However, I can't help but feel like this movie was sort of mocking the people who bought into the hype or made it out to be better/more than it is. The story made the bad guys seem so abnormally different from us, and made it all too easy to despise them as if to hide the fact that it is actually us that is lining up to see this in theaters and making them a ridiculous amount of money.
I see so many complaints about there not being enough violence, saying that the book had more and so should the movie. But violence between people who are being forced to fight one another out of survival, isn't nearly as 'satisfying' as is violence done for vengeance or with a true purpose. At least let us feel like it's justified in some way. I have no problems with violence in movies. Braveheart is my favorite movie of all time, and I was just thinking about the fact that I recently watched Man on Fire, a movie where he goes around torturing people without remorse on a mission to rescue a kidnapped girl.
However, it disgusted me to see people saying there needed to be more violence in this movie. The removal of much of the graphic violence seems to be almost appropriate to a potential theme of mockery, as if knowing that although it was a risque topic with kids fighting and killing other kids, they purposely didn't go far enough with the subject. Far enough to get people drawn in, but not far enough to actually deliver on what people were 'hoping' for.
Even the situations they were in, pandering to the audience so they could get gifts to aid them. These situations seemed to pander to the audience watching the movie as well, tugging at our emotions and wanting them to happen even though we're aware that they are simply trying to manipulate the people watching them in their world.
The mockingjay seems to allude to this theme in a way, although I'm curious if there could be some deeper meaning to what the mockingjay could stand for in the books. I know as well that the books build up to the rebellion later in the series. But the first half of the movie is spent shoving it in our faces, and there are brief flashes to a rebellion in one of the districts during the hunger games, but it never actually delivers on it.
In that regard, even though it may come at a later date, this movie only teases us with the promise of giving some sort of meaning to all of this. But it never gives us a reason for everything we watched. It ends with no resolution in sight. Not even a hint at it. If I wasn't already aware that there were more books and that the rebellion comes later, I would have thought the movie had just spit in my face. I'm still not convinced it didn't.
Haven't been able to stop thinking about this since I saw it earlier today, so I figured I'd post this while it was still fresh. Anyone agree? Disagree?