The Hunger Games

So I'm sure by now, most of ya'll have seen The Hunger Games.  I even got The Boy to go see it and he really liked it!  (He's not a reader, so the fact he was still asking questions a few days after seeing it was awesome).

I liked it and I think it was a pretty good adaptation of the book.  Obviously they had to change things in order for it to work on the big screen, so that didn't really bother me.  I think seeing the movie really helped me understand more things about story telling, plot structure and character choices, even more than the book did.  (Or just because I read the book so long ago before I started reading with a critical eye/writing).

For me, what I'm struggling with right now, is when my MC has to make the choice to fight, despite having originally being a timid/self-conscious person.  In seeing the Hunger Games, for me that part was when Rue is killed.  Katniss sees this innocent little girl killed on the Capitol's whim.  She sees how sick the Hunger Games are, (though she already knew that), and makes a conscious choice to start playing the game to win.  It's also the first time she directly kills someone (the track jacker kills just being a by-product of her actions, but this time she kills a tribute directly with her bow).  It's this choice that defines Katniss as a strong character and someone to root for.  We also see her compassion towards Rue.  While I don't think Katniss grows that much as a character in this book, this scene and choice is the most significant.

More of this would have helped. 

The one thing I did want more of in the movie, was her inner conflict.  I didn't think that same across as well on the big screen than in the books.  With the books, since it's written in first person, we are inside her head and are privy to her thoughts.  We feel the torture she goes through with Peeta and he decisions on whether to trust him, whether their love is part of the game or real, and just the general torture of the Hunger Games.  I wanted to feel more from Katniss and more of that inner conflict for the movies.  Though it is hard to get that across without voice overs and I don't think that really would have worked in the movie.  So I do understand that it was hard to get that across.

I also wish they hadn't change the interview scene with Caeser and Katniss/Peeta.  The whole point of why Peeta kept his feelings a secret and revealed them on stage was so that the audience could see the reaction from Katniss.  I think that would have helped the inner conflict a little more, and helped show how much the audience and rest of the nation liked the Peeta-Katniss love story.  They focused more on the political side of the story instead of the love story, which I think was definitely a cool statement, I just which they hadn't short-changed the love story as much.

And this as well.

I think I also liked Gale a lot more, because we actually got a glimpse at his pain.

How did you like the Hunger Games?  What was your favorite part?  Or part you wish they would have included or changed?