Film Review: The Hunger Games

This is number two of my Hunger Games reviews today and will be looking at the highly anticipated film. This blog follows on from my book review, which if you are unsure what The Hunger Games is, has a brief synopsis on and more details of the story. Due to having written this information already in this first blog I don't think I'll repeat it here, so if you want go check out that blog first then come back here.

The film The Hunger Games was released yesterday on Friday the 23rd of March, however I found that I was exceedingly lucky as my local cinema (which usually takes ages to get hold of films) actually had an advanced screening on thursday evening. Needless to say I jumped at the chance to see this film early, with the added bonus that I can now say I was one of a small number to see it before the rest of the country.

Going into this film my one main worry was that they would not stick to the events as featured in the book and not do the book justice, however I feel now that that worry has been put to rest. In this respect, I couldn't help but compare this film to the harry potter films, to compare which best reflected their original books. For me I felt that this film did an amazing job at capture the events and important scenes of the book. Obviously as the film was only two hours long not everything could be included, however I still feel they managed to keep all of the essentials, and at the same to were able to fill the audience in on the need to know details in-between.

As I was intending to read the book first, I made a point of not watching any of the trailers or snippets of film footage, so that I could create my own images of Panem and of the characters. In this respect I also felt the film was a success, from the look of district 12 to Cinna's styling of Katniss and Peeta at the opening ceremony, and especially when capturing the main characters, more specifically Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss.

From other reviews I've heard of so far about this film, they tend to say that its is an excellent film, but is even better if the viewer has first read the book, and I would tend to agree with that. Naturally if you've read the book then seen the film, you have more background knowledge going in with you. However don't let that discourage anyone from seeing it.
This is in fact another reason why I feel the film was so strong and a success, because on its own without knowledge from the book, it still held its own, and made complete sense, and so can be enjoyed by all. Having that knowledge from the books is more of an added bonus on an already amazing film.

Although I anticipate cinemas will be packed for the next few weeks with people eager to see this film, I do highly suggest going and seeing it. Its not everyday that such an amazing films as this is released.
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Book Review: The Hunger Games

Having recently read the book 'The Hunger Games' in anticipation for the movie that was released yesterday, I thought it only right that today I write a double review encompassing both these versions, firstly in this blog the book, and in my next blog the film.
Although the book series written by Suzanne Collins 'The Hunger Games', has been out for a number of years now they only really came to my attention at the end of last year. Immediately I found that this series had a very large fan base, with the same enthusiasm and love for the books that the Harry Potter community had for J.K Rowling's amazing series of books.
Although I got the books at christmas, and I'd set myself the goal of reading them before the release of the movie in march, it took me until the second week of march, due to certain reasons to even begin reading the first book. This then is my review of the first book in the series The Hunger Games.
The book is a dystopian novel set in the future ruins of North America. The country at this time is split up into 13 districts, the main central region known as The Capitol, and its 12 outlining districts. The story begins 74 years after the period of rebellion of the outer districts against the capitol. As punishment and as a reminder of what the 12 districts did, the capitol holds a competition each year known as the Hunger Games.
Each year prior to The Hunger Games, a reaping is held in each district where one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 is selected from a lottery to compete for their district in the hunger games in a fight to the death. The victor of the Hunger Games is crown when the last person out of the 24 tributes selected, is left alive.
This book for me was quite unique, although I'd heard that there was a film of it to be released, and that it had a lot of followers I knew basically nothing else about the book and so went into it more or less blind. Having finished this book now though, I can very easily say it's one of the best books that I've ever read, surpassing even the majority of the Harry Potter Books.
The book throughout is set at quite a fast pace, however you never feel as though your being rushed or that you've missed anything out, which for me meant that you were always kept interested and also allowed the author to throw in twists here and there to catch you off guard.
The setting of these characters in such a dire setting where to save their own lives they have to kill others like them, provides an excellent opportunity to see how the main characters Katniss and Peeta react, and how 'human' they are. This is an aspect of writing that I've not really come across much before and was done in a very real way and allowed you to feel you knew the characters on a very personal level.
It's about now that I'd try to find something that I didn't really like, or would have liked to see changed, however I can't do that for this book. Honestly I wouldn't change a thing, and for me that's quite rare. This book has now become my new standard at which I measure all others against. My only wish is that I discovered this books earlier then I had.
After everything I've said about this book, I have to give it a 10 out of 10. The Hunger Games is a definite must read. Once you've finished that you can then go ahead and read the rest of the series, you won't regret it.
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