The film is not the book, and the book is not the film.

This was my mantra for the entirety of the lead up to The Hunger Games movie, and I still managed to let myself down and nitpick the entire time. This blog, however, is going to be about my response to the second screening of THG, once I'd seen it and gotten over my annoyance at some comparatively minute omissions and additions.

DISCLAIMER: This WILL contain spoilers for the movie AND the book. Please read on at your own discretion.

Let's start with the Midnight Screening. Wow, what a fun night. Got there at about 9:30pm after a day of nothing but apprehension, and the panic set in. Panic about what, you ask? Well, I'm not entirely sure. It was just the pure anticipation. I had a cocktail to calm myself down and somehow, inexplicably, won THG trivia! The questions were relatively easily and I only lost one point when I couldn't remember the casualty statistics for the bloodbath at the Cornucopia. Fail, self. But ironically it changes in the movie...Anyway, because of that, I won tickets to visit Gold Class again which was awesome, and then we had to go up and list as many of the District Trades as we could. I swore I was going to fail...but I won. I got 9/13, and for that I won a movie edition of THG book. I was wanting to buy one, but not willing to commit money to another copy of the book when my other is perfectly fine...so yay!

Now, like I said, I don't feel like I could truly enjoy the film the first time just because I was so anxious and apprehensive and my hopes were so high, anything less than perfection might have killed me. And you know, it was kind of perfect as a film, the way it balanced itself, but I still nitpicked the hell out of it. Things like...the omission of key lines, like "Here's some advice: Stay alive", or "You here to finish me off, Sweetheart?" were definitely felt by the most loyal of fans. I wish we'd seen the District 11 bread sent, something that I found incredibly important to the story. Was it that hard to find an orange cat? Apparently, but it didn't detract anything from the film and only made me raise my eyebrow for ten seconds before I promptly forgot it all. I still missed Madge, and craved the Avox backstory. But I truly understood the necessity of it, even if it did distract me a little too much on the first viewing.

So I went again, and I could really appreciate it for what it was. A film. A brilliant film at that, that paid homage to the book in the most perfect of ways. The characters were flawless. The actors that portrayed them...brilliantly cast. I didn't cry this time, or the first, but I had chills about ninety percent of the time and a massive lump in my throat at every single tribute's demise. I wanted to know more about them, about Glimmer, Foxface and Cato, and my personal favourite, Clove, just like I did in the book. I felt so much horror and sympathy for the Careers, despite how heartless they were "supposed" to be - you could tell they really weren't, and Alexander Ludwig (Cato) embodied that perfectly. Willow Shields as Prim gave me serious, serious, serious chills with her screaming at the Reaping. And Amandla as Rue...oh, Amandla, it's not very kind of you to shatter so many hearts worldwide in such a "short" role. No, Woody wasn't who I imagined as Haymitch while I read, and while he was a little nicer in the movie adaption...he was perfect. Elizabeth was Effie. Lenny was the perfect Cinna. Stanley just...aced Caesar.

But the stand out, the undeniable stand out of this film is absolutely and inarguably Jennifer Lawrence. Jennifer Lawrence is...a unique, honest, and absolutely memorable talent. Jennifer Lawrence is going to go down in Hollywood history for the best possible reasons - and she deserves it. I have become utterly engaged with her as an actress, and have watched pretty much everything she's ever starred in over the past few weeks. She is flawless as Katniss. Jennifer Lawrence was Katniss Everdeen...anyone else? Unthinkable. She captured the character so beautifully, she understood the nuances to her personality so well. She was afraid and yet the most courageous being all at once. She said so much with her face that words simply never could. At times I wished for a narration to fill in the blanks for non-book-readers, but honestly...her expressions said it all.

 Much of the same can be said about Josh Hutcherson as Peeta, especially his genuine shock and horror at the Reaping. I am so excited to see how his character evolves, because I know he will act it all beautifully. God, I'm already anticipating Catching Fire, and then Mockingjay...so much time before I get my onscreen THG fix!

Oh, and might I add...my favourite scene? Quite seriously one that wasn't even in the book. It was Seneca and the Nightlock in the bowl. Wow. What a delicious, twisted addition.

Overall...Gary did the book justice. Yes, changes were made, but in reflection they only enhanced the film. And to those that felt it incomplete...just re-read the books, they will never change.