I've been hearing ALOT about the Hunger Games and was wondering if it's a good movie/book. It initially sounded like something to pick up and read, but then my sister read it and described it in the exact same tone that she used when describing how good Twilight was. Seeing as any connection between the two would make this film terrible, what would you describe the film/book as?
The Hunger Games: Does it suck?
- Thread starter DN83
- Start date
Recommended Videos
I know I got it for my sister for Christmas at her request... beyond that, I can't really say anything about it other than I saw a trailer for the movie at 3 am once and I barely remember what it was about.
The two book series are similar only in their target audience (the movie isn't out yet and I have not seen any of the sneak peeks that have been around all week).
I'm a twenty six year old male and I loved books one and two. I am also a heavy reader, about one book per week is my average. I absolutely hated book three and almost wish I never read the series just to avoid book three but whatcha gonna do?
I would still recommend the series even if book three left a giant stain on the series for me. It's a very easy read and I felt it was entertaining. The books are not afraid to deal death and pain to all sorts of characters and it does not really hold back on the violence.
I'm a twenty six year old male and I loved books one and two. I am also a heavy reader, about one book per week is my average. I absolutely hated book three and almost wish I never read the series just to avoid book three but whatcha gonna do?
I would still recommend the series even if book three left a giant stain on the series for me. It's a very easy read and I felt it was entertaining. The books are not afraid to deal death and pain to all sorts of characters and it does not really hold back on the violence.
To me, they do suck, but only because I was exposed to a much richer sci-fi/ post apocolyptic material beforehand, It failed in creativity and comparison to the works I have read/played/watched before reading that.
It may also be coped with the fact that I was forced to read them, takes a lot of enjoyability out of media when it isn't your choice.
It may also be coped with the fact that I was forced to read them, takes a lot of enjoyability out of media when it isn't your choice.
MARTER! You saw the film and haven't put it in a $2.50 review! Why do you hate me so much?Marter said:
How is the violence handled in the film? A PG-13 rating with the violence present in the book makes me a tad worried so I'm curious how well that is handled.
EDIT:
Especially Rue's death. I thought that her death was incredibly brutal in the book so without giving anything away, how well was it handled?
1) It would be in the "Marter to the Movies" series.tippy2k2 said:
2) I signed an NDA which only ended today. And I already had both Escape from... films scheduled, so they're going to go ahead as planned. The Hunger Games will be posted on Thursday.
3) I don't hate you!
Apart from a couple of somewhat shocking "shows" (we actually get to see a neck broken, for instance), most of the violence is filmed with shaky-cam and edited with quick cutting, so as to obscure most of it.
I've put this in my review, but it's basically like watching a Bourne film except the backgrounds are more detailed and the characters are camouflaged to look like them, meaning that you can rarely tell what's going on as everything blends together.
So yeah, the PG-13 rating hurts it, as it had to alter production significantly enough to be noticed.
EDIT:
Rue's death (which is not as emotionally involving as in the book), happens very quickly. We watch Katniss fire her arrow, then pan to Rue and she has an arrow in her.
You get a cookie for explaining your feelings and not belittling others' opinions.MASTACHIEFPWN said:
That being said, they're alright. Not groundbreaking literary masterpieces, but they're entertaining enough to get this popular, competently written from a technical standpoint and aren't pure teenage fantasy. Yeah, there's certainly enough of the "natural talent, people give the main character attention," and other tropes that are to be expected of any popular youth fantasy, but that didn't make Harry Potter terrible, now did it?
The protagonist is believable enough, having learned her skills from hunting, her steeled nerves being believable considering the world, her origins and her particular situation, and her inability to trust others (which is her big emotional arc in the first book) works because everyone's supposed to kill everyone else.
If you have some spare time, go ahead and read the books and/or watch the movie when its out. Or do like me and get an audiobook so you can multitask.
Alright, if it was a NDA that forced you to hold off, I'll take your word for it that you don't actually hate me and that's why you held off a review : )Marter said:
I click on the $2.50 review group when I'm looking for your reviews, I forgot that they are actually two different series.
Anyway, that's disappointing. My mom thought that the PG-13 would hurt it and it sounds like she's right...but at least it sounds like you still enjoyed the movie so that's promising.
I look forward to your actual review.
Strap yourselves in, fellow escapists. This is going to be a long post.
The series as a whole sucks. I've read all three books and started reading the series two months after the first one came out. I have each book in hardcover format because I thought Suzanne Collins deserved it. What I got instead was a pretty good lesson of what not to do in my personal writing career. And also how much money mistakes like this can generate.
The first book is outstanding. It should've stopped there. But the series quickly degenerated into just plain ol' silliness with major choices involving the Katniss being made while she just stood there passively, having nightmares or recovering from her latest stint in the hospital.
However, the link between Twilight and The Hunger Games is forced, to be honest. The books are bad, but are in no way as bad as Twilight. But you have to remember that this is a different genre aimed at the fans of a another genre. The dystopian Young Adult market to my knowledge is pretty thin, with only a few solid contenders vying for attention. And yet, the producers of the movie are insisting that the fans of whatever genre Twilight is (I like to think of the genre as Garbage or Refuse though honestly it's classified as paranormal dark domance) think they can snag the crowd with a few key changes to the book. For no extra charge, allow me to go over a few of the most glaring ones and what, in my eyes will make the movie far worse than the book. No spoilers though. I don't know how to make spoiler tags
The most glaring offense between the book and movie is the so called "love triangle" While reading, I was never once uncertain what the result would be. It's a passing thing at best and a poor comparison to Twilight's own love triangle.
Second, Peeta is not handsome! He's a homely baker's son that lives on a diet of breads and carbohydrates. Sure, he has muscle from lifting bags of flour, but come on! Does every romance have to be "Twilight-ified"? And everyone else is on the brink of starvation all the time. These actors don't convey that at all. They're extremely healthy and better looking than most people!
And while Katniss is a better heroine than Bella, that's like saying Mussolini was a better dictator than Stalin because he killed less people. They're both horrible as heroines with the former only outshining the latter because she does have at least some brains.
So, TLDR:
First book is awesome.
Second book sucks
Third book sucks more and has a completely horrible scene rendering conflicts of the first two books null and void.
Movie will probably suck. Don't believe the media hype that's probably been paid for.
Is it worth reading? No, unless you're an aspiring Young Adult writer and want to know what not to do. However the movie will star Lenny Cravitz as Cinna. That in itself is almost making me reconsider my decision to watch it.
The series as a whole sucks. I've read all three books and started reading the series two months after the first one came out. I have each book in hardcover format because I thought Suzanne Collins deserved it. What I got instead was a pretty good lesson of what not to do in my personal writing career. And also how much money mistakes like this can generate.
The first book is outstanding. It should've stopped there. But the series quickly degenerated into just plain ol' silliness with major choices involving the Katniss being made while she just stood there passively, having nightmares or recovering from her latest stint in the hospital.
However, the link between Twilight and The Hunger Games is forced, to be honest. The books are bad, but are in no way as bad as Twilight. But you have to remember that this is a different genre aimed at the fans of a another genre. The dystopian Young Adult market to my knowledge is pretty thin, with only a few solid contenders vying for attention. And yet, the producers of the movie are insisting that the fans of whatever genre Twilight is (I like to think of the genre as Garbage or Refuse though honestly it's classified as paranormal dark domance) think they can snag the crowd with a few key changes to the book. For no extra charge, allow me to go over a few of the most glaring ones and what, in my eyes will make the movie far worse than the book. No spoilers though. I don't know how to make spoiler tags
The most glaring offense between the book and movie is the so called "love triangle" While reading, I was never once uncertain what the result would be. It's a passing thing at best and a poor comparison to Twilight's own love triangle.
Second, Peeta is not handsome! He's a homely baker's son that lives on a diet of breads and carbohydrates. Sure, he has muscle from lifting bags of flour, but come on! Does every romance have to be "Twilight-ified"? And everyone else is on the brink of starvation all the time. These actors don't convey that at all. They're extremely healthy and better looking than most people!
And while Katniss is a better heroine than Bella, that's like saying Mussolini was a better dictator than Stalin because he killed less people. They're both horrible as heroines with the former only outshining the latter because she does have at least some brains.
So, TLDR:
First book is awesome.
Second book sucks
Third book sucks more and has a completely horrible scene rendering conflicts of the first two books null and void.
Movie will probably suck. Don't believe the media hype that's probably been paid for.
Is it worth reading? No, unless you're an aspiring Young Adult writer and want to know what not to do. However the movie will star Lenny Cravitz as Cinna. That in itself is almost making me reconsider my decision to watch it.
The second book is the best one IMO
The books are...ok. The concepts are cool and its a fast read, and an enjoyable read, but beyond that I cant say they are well written or deep.
so read them but dont buy the hype. The first book is cool, the second book is the only one I considered to actually be very good, and the third one just sucks.
The books are...ok. The concepts are cool and its a fast read, and an enjoyable read, but beyond that I cant say they are well written or deep.
so read them but dont buy the hype. The first book is cool, the second book is the only one I considered to actually be very good, and the third one just sucks.
Agreed here. My girlfriend loves the books, stating they're better than the Harry Potter series, which she loves to no end. She's been begging me to read them but the more she's bugged me about them, the more I've been reluctant to read.MASTACHIEFPWN said:
But from her side, the first book alone will give you a wide variety of emotion and she states several times she had to put it down because she was too upset, not that it was poorly written but that it was the emotion she was meant to have.
On a plus side, I'm a HUGE fan of the Author's "fail" series, The Underland Chronicles. Quite the detailed violent mess, definitely written for a young male audience. She's a good author, and I'd read the books but as of right now, it feels like a chore than a pleasure.
I read the first book. Thought it was alright although the fact is that the previous book I had read was Eclipse and that may have clouded my judgement. Anything would look good after that.
All the time reading I kept thinking that it was just a shittier version of Battle Royale. Not sure whether to see the movie or not.
All the time reading I kept thinking that it was just a shittier version of Battle Royale. Not sure whether to see the movie or not.
They are really good books. I enjoyed them. I think that LOTR is written way better. I also think Harry Potter is written a lot better. At the end of the day, the books are entertaining and, they are well written. They don't have a lot of symbolism or deeper meaning similar to Twilight but, they aren't nearly as bad as that garbage.
The books are alright, the main character is a bit unlikable and they read like what they are, books for teens, so fast and average. It's certainly better than Twilight, but a fist in the face is better than that.
The film looks like it's going the whole hog with the decadent and grotesque angle for the capital characters, which is always nice.
The film looks like it's going the whole hog with the decadent and grotesque angle for the capital characters, which is always nice.