May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor

I absolutely love The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins!  I read it on a plane to San Diego three years ago and was completely riveted by the story.  To say that I have been looking forward to the movie would be an understatement!  I just got home from the midnight screening and I was completely blown away!  To be honest with you I really disagreed with some of the casting decisions, especially Lenny Kravitz as Cinna.  However, now that I have seen the movie, I feel that the casting is spot-on.  I loved Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, the girl who volunteers to be the tribute for her district in the annual Hunger Games competition to save her sister.  I think she displays both vulnerability and steely determination in the role.  I also loved Josh Hutcherson as Peeta, the other tribute from District 12.  He is completely endearing and the scenes showing the developing relationship between Peeta and Katniss are fantastic!  I had my doubts about Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, the mentor to the tributes from District 12, but he carries it off in my opinion.  At first I really didn't like Kravitz's portrayal as Cinna, the stylist for the District 12 tributes, because I was expecting someone more metrosexual.  But he definitely grew on me!  Stanley Tucci is brilliant as Caesar, Donald Sutherland is suitably icky as President Snow, and Elizabeth Banks is hilarious as Effie!  The movie is amazing!  So many scenes are even better than I imagined in my mind, especially the Tributes' Parade with the costumes of fire and the launching of the tributes into the arena.  I was fascinated with how the filmmakers portrayed the manipulation of the game.  Great digital effects!  The scene where Rue, one of the other tributes, dies was one of the hardest for me to read in the book and I had lots of tears during this scene in the movie, especially when Katniss salutes District 11.  Midnight screenings are always a lot of fun and the audience seemed to be very enthusiastic, cheering and applauding many times!  Overall, I was very pleased with the adaptation of this amazing novel and I highly recommend it!