- Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman (I just mentioned to a friend that there should be a spinoff where Caesar and Peeta have their own talk show)
- Donald Sutherland as President Snow - I loved the bits with him and Seneca Crane discussing what to do with Katniss
- Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket (she was perfect in the scene after Katniss had her private session with the Gamemakers)
- Woody Harrelson as Haymitch (even better in the scene after the Gamemakers)
- I wasn't keen on Lenny Kravitz as Cinna when I found out about it, but he was great, even though I expected someone younger.
- As far as Peeta goes, Josh Hutcherson was good, but he wasn't really given that much depth (which was my problem with Peeta in the books as well, his whole personality was basically that he was in love with Katniss, at least until Mockingjay)
One last thing I'll talk about is the text message conversation I had with my sister before we met up for the movie today, because there were parts of it that were hilarious (mainly on her part). I've made it in colour, so you know which bits I've added, which are still in black.
Megan: Just got out of work. Hooray! Meet you at flinders around 3? What kind of snacks do you want? (If it's two and a half hours, I definitely need snacks)
Megan: Wish you could still get Bertie Botts beans, actually. may the odds be ever in your flavour!*
Me: Lime flavoured chips of some description? I might also buy a choc top there. Frustrating hunger games jewellery searc on etsy last night, it was all about Peeta.
Megan: that's weird, What kind of jewellery were you looking for? More mockingjay pins? (The bookshop gave me one for pre-ordering Mockingjay. I skipped uni that day just so I could spend it reading the book.)
Me: No, a 'may the odds be ever in your favour' necklace. I might have to make my own.
Megan (on the subject of food): We could get into the district 12 thing and have bread and terrible roast pigeon or something. (no)
Megan (on the jewellery): Ooh, that would be cool. what would you make it out of? Or you could find someone on etsy with a style you like and ask if they do custom pieces.
Me: Hmm that could work. There's some nice district twelve themed stuff on etsy too. But we are not hunting game for snacks.
Megan (a bit later): Okay, I'm waiting for a tram on Lygon St. You'll probably beat me! (I did) I looked at etsy, see what you mean about Peeta. So much "real or not real" stuff.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
I'm going to try and do this in the order of what happened in the film. I really liked the whole first part, up to and including the reaping. District 12 looked fantastic, particularly in contrast to the Capitol (which came later). They did the emotion very well; before the reaping, you get the idea of exactly how much Katniss loves Prim, and your heart absolutely breaks when she volunteers. Also the reaping. I love Effie saying the words of the movie that is obviously shown every year. Furthermore, I love the absolute silence when the names are called, because that is what would happen in an impoverished District like Twelve. In the career districts, there'd be stamping and cheering because for them it's an honour to participate.
The other thing I thought they did very well was the whole reality-TV aspect of the Games, which is what it is in the books. This is a specific reason that made the books perfect for adaptation into films (although there's rarely a film nowadays that wasn't originally a book). What was great was seeing Seneca Crane talking to President Snow about Katniss, and Haymitch trying to convince Seneca not to kill her. Also the bit where the Gamemakers talk about Katniss getting close to the edge of the arena as great foreshadowing to Catching Fire (my favourite of the trilogy). Upon reading other reviews, I'm surprised none of the other book fans have either picked up on it, or at least remembered that they said it. Those conversations the Gamemakers had up in their control room, about the fire and the mutts was good too (and I'm kind of glad they didn't use the fallen tributes' features in those hounds, that was perhaps the creepiest thing in the book).
The thing that could have been done better was the understanding between Haymitch and Katniss about the way that Katniss received her gifts from sponsors. Katniss realised she had to play up the romance angle of her relationship with Peeta in order to get given gifts. In the books, there are a couple of lines that make this clear.
'Haymitch couldn't be sending me a clearer message. One kiss equals one pot of broth. I can almost hear his snarl. "You're supposed to be in love, sweetheart. The boy's dying. Give me something I can work with!"' (page 316); and
'Haymitch and I don'[t get along well in person, buty maybe Peeta is right about us being alike, because he seems to be able to communicate with me by the timing of his gifts. Like how I knew I must be close to water when he withheld it and how I knew the sleep syrup wasn't just something to ease Peeta's pain and how I know now I have to play up the romance. He hasn't made much effort to connect with Peeta, really. Perhaps he thinks a bowl of broth would just be a bowl of broth to Poeeta, whereas I'll see the strings attached to it.' (page 372)
I'll admit that I didn't catch the note that Haymitch sent with the bowl of broth, which could have said something along those lines. But seriously, all that happened with Peeta and Katniss afterwards was 'What do we do now?' 'We try to forget' 'I don't want to forget'. Because the romance-as-strategy thing wasn't really done that well, there was no subsequent fallout that made sense when Katniss told Peeta it was all strategy for her.
EDIT: Okay, I will admit that the thing I liked least about the books was the love triangle part. Like Mark Oshiro, I hate love triangles more than most things, so in that sense I'm glad there wasn't such a large focus on the romance (except for the cuts back to Gale). Also I didn't really like Peeta or Gale that much. Give me more Cinna. Or Finnick. But I think the way that Katniss and Haymitch were able to communicate with each other with the gifts was an important element of the story. Also, before the victor's interview, the conversation between the two of them about how she needs to make the Capitol (politicians) believe that she did it because she was in love with Peeta was rushed, but communicated more effectively in the books. The whole 'faked romance' (regardless of what happens between Katniss and her boys in the future) was half the reason the Capitol was mad at her, and it wasn't done very well.
I can't believe I left this out when I originally wrote this review, but the riot in District 11 after Rue died was one of the most powerful scenes in the movie, and made me feel all of the things. I loved it so much. The story of the little boy from District 4 was also sad - you saw how young he was and that he died straight away, even though you didn't know his name.
EDIT: Okay, I will admit that the thing I liked least about the books was the love triangle part. Like Mark Oshiro, I hate love triangles more than most things, so in that sense I'm glad there wasn't such a large focus on the romance (except for the cuts back to Gale). Also I didn't really like Peeta or Gale that much. Give me more Cinna. Or Finnick. But I think the way that Katniss and Haymitch were able to communicate with each other with the gifts was an important element of the story. Also, before the victor's interview, the conversation between the two of them about how she needs to make the Capitol (politicians) believe that she did it because she was in love with Peeta was rushed, but communicated more effectively in the books. The whole 'faked romance' (regardless of what happens between Katniss and her boys in the future) was half the reason the Capitol was mad at her, and it wasn't done very well.
I can't believe I left this out when I originally wrote this review, but the riot in District 11 after Rue died was one of the most powerful scenes in the movie, and made me feel all of the things. I loved it so much. The story of the little boy from District 4 was also sad - you saw how young he was and that he died straight away, even though you didn't know his name.
Finally, the other thing I really loved was the bit where Seneca Crane walked into the room and there was the bowl of berries there. It was nuanced, which made it perfect. Good storytelling in writing or on the stage or screen shouldn't have to beat you over the head with what's happening, it just shows you and allows the audience to make its own conclusions.
If there's an extended cut of this movie, I hope they'd give more time for the Games themselves, which felt rushed - everything that was done before that was well paced. Because Katniss is narrating in the books, you can keep track of how many tributes are still alive, whereas there must have been a couple (admittedly characters that weren't well developed that were left out in the film) that were skipped over. Okay, by my count there was one that was left out, but I've only seen the film once.
