book.

I thought he overheard the conversation when he saved Katniss ...

Abob Teff

Another small but significant element that was botched in the movie ... the movie made it seem like Katniss received the gifts when they were needed.

The book played more on Katniss's severe distrust of Haymitch ... there were many times when she needed something (and even asked for it) but did not receive it. Initially she thought it was Haymitch working against her; eventually she figured out that he was withholding favors to manipulate her (either to do certain things or because the need was not as bad as she believed).

Nickee

The book never says that Rue resembled Prim just that she reminded Katniss of Prim because they were the same size and had similar demeanor.

Here is the quote from the book, the first time Katniss sees Rue: "She has dark brown skin and eyes, but other than that, she's very like Prim in size and demeanor."

That's why I was confused when I read all those tweets about how surprising it was that Rue was black. I had always pictured her (and Thresh) as being black when I was reading the book.

Draven

...as anyone with reading comprehension would do. I read a lot of those tweets. And considering how most of them "read," I'm not surprised they struggled with basic character descriptions.

DthRdrX

Why didn't they just burn the tree she was stuck in down?

mhg83

Dumb bimbo "reviewing" Hunger Games

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Abob Teff

Wow ... listened to it as far as "Hey everyone ..." Then I hit mute and watched for another 7 minutes. Now I need a shower.

Cellar Door

dino88

I think that's the same girl that was on America's Got Talent this week.

Mabuse

I finnaly saw the movie. I read the first book about a year ago.

The film is very incompetently made. The filmmakers were lucky they had such a good (however cliched) story with enjoyable characters because otherwise it would be unwatchable. Too bad they didn't get a good director attached to this project.

LiquidSky

I finally watched via blu ray last weekend. I really like J. Lawrence (she was excellent in "Winters Bone"). I would give this film about a 2.5 out of 5 stars.

dex14

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Why So Blu?

Ross is a good director, he just hasn't done any action flicks.

He directed Pleasantville and Seabiscuit, which are great. Hey, it was a tactical desicion. He co-wrote the script, co-produced, and directed the film and isn't coming back for the sequels. He got his money and now can concentrate on passion projects. Well played.

Mabuse

Yeah well played by him, but all we got was a crummy movie.

DJariya

I originally went to the theatre and saw this the weekend it opened, but I made the mistake of seeing it on only 4 hours of sleep and went to the theatre after a long 9 hour work shift. Well, I fell asleep 20 minutes in and woke up with only 30 minutes left and didn't understand the film at all. Basically wasted my $9.

Well, I rented the DVD from Red Box last week to give it another shot. This time around I was wide awake the whole 140+ minutes. I think I liked it for the most part. I think it was definitely comparible to an American version of Battle Royale, although more geared towards the teen/young adult audience. I enjoyed Jennifer Lawrence as Catniss alot, but what I thought was the weak point of the movie was the whole forced star crossed lovers angle with Peeta. I don't think it was really developed well enough for me to care about them as a couple.