We hope you’ll forgive us another review of The Hunger Games movie, especially since it comes in the form of a comic by the ever hilarious (and almost always surprisingly touching) Faith Erin Hicks! Read why the movie very nearly crashed and burned to her mind. Spoilers for the movie and book, naturally.
We know you’ll want more of her comics after this, so let’s just take care of that right now. Read her takes on: A Wrinkle in Time, Alien, and a very personal reflection on The Hunger Games book. Her comic Friends With Boys is also out now as a graphic novel from First Second.
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no more hunger games, please. i loved the books, probably will love the movie too. but i feel oversaturated or something
I’ve heard about ShakyCam, too, and Faith’s not the only one who went home queasy… and because the books were so strongly written, and Katniss’ relationships and inner mind are what defined things for me, not the arena bits, I’m pretty sure I’m not interested in this movie.
Or, maybe I’ll see the first one in a year or so, and see if I’ll be bothering with the second one.
ANYWAY. Love the idea of a comic interpretation of the movie. More reviews from Faith, please!
Interesting review! Love the artwork.
Although I had read the book before I saw the movie, I didn’t like it. To be more specific, I thought that it was a good story told very poorly. The structure of the story worked, but I found the prose itself to be uninteresting at its best, and clumsy at its worst.
The film, on the other hand, was some of the best cinematic storytelling I’ve seen in recent years. Not a single wasted moment, with art direction that gave us a visual guide to where we were. Above all, we got out of Katniss’s head and into a wider and much more interesting world. I particularly appreciated the lack of the “OMG Peeta OMG Gale OMG boys” internal monologue, which threatened to Twilightify an otherwise interesting character.
For me, it was that rarest of all creatures, the movie that was better than the book. (Forrest Gump, you’re no longer alone.) And although I will probably read the next book before the next film comes out, it’s really the film I’m looking forward to.
Am I not seeing the link or the actual comic? All I see is a single panel with what looks like Effie – where is the rest of it?
@jmd. Are you viewing the post on a mobile device? We’ve had trouble with our comic posts there recently.
Wow. I loved the reaping scene. (I love this comic, too, but I don’t agree with a lot of it. The shakycam/quick editing did bother me while I was watching it, but I thought the early scenes were great (except the cat because he looked nothing like the book’s Buttercup).)
Such a frustrating film though. I enjoyed it a lot but they omitted small things that they could easily have kept in and made a stronger film. Rue only shadows katniss during training because she saw her mockingjay badge and felt she could trust her, it’s bad storytelling leaving that out. What about the bread from district 11? Or the fact that the 3 finger salute is unique only to district 12. Or many small and frustrating omissions and changes leaving you with a better than average but far from great adaptation.
I felt the same exact way you felt,but i cried a lot on Rue’s death.
Considering that the author Suzanne Collins co-wrote the screenplay she was partly responsible for the changes. I’m sure there are reasons that made sense in going from novel to film. I thought the adaptation was awesome considering how many others have been ruined, even with the origonal creator was involved.
I did not like the shakey-cam, but tears did come out of my eyes when Rue asked Katniss if she could sing. So I heartily agree with the second-to-last panel of the above comic review.
I’m the opposite. I thought the beginning was great(expect for the shaky cam, and a few small things.) But I thought the Games were weak.
I felt the same way about the beginning. I was so dizzy because everything was so shaky! The epic fight scenes made up for it, but I was still nauseous…
I found that the actress for Katniss was brilliant. There were a few minor thigns I didn’t especially like that I could rant about for hours, but they’re pretty insignificant and no one else really cares.
I’m gonna post a response review to this here, if you don’t mind.
First of all, your opinion of the first half of the movies is exactly as mine. I vehemently disagree with the second half, however. The movie showed far too little of the horrifying nature of the games; to me it almost seemed as if they were just on a camping trip. The only characters I felt anything for were Katniss, Peeta, Rue, and maybe Thresh. All the others were ‘Bad Guys.’
They cut out as much of the blood and death as they could, and while I understand that they felt they had to tone it down so as to make the movie accessible to the younger people in the fanbase, I think that, in doing so, they alienated many of the more adult readers who had felt the terror and horror of the situation in the novel. The book is about kids being forced to kill each other, where the movie seems to be more about the romance.
My greatest misgiving: The muttations in the movie seemed to have been thrown in just because they needed a way to kill Cato, and get the two mains to the Cornucopia. In the book, the muttations have the hair and eyes of the dead tributes, and have this intelligence about them which makes it seem as though the gamemakers have brought the other players back to life as horrible, twisted, rabid versions of themselves. It is psychologically TERRIFYING, and that is what the games are supposed to be! While being physically dangerous, the games are meant to test the tributes’ minds as well.
Good parts: Haymitch (played by Woody freakin Harrelson!) was definitely my favourite character, bringing life and humour to the movie where he was able. Also, Rue’s death scene was heart wrenching and quite well done, though I rather wish they had managed to work in the lullaby.
In the end, I just found it very unmemorable. I really wish they would stop making them before they ruin the whole series, but it seems that particular wish is not going to come true.
Thanks for reading!
PS: My boyfriend and I have been going on about Battle Royale ever since we saw the Hunger Games. Glad someone else noticed it xD