What The Flick?!: The Hunger Games Hits Bullseye

Photo courtesy of collider.com

Did I ever think this weekend would come by as ordinarily as the rest of the other weekends? Hell no, and I say that because of this reason alone: it's the premiere of the most-anticipated movie of 2012, "The Hunger Games".

Okay, I admit. I was one of the most thrilled just to see even the first 5 minutes of The Hunger Games. I was waiting for March 2012 to come since November 2011. Quite honestly, I haven't looked forward this much to a movie until this one. The book from which the movie was inspired turned out to be my sweet escape (well, maybe sweet's not the right word) from all the stress around me.

And then came the premiere, March 22. Good thing, we got our tickets couple of days before the first day of screening because as we heard, seats were fast running out. Thanks to the lady staff at Greenbelt's ticketing booth for giving us the best seats out of the very few vacant ones that time. Ha!

So, was the movie a pleasant surprise? Or a potentially-great-movie gone haywire just like the Disney's infamous John Carter? Let's weigh in on what worked and what didn't for "The Hunger Games":

What worked:

Photo courtesy of Vanity Fair

Let's start with the cast, shall we? 

Grade: Overall, great ensemble. B+

Katniss Everdeen at the training
Publicity photo for "The Hunger Games"

The sexy Oscar-nominee Jennifer Lawrence, who played the lead as the brave Katniss Everdeen, was uh-mazing in the movie. She played the part, dressed the part. At the end, she appeared to be charming without even trying. Probably not an Oscar-worthy performance but her role as Katniss will surely propel her career even more. An A-Lister in the making? Definitely!  Grade: A-

As expected, Elizabeth Banks a.k.a. Effie Trinket managed to exceed my expectations. I've heard really good reviews of her acting for this movie and after seeing it, she was just up there on my list. Grade:B+

What do I make of Woody Harrelson as the drunkard Haymitch Abernathy? Just perfect! I've seen him in Zombieland and I'm guessing that he works best when he plays a lunatic. For the record, he looks a gazillion times better with long locks. Grade:B-

Peeta Mellark: The boy with the bread
Publicity photo for "The Hunger Games"

How about Josh Hutcherson, who played the other half of the star-crossed relationship as Peeta Mellark? I felt like he was successful at doing what Gary Ross wanted him to do. However, his acting chops (as his experience tells us) wasn't showcased enough because of the path the movie has taken. In the book where Katniss and Peeta shared probably 65%-35% of the time, I felt that it was lopsided to Katniss' favor in the movie, roughly around 90%-10%. Grade:C

So what about the famous tributes?

I felt Alexander Ludwig (Cato) was able to make the most out of his short airtime. Grade: B-

Isabelle Fuhrman was effective as Clove. I'm probably having memories of her as Esther in The Orphan. Grade: C+

What about the rest?

Donald Sutherland as President Snow - Started weak but he got more intriguing at the end. Grade: C+

Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman - How can you forget that big smile? Grade: C+

Wes Bentley as Seneca Crane - Fine beard . Grade: C-

Scene Selection. Grade: Well-thought of. B

The movie reasonably showcased the best scenes it could capture from the book in 2 hours and 20 minutes. Although in my opinion, it still can actually be great without some of the scenes like the Avox-hovercraft scene and Mr. Everdeen's death.

3 Best Scenes:

Katniss and Peeta at the rooftop
Photo courtesy of everyboutany.blogspot.com

• The Feast - It was a heart-pumping scene that you don't want to end. Grade: A-
• The Reaping - It's what set the mood at the cinema. Great visuals to match what's in the book. Grade: B
• The Rooftop - You will feel how genuine the lines were. It's the first scene that established Katniss' and Peeta's chemistry as star-crossed lovers. Grade: B
• Bubbling under: When Katniss found Peeta camouflaged at the river, near the cave. I remember hearing everyone gasp during this scene.

So that's it for the good points (is it time to duck from flying tomatoes?). Sure you'll tell me there are lots of other good stuff from the movie and I agree. These are just the details that I felt were most worth-mentioning and therefore, were on top of my list. 

For my next post, read here as I run down the list of things that sadly didn't work for "The Hunger Games". Click away!