This is the first time that I am watching this movie, so this is going to be interesting.

“After arriving safely home from their unprecedented victory in the 74th Annual Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) discover that they must do a quick turnaround and begin a Victors Tour. As she and Peeta travel throughout the districts, Katniss senses a rebellion is stirring. However, President Snow (Donald Sutherland) proves that he is still very much in control when word comes of a cruel change in the rules for the upcoming 75th Hunger Games.”

For those who have never read this book. This movie is a lot of fun. It’s extremely tense, and that twist in the end feels like it comes out of nowhere. If anyone is reading this review without reading the book or seeing the movie, please go watch it.

Now, for those who have read the book, I have 5 thoughts.

Firstly, I find it interesting how we see Katniss and Haymitch’s PTSD within the first 10 minutes. We see Katniss pull back an arrow at some wild turkeys, and the movie shifts with those turkeys and one of the tributes she killed in the games. Like I said, this is interesting because we see that these things have consequences. In many action movies, we don’t see people feeling traumatised from what they had to do. And after seeing this, we see that Haymitch’s reaction to being woken up is Haymitch attacking with a knife that he sleeps with.

Secondly, why did they take away the whole smell of the blood and roses from President Snow? I know that he still has roses, but there is no point in the movie where we have Katniss reacting to smelling roses. But, and correct me if I am wrong, we never see blood in his mouth. Or on his person.

Thirdly, I would like to talk about the victory tour. This is an excellent example of taking what we see in the book, changing it to the movie and making it bigger. There are two different ways. Firstly, where they are in District 11 in the books, Katniss feels guilty because she looks at the family of the tributes from that district and seeing them makes her react. In the movie, they have images of those tributes above their families, which helps spell it out better in a visual medium. Secondly, in the books, there is a wave of anger from certain Districts. In the movie, you have the anger at Katniss sticking to their script and not saying what she thinks. The fact that Katniss attempted to keep the peace is what caused it to fail.

Fourthly, Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman, I know that he was in the first movie, but we see more of the interviews in this one, and we get to see how he manages a crowd. From whipping up the crowd, but also when Joana yells back angrily about having to go back to the games, he immediately discounts her. Also, his laugh has been in my head for a while. But the mask slips when they are all holding hands together. And if I were going to change one thing, I would bring back the commentary of Caesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith. It would have made things a little better if we had seen what the viewers are also seeing.

Fifthly, the interactions between Snow and Plutarch. Looking back on it, you can see how Plutarch is manipulating Snow to keep Katniss alive. But this is the reason that I almost think this is a good movie to watch without reading the book, because if you haven’t read the books, Plutarch is such a villain on the same level as Snow. Right up until the reveal that he is working for the rebellion.

Happy reading to all, and to all a good night.