Saw it this afternoon, and I loved it. The movie is rarely as good as the book, but they did a good job in the amount of time they had.
I agree that if you haven't read the books it could be confusing as they didn't spend much time discussing why the world was the way that it was portrayed. Bean, the movie is set quite some distance in the future in what was formerly the United States (since this was the 74th games, it is obviously quite far in the future). At some point, some of the regions tried to rebel against the government. They failed. People were forced to stay in their Districts and were not allowed to leave (remember the high voltage fence with the sign saying that it was the District boundary - although they didn't always have the fence on which is why Katniss could get through it to illegally hunt). The people were starved and forced into submission. Even if they physically could, not everyone could move to the capitol any more than they could now. Someone has to mine the coal and grow the food and cut the trees, etc. The Hunger Games was a sick way for the government to remind everyone that they were in control of everything.
I wasn't sure about the casting of the movie when it was announced, but I thought the actors playing Katniss and Peeta were a pleasant surprise. Not sold on the Gale actor, though. All I can think about when I see him is Miley Cyrus. Stanley Tucci was brilliantly creepy. Not a big Woody Harrelson fan generally, but Haymitch was the perfect role for him.
Can't wait for the next movie!
I agree that if you haven't read the books it could be confusing as they didn't spend much time discussing why the world was the way that it was portrayed. Bean, the movie is set quite some distance in the future in what was formerly the United States (since this was the 74th games, it is obviously quite far in the future). At some point, some of the regions tried to rebel against the government. They failed. People were forced to stay in their Districts and were not allowed to leave (remember the high voltage fence with the sign saying that it was the District boundary - although they didn't always have the fence on which is why Katniss could get through it to illegally hunt). The people were starved and forced into submission. Even if they physically could, not everyone could move to the capitol any more than they could now. Someone has to mine the coal and grow the food and cut the trees, etc. The Hunger Games was a sick way for the government to remind everyone that they were in control of everything.
I wasn't sure about the casting of the movie when it was announced, but I thought the actors playing Katniss and Peeta were a pleasant surprise. Not sold on the Gale actor, though. All I can think about when I see him is Miley Cyrus. Stanley Tucci was brilliantly creepy. Not a big Woody Harrelson fan generally, but Haymitch was the perfect role for him.
Can't wait for the next movie!