This weekend, I watched The Hunger Games.  I was in the mood for a bit of action-drama, but not the stereotypical blockbuster (the testosterone-laden, shoot-em-up, blow-em-up, beat-em-up style movie), so this instantly appealed. I will immediately point out that I had not read the books (and still haven’t), knew little about the intricacies of the plot (still don’t, other than what I saw in the film), and in fact, was a little skeptical as to how good the movie would end up being, half-expecting it to be a rushed Hollywood job, quickly churned out to milk the success of the novels.

But the film did not disappoint at all. In fact, I found myself fully engrossed in the story, so much so, it made me think that it may indeed be worthwhile reading the books. Bear in kind that I’m not one to ride the band wagon when it comes to books that have received huge amounts of hype. I am not a Harry Potter fan, I have not read Fifty Shades of Grey…and whilst I succombed to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, I did not feel it lived up to the huge fanfare. But that’s usually the problem, once the hype has hit, expectations are too high.

But, now that I’ve seen the film, the concept of The Hunger Games, the disturbing parallels with today’s world, and the believable characters has got me a little bit hooked. Plus the little hints of background stories in the film, only served to make me feel that there was much more I was missing.

So, for those that have seen the film and read the book/s, I’m curious to know how you think the film matched up? How faithful is the film to the book? How does Hollywood’s psychodelic portrayal of the Capitol match Suzanne Collins’ vision? Would you say the novel is darker or lighter than the film?

Chiara Priorelli, Publicty & Online Marketing Manager