The Hunger Games, Am I missing something?

[Catfood220]

the hunger games are stupid because the deathmatches contain dumb brats forming groups in an only one winner game. . .

the story features not enough backstabbing. . .

Yeah, I only watched this he other night and came away thinking "yeah, it was alright, but I can't help but feel that Catniss (or however you spell her stupid name, apologies to any Catniss's out there) would never of won if people stopped being so damn nice to her in a battle to the death".

I mean seriously,

There is the girl at the start of the Hunger Games that just stares at her and then runs off, ok I can let that one go because they are both scared and want out of the situation. Then there is the group of kids that decided to stop shooting arrows at her and wait for her to fall out of a tree at her leisure. Or the little girl who nurses her back to health while she is unconscious for 2 days. And the big guy who decides not to kill her because she was nice to the little girl. Seriously guys, you do know what a battle to the death means don't you?

 

[BNguyen]

okay, found the movies boring and uninspired, absolutely predictable and so many characters make stupid decisions, including Katniss who we're supposed to see as some kick-ass archer but uses her bow almost 0% of the time and relies on other characters for distractions in order to escape danger.
I know I've said this before in another thread but the fact that she climbs a tree and the others, possessing bows and should be fully capable of shooting her (since she's moving especially slowly and only upwards - not to the sides or anything) just give up when she stops climbing and decide to all sleep without leaving a guard in place, allowing her to use that hornet's hive to deal with them.
Katniss is a boring character who doesn't even emote more than Bella from Twilight, hell, the characters around Katniss did more talking than she did.

I kind of have the same problem with the Hunger Games as I do The Purge - the characters seem to not really have a problem with the policies in place until they become involved and then they get this "holier than thou" attitude towards the whole thing. Like in The Purge:

(Spoilers)
















- the father is trying to save his family by throwing that homeless guy out to the killers, he just had the father's daughter as a hostage to which his wife helped save, and when they're about to throw him out to the killers, the wife suddenly grows a moral conscious and leaves the husband to deal with the problem.
Oh, and the whole thing where the main killer says "We'll wait until we have our special equipment to break into your house" turns out to be a truck and chains which they only use on the front door and somehow open up all the windows as well.
The whole movie felt kind of like how the movie Branded displayed Capitalism

And the Hunger Games - people are sending their kids willingly out to the killing fields and then suddenly see that there's something wrong with it all when Katniss goes to fight and do a whole worker's revolt thing?

 

[EyeReaper]

The first movie had so much shakey cam I shut it off after 5 minutes. They were just like sitting around eating bread and the scene was jittering all over the fucking place.

Reminds me of when me 'n my buddies all went to see The Hunger Games in theaters. The shaky cam was so bad, One guy got motion sickness and started vomiting. I found that much more entertaining than the movie itself, actually

 

[BNguyen]

Ok, so i'm not missing out on anything that's good.

The fact that the targeted age audience is roughly my age, meant that when I asked anyone I know who had seen the movie/read the books they would give me vague responses of why it was good.

However, I'm still clueless on the high reviews aspect of the movies and books. Do they lower the standard for a "great movie" for younger audience.

Because an 8/10 and higher is something this book and movie really doesn't deserve.

Usually scores come from a lot of what the movie expects of itself. Die Hard usually get's very high scores, but not because it's intelligent and thought-provoking, but mostly because it's an incredibly well made action movie.

Hunger Games doesn't aspire to have some sort of statement of poverty, opression and revolution, it's just a fun little simple action movie made for teenagers. You can't really compare it to something akin to Battle Royale, since those are two very different movies trying to do very different things.

That being said, "simple" and "stupid" are not interchangeable, Die Hard is pretty smart actually in its simplicity, pacing and execution, while say the Transformers are fucking stupid and poorly directed.

I really don't see "incredibly well-made action movie" in this when most of the action takes place out in the woods instead of a more creatively flexible environment - heck, an abandoned building blind battle would have been better - thinking of the pyramid in aliens vs predator 1 kind of thing - something that feels alive and is constantly changing, forcing the characters to keep moving instead of staying up in a single tree for 20 minutes with nothing happening

 

[Astoria]

I think they're so popular because Katniss is IMO a really great character. She goes against the typical Hollywood female and instead strong, independent and a fighter. The love story is also what Twilight tried and failed to be which makes it even more interesting.

 

[faefrost]

My wife made me watch the first one. I came home from it, popped in the Running Man, and realized that Arnie + Stephen King made a much more fun and entertaining movie using the same basic story, 20 years ago.

 

[Julius Terrell]

I don't get it either. These movies put me to sleep. Unfortunately my friends and fiance love them so I'm stuck for the next two...

I'm right there with you. I've yet to make through the first movie. I keep falling asleep for some odd reason. Maybe that means something? :\

You'd be better of watching Battle Royal. Why Battle Royal didn't get a state side run in the movie theaters is completely beyond me. Same goes for Old Boy.

Edit: Watching the first movie, I couldn't bring myself to care about ANY of the characters. They just weren't that interesting.

 

[schrodinger]

For everyone talking about the love triangle i've got to ask, what love triangle?
I've read the books, and from what i've remembered there barely was one. The only sorta romance in the series is between katniss and peeta and that doesn't become apparent until the final book. Although the romance in the end becomes REALLY creepy; anyone who read the books probably knows what i mean.

The love triangle is mostly forced in the movies because they needed Liam Hemsworth to do something.

 

[Dinosorcerer]

Ok, so i'm not missing out on anything that's good.

The fact that the targeted age audience is roughly my age, meant that when I asked anyone I know who had seen the movie/read the books they would give me vague responses of why it was good.

However, I'm still clueless on the high reviews aspect of the movies and books. Do they lower the standard for a "great movie" for younger audience.

Because an 8/10 and higher is something this book and movie really doesn't deserve.

Usually scores come from a lot of what the movie expects of itself. Die Hard usually get's very high scores, but not because it's intelligent and thought-provoking, but mostly because it's an incredibly well made action movie.

Hunger Games doesn't aspire to have some sort of statement of poverty, opression and revolution, it's just a fun little simple action movie made for teenagers. You can't really compare it to something akin to Battle Royale, since those are two very different movies trying to do very different things.

That being said, "simple" and "stupid" are not interchangeable, Die Hard is pretty smart actually in its simplicity, pacing and execution, while say the Transformers are fucking stupid and poorly directed.

excuse me, but that is exactly what their trying to do. Take the party at Snow's palace for instance, when Peeta is shown the drink that makes you throw up, they felt the need to have him say out loud that this is weird because people in the districts have trouble getting food in the first place. Don't try and say that it doesn't aspire to have some statement about poverty when they try to shove that statement right in your face.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I think they're so popular because Katniss is IMO a really great character. She goes against the typical Hollywood female and instead strong, independent and a fighter. The love story is also what Twilight tried and failed to be which makes it even more interesting.

How is a young, sexy, intelligent woman with a bow any different than all the other young, sexy, intelligent women with bows in every other movie?

 

[Astoria]

I think they're so popular because Katniss is IMO a really great character. She goes against the typical Hollywood female and instead strong, independent and a fighter. The love story is also what Twilight tried and failed to be which makes it even more interesting.

How is a young, sexy, intelligent woman with a bow any different than all the other young, sexy, intelligent women with bows in every other movie?

She different from all the millions of women who use their body to get what they want and play the damsel in distress like 90% of Hollywood's women.

 

[omega 616]

I think the whole love triangle thing is very, very ham fisted and forced.

(I can't spoiler tag on my phone, so consider the next bit as spoilers)

Some lame back story about throwing her burnt bread kicks off one side of the love triangle, "you're a good hunter" sets up the other. The guy kind of sort of hosting the games changes his mind about how many people can win after a short speech, so Catfish immediately stumbles across her district partner (literally). Then most ham fisted part, then has every cliché in the "falling in love" hand book, the healing the wounded, the gentle kiss, the forced help, the return of the forced help (with the healing cream) , the telling of secrets.... The film goes from pure off screen death (save two or three instances) to immediate romantic drama... I found it to be a jarring transition.

It was just so immediate, the announcement comes over some speakers, she immediately finds him hurt (somehow), they hobble off to a convenient cave and immediately get to getting close.

As I've mentioned in a other thread, framing a love triangle mixed with this comment on classes, in a battle royale frame with little violence is odd. If you description email what the games are, it sounds like a horror movie... "X amount of districts send one boy and one girl to fight till 1 remains" and then a vast majority of death happens off screen? Why fucking bother with the games? Elysium did the exact same story line with a much better result.

 

[Moloch Sacrifice]

I think the whole love triangle thing is very, very ham fisted and forced.

(I can't spoiler tag on my phone, so consider the next bit as spoilers)

Some lame back story about throwing her burnt bread kicks off one side of the love triangle, "you're a good hunter" sets up the other. The guy kind of sort of hosting the games changes his mind about how many people can win after a short speech, so Catfish immediately stumbles across her district partner (literally). Then most ham fisted part, then has every cliché in the "falling in love" hand book, the healing the wounded, the gentle kiss, the forced help, the return of the forced help (with the healing cream) , the telling of secrets.... The film goes from pure off screen death (save two or three instances) to immediate romantic drama... I found it to be a jarring transition.

In fairness, the film doesn't accurately describe the situation. In the books, Katniss is deliberately playing the role of caring lover with Peeta in order to generate more public support, gain sponsors and receive supplies. Just like in real life reality TV, more drama=more support, and better favour from producers (in the form of not being attacked by random traps, etc). For her at least, the entire thing is a ruse in order to maximise her chances of survival.

 

[Flutterguy]

Books written to be directed at kids and young-adults are generally not enlightening in the least. If you want great story you just have to get lucky, or look at top-rated stories online. If you want politics look at history. If you want symbolism look into Alchemy and religious art.

If you want mindless entertainment to waste time and in a 1/100 chance provoke thought go to youtube, the movie theater or play videogames.

 

[shootthebandit]

It's about a revolution and criticises celebrity-culture. How the hell does it encourage conformity?

The love triangle is a bit forced and gets in the way of things, I'll give you that, but it's not actually all that present and could probably be easily written out without losing much.

I know they were going for the "the games are bad and catniss is rebelling against them. But it came across to me that they trying to get the viewer to root for catniss and for her to "conform" and take part in the games. Its intention was good and it couldve been a really good film with a few subtle changes but it just ended up being your average harry potter/twilight teen drama

 

[Psychobabble]

No you aren't missing anything. Much like other tween sensations it's just a series of ideas distilled down to their most basic elements giving you a plot a down syndrome chimpanzee could follow. It's easy for people to identify with the protagonists because they are so simplistic they could be anybody.

Spoiler

 

[BNguyen]

I think they're so popular because Katniss is IMO a really great character. She goes against the typical Hollywood female and instead strong, independent and a fighter. The love story is also what Twilight tried and failed to be which makes it even more interesting.

How is a young, sexy, intelligent woman with a bow any different than all the other young, sexy, intelligent women with bows in every other movie?

Intelligent? When a little girl knows about survival better than she does and saves her ass with a hornet's nest?
Katniss was completely lifeless in the movie, every character around her was practically saying "emote in such a way that it serves as a reaction to what I'm saying or doing and not how you might actually feel given the situation" kind of way. I'm sorry but the only time she seemed to make a decision for herself was when she decided to take the place of her sister in the games, after that, practically nothing at all.

And once again, uses the bow like 3 times in the whole movie, not exactly a selling point for her when she doesn't use it to kill even one person, not directly anyways.

 

[shootthebandit]

I think they're so popular because Katniss is IMO a really great character. She goes against the typical Hollywood female and instead strong, independent and a fighter. The love story is also what Twilight tried and failed to be which makes it even more interesting.

How is a young, sexy, intelligent woman with a bow any different than all the other young, sexy, intelligent women with bows in every other movie?

Intelligent? When a little girl knows about survival better than she does and saves her ass with a hornet's nest?
Katniss was completely lifeless in the movie, every character around her was practically saying "emote in such a way that it serves as a reaction to what I'm saying or doing and not how you might actually feel given the situation" kind of way. I'm sorry but the only time she seemed to make a decision for herself was when she decided to take the place of her sister in the games, after that, practically nothing at all.

And once again, uses the bow like 3 times in the whole movie, not exactly a selling point for her when she doesn't use it to kill even one person, not directly anyways.

I agree. Intelligence, skill and strength etc have nothing to do with winning the games. The victor is already decided and the games masters change the rules to in order to determine the winner. The whole thing is orchestrated and some people here are trying to say its anti-conformist and makes fun of celeb culture. Well it doesnt really, catniss conforms with the games. More proof for her conformity is the fact that (as pretty much everyone stated) the love triangle is forced in order for her to conform and become a "celebrity" which granted she is relucant to do but she soon embraces it once she gets sponsors and inevitably succeeds at the games. Ideally she shouldve said "fuck your games", "fuck your sponsors" and "fuck your facist orwellian system" and refuse to compete. Your probably going to die in the arena anyway who gives a fuck if the government kill you at least then youve died exposing their game rather than dying inside the game which is exactly what they want you to do. Granted my way wouldnt make a good movie but letting the protagonist take part in the games and basically bow down to societies demands (apart from the scene where she volunteered over her sister) is hardly anti'
-conformist. Catniss is hardly innocent her actions in the games have killed people, granted the ones she killed were portrayed as pretty damn nasty but was that just out of a need to survive or the fact that they dont know any better (considering some of them have been raised to compete)

 

[Silvanus]

It's a relatively simple plot, and relatively simply written, because it's written for teenagers/ young adults. It's straightforward, but it never really pretended to be anything else, and I ended up enjoying the books.


I could've done with a little less happening off-screen in the movie, though.

 

[00slash00]

The only thing your missing is the fact that not everyone loves the same things. Threads like these, whether they're about tv, book, movies, or games are always constructed in an, "I am super understanding and simply want to appreciate this thing better." But that's not the purpose behind the post. People don't eat something they don't like and then think, "Well maybe I just don't know enough about this food. I better ask fans of it so I can better appreciate my meal." These threads exist either because the op feels the need to announce to everyone that he or she is different, or because something they don't like is popular and they want to yell at everyone who likes it. Just stop it. Different stroke for different folks. You aren't missing anything, you aren't the only one who dislikes it, your opinion just differs from the mainstream opinion