Sunday Salon: Watching and Reading The Hunger Games

I decided to reread The Hunger Games before watching the film adaptation of The Hunger Games. It was a great opportunity for me to revisit this great dystopia. I think I want to reread the rest of the series now, I'm curious to see if my feelings change as I revisit the story.

I thought the adaptation worked really well. In fact, it may be the best adaptation of a novel to film that I've seen in recent years. What details were changed in the movie seemed to make complete sense. While novels will always allow a reader more of a chance to get to know characters, I thought the movie did a GREAT job with the characters. (For example, I thought the movie did a GREAT job at portraying the relationship between Rue and Katniss. It was amazing.) While the "love triangle" annoyed me in the book, I wasn't as bothered by the portrayal on film. Perhaps because a few silent scenes can convey much more than whining words on a page.

I do think the film was able to capture some things better than the book. I thought they did a GREAT job with the hunger games. I thought they did a great job at showing the corruption of the system, of how calculated, heartless and manipulative the games are. I thought the behind-the-scenes look at how the games are manufactured were great. As a reader you get a little of that, of course, because Katniss seems always aware of the fact that there is an audience, etc. But I thought the film did a great job at bringing everything to life.

Have you seen this one? What did you think? Do you prefer the book or the movie?

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews