May the Odds Ever Be in Your Favor

Thursday morning the odds were in my favor when a girl I had a class with posted a facebook status about how she could not longer go to the midnight premiere and needed to sell her ticket. I had lamented not buying a ticket before they sold out, so luck was on my side that no one else had offered to get her ticket before then.

I taught a very interesting Shelter Simulation Course that night with three of our strong volunteers. It's the most fun class to teach, and they enjoyed pretending to be shelter workers and joked about going to the tavern on the fake town map they were given.

After a quick dinner and watching of the Project Runway finale, I headed to the theatre where the line was not too out of control. The only person I knew was going without an IMAX ticket wasn't planning on getting there until 11:30. The lines weren't as crazy as they were for the Harry Potter premieres when I saw people there at noon, but it was still pretty crowded. Michelle and I enjoyed watching as person after person tried to get into the locked doors and also the people who dressed up. It's a little tough to dress up unless you're a person from the Capitol.

I was lucky enough to squeeze into a theatre with a few of my friends who just happened to be in line near me. I sat next to a row of Capitol look a likes with their faces tattooed and their clothes in bright colors. The movie started a little after twelve, and it was wonderful.

One of my main concerns with any adaptation is what they choose to edit out. I know it's a necessity when it comes to film, but sometimes they remove things that I find important and replace it with something not in the book at all. Luckily, The Hunger Games did not do this. I approved of everything they left out and the things that had to change for the adaptation. With the book told in third person limited and in present tense, I wondered how things explained in Katniss's thoughts while she was alone would translate into dialogue. The filmmakers solved this one as well by having the host of the show Caesar narrate some of these portions as if the audience is watching the games on television.

 I also think they did a great job casting the film. I was particularly impressed with Josh Hutcherson's portrayal of Peeta Mellark and Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket. Both of them created characters that I felt were very true to the ones in the book, and they also brought them into reality in a way that was not a caricature. I think that's a mistake many actors fall into when playing a role.  Banks captured the eccentricity of Effie while also letting the character's true personality under the facade to flicker in and out. Hutcherson played the role of Peeta perfectly, in my opinion. He didn't look like many people thought he would including myself, but the subtlety in his acting choices were a pleasure to view especially when taking the whole series into account. He's laying the foundations for the character's development in the next two movies already.

The movie was also visually stunning with a great soundtrack that was both beautiful and haunting. I felt the violence was acceptable even if it was not a graphic as some people felt it should be. I think it was still unsettling to see and conveyed what it needed to about the barbaric nature of this post apocalyptic dystopia. Overall, I think all of the elements worked really well together, and I cannot think of one thing about which to complain. I'm excited to see where they go with the rest of the series and hope that their efforts are eqaully fruitful.