Reviewing Movies

I've now read the entire Hunger Games Trilogy and just watched the movie once more. In the buildup to the movie much was made of Liam Hemsworth; imagine my surprise then when he gets less than 15 minutes of screen time in the entire show, far less than his character does in the book even. In this love-triangle he definitely comes out the loser. He has acquired a certain amount of notoriety by association with the Billy Ray Cyrus, Achy Breaky Heart, family; why he couldn't find a better Aussie sheila is beyond me. At 6'3' he towers 10 inches over the diminutive Josh Hutcherson who plays Katniss' partner Peeta in the games, even Jennifer Lawrence has 2 inches on him. One senses that in casting the reasoning was that Hemsworth's Gale could not be seen as subservient to Lawrence's Katniss. Hutcherson has much more acting experience.

Knowledge of books 2&3 of the series helps inform the movie plot, are we likely to see II & III? As usual the transition to screen does violence to the story as recorded on paper, or my tablet in this case. Neither, mind you, is great literature. The moral implications of placing children in gladiatorial combat are never far from the surface. In selecting Katniss the Capitol gets more than it bargained for and the riot that occurs in District 11 after their 12-year-old Tribute is killed proves that. The trip to and arrival at the Capitol are second only to the Arena and its buildup in screen time. The movie emphasizes the games themselves providing very little back-story. Haymitch is almost an afterthought. So many details such as Prim's cat are glossed over so quickly one wonders why the film-makers even bothered.