This is going to be complex...

... I guess most things are.

If there's anybody out there waiting for an endorsement of The Hunger Games movie from me (which I seriously doubt, but it is possible); you're not going to get that here. I am just as bummed as anybody about this...

I do know, however, that there are at least a few waiting for my review and I am hoping that we will be able to enter into a discussion about what we've seen in the past few days...

Although I am going to make one huge post out of this; it really is two parts. The first will explain how I came to the decision to even go see The Hunger Games. The second is my review of the movie, itself.

PART 1:

I'm going to have to give some background information, first, just so that everyone reading is on the same page...

I have standards. I do not expect anyone else to have the same standards for entertainment that I have. But I do expect people to respect my right to have them. It has sometimes caused a great deal of trouble to enter into discussions about entertainment standards with others... particularly with other Christians who often view my own standards as rigid or judgmental. My standards are rigid. But I do not intend to pass judgment on anyone else's standard. That said, I think everyone should have a "line" that they do not cross, and most of the trouble I've had in discussions such as these is that the majority of people I know have no line. Period. So before we begin any kind of real discussion on this, let's make a couple of things clear.

#1 I am going to stand by my opinion that you and I should both have a line... or a standard.

#2 I am not going to judge your standard, and I do not expect you to judge mine, but I do feel that I have the right to state my own standards on my own blog, and I also feel that if I don't know what yours are that I cannot be held responsible for you feeling as if I've judged you by simply expressing my own standard.

#3 It must be understood, explicitly, that I crossed my own line when I viewed The Hunger Games... that I knew I was doing it... and that I fully expect some people will view me in a negative light because of this. I'm OK with that, but I also feel that I probably only know a handful of people (if that) who have the right to judge my standards, at all... and most of them live in my house. So please show mercy, friends...

Over the years, my standards for entertainment have changed... sometimes the change has been drastic... sometimes it has been more subtle...

For many, many years, I had a zero tolerance policy particularly on profanity, but in regard to other things, as well. It's not a bad policy. To be completely honest, I didn't see any movies, whatsoever, in the theater between 1994 (The Flintstones) and 2008 (Horton Hears A Who). Fireproof (also 2008) was the first movie that Phil and I ever saw together in the theater. We started dating in 1994. You do the math. In our entire married life, we have not paid for cable TV for a single day. We did have cable, briefly, when we lived in Idaho in 1999. It was free at our apartment. We watched Nick at Nite. We have an extensive collection of old TV shows, which our children enjoy. Leave it to Beaver (the black and white sitcom version) is still a hit in our home. We do have Netflix in addition to hundreds of DVDs that fall into the zero tolerance category and a handful of DVDs that fall just short of that. Those are stored on a very high shelf that some of our children have told other people is for "adult movies". That was awkward. I think the "vilest" thing we own is the Lord of the Rings trilogy... just to clear up any misunderstanding. I have generally followed suit with this zero tolerance policy in books, as well. I am a book lover. I always have been. I do have a handful of books in my collection (and by "collection" I mean that there are books in every room in my house... often even the bathrooms...) that did not meet this strict standard, and many of them have been "edited".

I have kids.

It has been extremely important to me to set a standard for my kids, but to always have an alternative to offer to them when they reach the age at which entertainment and movies become more prominent. Grace has always been a "movie kid". Even when she was four years old, if we were going to have a special Mommy/daughter date night, she wanted to watch a movie. Man, there are days when I miss that My Little Pony era. Grace is also an avid reader. This has been a challenge from about that same 4 year old time, because she was reading at 3rd grade level when she started Kindergarten a year early. I knew from the time she was a baby that we would hit the entertainment wall with this one at some point. (Just as a sidenote, the boys would be just as happy to play Super Mario Brothers all day long, and although they also like to read; they do it at a more human pace, so I haven't run out of things to toss their way yet).

I am mentioning all of this about Grace to say that she was the final factor in my decision to sneak out of the house last night (more on that in a moment) and wait in line for an hour for the right to claim a decent seat at a 10:20pm showing of The Hunger Games. She has absolutely no idea.

Now, before I get too far into this story, let me also make it clear that my standard on movies... and books... has shifted in the past year or so... and for good reason.

Although I access the plugged in movie review website on a frequent basis; there are some things that are not reviewed there... or not reviewed completely there... or not reviewed well there... It's an excellent jumping off point, and often it's the end all to my entertainment decision making. But not always...

So for the past year, I have been watching and reviewing movies and TV shows that are not covered adequately (for me) at plugged in. To be honest, I've found some real gems. These titles have been added to my list of appropriate movies and have most often been set on the "PG-10" shelf at our house, giving our younger kids something to look forward to and our older kids something to watch late at night with mom and dad after the "babies" (poor Caleb, we've got to stop lumping him in with that group) have gone to bed. I have watched more Disney Channel originals... alone... than any 30-something probably wants to admit, and the worst part is that I have enjoyed them. Sometimes I've stumbled on a not so great viewing choice. In these instances, I have often finished the film to make sure I can review it accurately. There have been a couple that I have just turned off within 1/2 an hour or so. I have known they're not ever going to be acceptable choices for this household.

I have also begun to differentiate between entertainment... and teaching moments... and movies that compliment literature. I am a little more lenient in my standards for teachable media. And the literature thing has been, quite honestly, hard to navigate.

Let me give you a recent example that will probably leave you rolling on the floor laughing. The Lion King has been off limits to the kids for a variety of reasons. Caleb read about the real lion king during a history lesson in school. We had Netflix send us the movie, and we watched it. End of story.

Somewhere along the line it occurred to me that our children have taken our standard for entertainment upon themselves. I feel good about that. I wish that they would exercise obedience in everything, but they are kids. We're working on it. This entertainment thing, though, became evident to me when Seth and Grace went to pre-teen retreat this past winter. As it turns out, they were showing Cars 2 at the retreat. Our family opted not to see Cars, because of references to profanity that we felt were inappropriate and, particularly, the misuse of God's name. Ironically, Cars 2 is actually squeaky clean in that department, but we just didn't bother to see it since we hadn't seen the first one. But the red flags went up for my kids, and they told their counselors that they weren't allowed to watch that movie. Now, we are generally accessible when our kids are somewhere without us, but for whatever reason my cell phone wasn't working and we weren't home that night. Later on, I realized that I had messages, both from Grace and from her counselor, regarding this movie issue, and to be truthful; I laughed pretty hard before I realized that we must surely be viewed as the strangest people on the face of the planet, whose pre-teens are not allowed to watch a Disney animated flick. By the time I called back, the time for the movie was long since passed, and apparently they had worked something out so that our kids could play games while the others were occupied with the film.

But, again, I am sharing this to highlight the fact that Grace is an obedient kid, at least for the most part, and she was even willing to put her reputation on the line for this, which is a big deal when you're 10... and is especially a big deal when you're as social as Grace (we still struggle to figure out how the gene pool produced such an extrovert). This is, of course, not to overlook the fact that Seth obeyed, as well. But he is (at least for the present) much less concerned with his social life.

How does any of this relate to The Hunger Games?

Well... first let me say that The Hunger Games trilogy is, perhaps, the best work of literary fiction that I have ever consumed. There is no hiding the fact, from my family, that I have read it three times in about six months. They pay attention to what I'm reading, and they want to know about, "the bird books". I will let them read them someday. It will be later rather than sooner... but someday. And here I've set this sometimes confusing standard about what movies we can watch based on what books we've read! Oh, boy. This is the part where I chastise myself for showing The Lion King last week...

Now, there is no getting around the fact that I personally wanted to see The Hunger Games... that I have gotten probably far too caught up in the anticipation of the film... that there was going to be primo entertainment value here for me...

Phil said to me at some point, "You're going to go see that movie no matter what's in it." And I kind of balked, because I didn't want that to be true. I have a line... remember? But I think I knew he was right, all along.

I wanted to go to the midnight showing on Friday. I know, deep down inside, that the real reason I wanted to go to that particular showing was not that I needed to be among the first to see how it all played out (I do know how it ends, you know), but that I wouldn't have access to a review before then, so I could just claim ignorance to the fact that there were a handful of profanities (which is, in my opinion, the only glaring issue in regard to moral value... story line is a completely different problem altogether, though... it's coming... keep reading...) Seriously, Lisa? Seriously? Can I please claim that I was delusional or something?

But here's the thing. First of all, I couldn't find anybody to go with me at midnight, and second of all, Phil had something very important to do on Saturday morning (much more important than the fate of Panem). It was better for me to wait... And after checking the plugged in site on a fairly regular basis, it was confirmed that this show did not meet my standards, by a handful and a half of "poisonous berries".

When we woke up on Friday morning, I knew it was going to be an exceptionally busy day (even though the kids are on spring break), so I gave them a rundown (as I often do) about all of the things we needed to accomplish. And when I was done, Grace looked right at me and asked, "Are you going to the movie?" What? How does she even know the movie opened? She's homeschooled, and we don't get any TV channels! Ah... she's observant, though, I think to myself at the time... I answered her as honestly as I could at the moment and said, "I don't know."

I proceeded to spend my morning driving kids around to music classes and considering whether or not I should search for a movie watching partner and snag a ticket for a late night show. By the time I was ready to take Grace to her piano lesson, I had sent a quick message to my friend, Brandy, to ask if she was free. So don't get the wrong impression that I just went to the movie to decide whether or not Grace should one day be allowed to see it. It wasn't as noble as that. But this is what happened next...

I jumped in the van with Grace, and she started to tell me about all of her friends who had been to see The Hunger Games today. And I think to myself, "Oh... stupid Internet!" This is how she knows what's going on with the opening weekend. Even though we have blocked all but maybe half a dozen websites on her computer, she has been chatting with fellow 10 year olds who have been to see the show! And so of course my maternal instincts kick in and I ask her if her friends have told her anything about the movie... about the story... And she just says that they said the movie was good, but she still doesn't know what it's about... And I have no reason to not believe her. This is the point at which I reiterate how I do not feel this is an appropriate movie for children... but of course I am not saying that her friends or their families are bad people (blah...blah... blah...), and I do not want her to read the books until she's older, but I will let her... someday... probably when she's around 16. I fear that she has a countdown going on somewhere...

And now it really kicks in that I want to go see the movie, if for no other reason to make sure I have an accurate something to tell her about whether she should ever see it or not. But we all know, there is another reason. I just want to see it, myself. And I also realize at this point that I've backed myself into a corner, because she's smart enough to know what my standard is... and she's smart enough to know I've read the review... and so, if she trusts me to be a decent moral compass (which she does), she's going to think I've deemed this movie appropriate if I walk out the door to see it.

I ran home between Caleb and Grace's lessons to check for messages, and sure enough Brandy was available, so I set the movie time late enough that I could get the kids in bed before I left (ahem... the sneaking out of the house part... can't let my 5th grader know I'm out past curfew at a movie neither she nor I would really approve of)...

The other interesting piece of information I ran across... while Grace was at piano... was a sheet of paper that is often used for the piano kids to write each other little messages on during their computer time. This is always a collection of benevolent, fun little notes. As the paper fills up, Grace's piano teacher replaces it. It is really instructions on what to do during the computer time, but the kids have made it into a personal place for developing friendships. Ordinarily, I don't make it a habit to read their notes, but as I sat down with Caleb for his computer time, the words "Hunger Games" caught my attention. A quick scan showed that almost every single note was about the series... or the movie... or who is "Team Peeta" or "Team Gale" or "Team Katniss"... And let me assure you, these kids are what I would consider the "cream of the crop" here in our little town, and I'm just sitting there, staring at their handwriting and saying to myself, "They're all going to see it."

Not that this is a message to give into peer pressure or anything, but it occurred to me, quite strongly, that Grace had been inundated with this stuff all day long... maybe longer than that... And try as we may, we can't protect them from everything, forever...

So with all of this in mind, I came home, we had a playdate, I made dinner and then got Miah off to bed, watched an episode of The Jetsons with the kids, wondered if the tubes in the arena would look like the ones that lead to the Jetson's apartment, helped Phil get everybody else off to bed, and slipped out the door a few minutes later with Brandy, who had read a total of two chapters of The Hunger Games...

As yet another side note, I had decided at some point that I actually wanted to see the movie with someone who had not read the books, because I thought this would provide different perspective. I was right.

PART 2:

Upon arriving at the theater, we were told that there were only 7 seats left for the 9:30 show and that they were scattered, so we decided to purchase tickets for the 10:20. Ordinarily, I would have left the theater to do something else and then come back for the show, but there was already a line forming (it was about 9:20), so we decided to just go stand in it. Looking around I thought, "so far, so good. there are only adults in this line." It's not that I have an aversion to children. I have five of them! It's not that I have an aversion to teenagers. I have worked with them for years. I just wasn't in the mood for any screaming or crying or anything. I was armed with my pen and paper and ready to take it all in for the next 2 hours and 22 minutes. Brandy actually insisted on paying for my ticket and bought me a bottled water, as well. Once we claimed our seats, I went to the bathroom and then proceeded to take about 3 sips of my water, because the truth is I would have rather wet my pants than left the theater for any part of the movie. I am not kidding. I would have done it. I was looking at this as a onetime shot. There is no second viewing of The Hunger Games in my near future.

I have to pick on Brandy just a little bit, though. Once the movie started (which took a whole lot longer than I anticipated or had the stomach for, which I will explain in a moment), I actually forgot I was in a room full of people and just let myself get absorbed into the storyline... except for the occasions when I heard a gasp from next to me and turned to see Brandy with her face covered (this happened several times) and the one moment when she leaned over (after jumping nearly out of her seat) and said, "It's a good thing I went to the bathroom!" My dear friend, Brandy, who has never even seen Star Wars... I think I forgot to tell her The Hunger Games wasn't a chic flick... oops...

The most shocking realization of the night hit me before the movie began, though. It's been a really long time since I've seen a PG-13 in a theater. The raunchiness of the previews, alone, was more than I ever expected to expose myself to at one time, in the name of entertainment, again. I don't really even want to get into all of it, but I will not be buying tickets for another PG-13 film anytime soon. As much as I made fun of Brandy's reaction to the movie; I had to look away from the screen several times during the previews.

Now the movie itself...

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Oh, I just didn't love it...

Let's get the technical stuff out of the way first. 8 profanities, and they didn't even bother to use the one that was actually in the book. All three of the misuses of God's name were exceptionally unnecessary, because if you have read this series it should be apparent to you that God does not exist in Panem. Don't anybody freak out over this or anything, because my point is not a theological one. Of course, God exists everywhere, all the time. But the people of Panem sure don't know it. In three books, we never see His name mentioned once, and just think this through... in a world where 24 kids are thrown together to fight to the death, if God did exist in Panem; somebody would be praying. I was actually quite comfortable with the absence of God in the books, because to be frank, if there is no God then you cannot swear by His name or abuse Him in any other way. Or so I thought. Apparently I was wrong on that. This was my number one frustration (and the primary reason why I struggled with whether or not to see this movie). Always is.

Then we have 3 uses of d***, which are actually sort of interesting. Well... one of them isn't. It's just Haymitch throwing it in there for emphasis, I guess. The other two, though, are quite intentionally placed. When Katniss d**** both Gale and Peeta. Somehow, I think the screenwriter was trying to pull them together in some obscure way. It didn't work well. If Katniss has used the same verbiage to say just about anything memorable to them both, we would have had a moment in which we realize that she loves them both. You could show Gale, in shock, that Katniss has uttered the same "special" words to Peeta that she used for him on the morning of the reaping. "D*** you," just doesn't elicit any sort of heart wrenching, emotional response, does it?

As Katniss uses a h***, again, with Gale... you can just feel the years of friendship, right? And I think the other h*** was Cato or Clove in the arena, but I honestly can't remember. I just know it was there, because hey, I have a tally mark.

I was actually shocked at how little violence is shown. Not that I wanted to see hours and hours of gore or anything. That would be disturbing. But I did think it would get a little more intense with the Tracker Jacker scene and Cato's demise (which I will explore further below). The plugged in review makes it sound as if Katniss does not really kill... at least not on purpose. I would venture to say that she knows exactly what she's doing with the Tracker Jackers and that her intention is clear when she shoots Marvel. That was definitely a shot for a kill. It almost goes unnoticed when she shoots Cato to put him out of his misery after he has succumbed to the wolves (I guess wolves is a good word for them... they are definitely not the muttations from the book) for a few moments.

I didn't note anything of particular concern in regard to sexual innuendo (the plugged in reviewer mentioned Glimmer's clothes, but I really didn't find them to be anything different than what I might see at the local high school).

Now, content...

I think what I noticed, right from the beginning, was that this movie was set at a breakneck pace. 2 hours and 22 minutes is actually a decent length movie, but let's not forget that this is a 300+ page book that took an awful lot of people several days to read. This is why there was not enough time:

There was little to no character development. If you already know and love the characters, that might be OK. But the best example of this failure came when I asked Brandy, upon leaving the theater, if it was what she expected, and she said, "No. I didn't want her to fall in love with Peter. I wanted her to fall in love with that other guy." Ahem... Go ahead and look at that statement. "Her," is, of course, Katniss. "Peter," is Peeta. "That other guy," is presumably Gale. 2 hours and 22 minutes, my friends, and we don't even know their names! I decided to jump on this anyway. So I followed up with, "Gale, right? (I mean, I was assuming she didn't mean Cato)... Did you want Katniss to fall in love with Gale because of how hurt he was when she kissed Peeta (you know, that one time)?" The answer to this was, "No. It's because he's tall, dark, and handsome." Screenwriters... epic fail in the character department. If everyone doesn't love Peeta by the end of The Hunger Games, then he wasn't Peeta. But that's not all. By the end of this movie, we need to love Haymitch, too. Do we? No. I'm not even sure it was clear why he is their mentor. Did district 12 just pick some drunk bum off the street? Oh... wait... I think maybe there was a line in there somewhere that said he won "this thing" once. So he's a victor? Oh, yeah. I cannot believe he didn't utter the words, "Stay alive". That is not the same as, "Don't get killed." He didn't send enough parachutes. Where is the bread from District 11? Where is the sleep syrup to knock Peeta out? Where is the lamb stew? I really can't get over the lack of lamb stew. If you think I'm joking, I'm not. At all. But then again, Haymitch only sends the stew because Katniss amps up the love story with Peeta and says, "You don't have much competition anywhere," which is another line that doesn't make the cut. And, in my opinion, it had to make the cut. Because this is the moment you show Gale, in The Hob, with everyone looking on as he falls apart. But we were talking about Haymitch, right? At the end of the movie, the best you can do is tolerate him because he did get the burn medicine and also persuaded Seneca crane to make the rule change (this was a nice addition). You don't love him, though. You don't see the emotion (except for maybe in a couple of brief moments). You don't understand that Katniss and Peeta have become his family. And, frankly, you don't care much about his history or his games, so I guess they were never hoping for a prequel (see my earlier post). Effie is, at best, irritating. Venia, Octavia, and Flavius... was that you? I think I missed you. Cinna was alright. I'm going to stick by my original impression that he was cast well, and I think they did OK with getting the audience to understand that he's on Katniss' side. Rue was good, too, but you don't really get emotionally attached to her before she's gone. I did think that one of the best moments in the film was when Katniss is mourning her loss. This was well played. The other tributes feel like extras. You hardly care when they blow each other up and splatter blood on the screen. Perhaps, the more I think about this, we were supposed to be lulled into viewing the games like the citizens of the Capitol. Oh, I really don't like that. Ironically, I think that maybe Gale actually was the best character, but his screen time is so brief; you almost have to know the story beforehand to care.

Much more time needed to be spent on the development of the story (not at all unlike the need for more character development). We have virtually no love story here. Not that that's what it was all about, but it doesn't even run through the background. Peeta declares his love for Katniss, and even though she's mad; she's not really mad. In the end, we get a cute smile for the nice compliment. A kiss on the cheek and then one that's a little more passionate in an attempt to gain Peeta's permission to go to the feast wouldn't convince anyone that Katniss was in love... especially not President Snow. No wonder he's so angry! There are multiple opportunities that are missed to develop the story (and again, the characters) outside of the arena. Where are the family and friend interviews, for example, when only 8 tributes remain? The interviews, altogether (although I did like Caesar Flickerman), were lacking. We don't see Katniss' reaction to Peeta's declaration of love, because none of the tributes are watching! Caesar doesn't ask her what her favorite thing about the Capitol is, which is a missed opportunity for alluding to her defiance, not to mention we've completely deleted the lamb stew again! (And I realize this is probably getting comical, but what, exactly, is Peeta going to offer her in Mockingjay? Do you think he'll be able to take the time to fire up the oven in the Capitol apartment and bake cheese buns in his shackles?)

Some things just changed too much. "The boy with the bread"... What? This incident happened last week? How is it that a 16 year old Katniss who is taking tesserae and knows how to hunt is starving outside the bakery? And it is Peeta that has carried this memory with him? Thinking he should have gone to her instead of throwing the bread? No, Peeta... you've got it all wrong. Katniss owes you her life. And you've all but forgotten this. This is one of the reasons why you are an admirable character.

Perhaps the end of the movie was the most disappointing. Again, I didn't particularly want to see Cato mauled to a bloody pulp for hours on end, but he shows up at the Cornucopia without body armor, makes one last attempt at killing Peeta (who is doing exceptionally well after the medicine Katniss retrieves from the feast), makes a little speech about his sad life (in which you almost wish he didn't have to die), and then Katniss shoots him in the hand. He falls to the wolves (which are nothing at all like tributes), she shoots him again, he dies, the wolves disappear, and a relatively healthy looking Katniss and Peeta are left standing there. Uh... Peeta should be bleeding to death at this point. The stakes should be really high. But no... Pretend to eat the berries and head back to the Capitol looking pretty good. I kinda wanted to see Peeta dying in the hovercraft while Katniss knocks herself out on the glass trying to get to him. But everything in this movie made it pretty obvious that she didn't care that much if he lived or died anyway.

And one more thing... Nothing seemed spectacular. I expected more from the costumes on fire during the opening parade. The Cornucopia was sort of pathetic. Actually, the field reminded me a lot of the place we went to for the Paradise worship event a few years back. I couldn't quite get that image out of my head. Katniss runs into the forest and finds water pretty quickly. It's not all that hard to live in the arena. Katniss and Peeta spend a night in a cave, and there's not even any rain. The stream doesn't dry up. There are no buckets of pus coming from Peeta's leg wound. The Tracker Jacker stings don't turn into plum sized welts. Caesar Flickerman has to appear in the arena to clue us in that Katniss is having a hallucination? Hovercraft don't come to remove the bodies of the dead tributes. Avoxes don't exist. Haymitch doesn't fall off the stage. Plutarch doesn't fall in the punch. Cato doesn't pull out his hair when the supplies are blown up. Katniss doesn't lose her hearing. Posy doesn't exist. Madge doesn't exist. Greasy Sae doesn't exist (unless she's the one who gives Katniss the pin... which I don't think she is). Does the mayor exist? Buttercup in a plain old cat. The baker doesn't come to say good-bye to Katniss. Thresh doesn't disappear into a field of grain. There is no field of grain. Am I just getting picky now?

What book was this movie based on again?

Here's what I liked:

The look inside the gamemakers world was fantastic. It was kind of cool that they executed Seneca Crane with nightlock. President Snow was better cast than I expected. Gale and Katniss' good-bye was excellent (although I'd seen that before I went to the theater). The beginning of the revolution in 11, paired with Gale's comments about what would happen if everyone just stopped watching the games, was great foreshadowing. The moment when Katniss and Foxface meet and have a second to consider whether or not to kill one another, as they are running away from the Cornucopia, is very good. The Hob looked better than I imagined it while reading. Taylor Swift's song in the credits is pretty good. It is possible that they have left themselves room to tell the tale of the origin of the Mockingjay pin. The Hob vendor was mysterious, she gave the pin to Katniss, and it was almost as if she knew where it had come from and where it was going.

I've picked this thing apart the best I know how.

When the credits began to roll, I just sat there. Through two whole songs and a black screen, I just sat there. It was 1:00 in the morning. When I finally got up, Brandy asked me, "Was it everything you hoped it would be?" A few people who were still there in the theater seemed to take interest in what I might say. Perhaps they thought I was a "real" reviewer with my notes and all... But all I said was, "No. No, it wasn't". I guess I've said a whole lot more tonight.

Read the books. You will not be disappointed. The movie... not so much...

Lisa

Edit: 3/28/12 Yes... I'm still thinking about this several days later... Two more details that were omitted in the film were the concept of force fields (which, although not imperative to The Hunger Games will, in fact become very important to the rest of the series... at least I would imagine...) Force fields should have either been mentioned on the roof or when the gamemakers say that Katniss is nearing the edge of the arena. Also, I do not believe there was any mention of District 13, which was eliminated after the dark days. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not remember anything about this in the opening scenes, and it really would have been easy to slip it in there...