Initially, I didn’t really care if I saw the movie or not. I had read the first book and had seen the first movie of the Hunger Games trilogy, and while it was interesting enough, I didn’t really care what happened in the sequels-- book and movie wise. Still, it was there and a little voice in my head was whispering “Why not?” By the end of the movie, I knew exactly why not.
The movie started out as I knew it would. The obvious, romantic tension between Katniss and Peeta and between Katniss and Gale was there from the very beginning. That was fine with me; I’m a sucker for a little romance as long as it doesn’t turn into a Notebook chick-flick. The arranged marriage- nothing I hadn’t seen before. The baby announcement? I could handle it. Heck, I even predicted the announcement of the baby without reading the book! The scenes with rebellion were a little...uncomfortable, however. It started out fine with increased military action, symbols of rebellion graffitied on train station walls, and crowd riots. Basically everything that is expected in a proper revolt. However, it went from relatively fine to borderline disturbing in mere minutes. Those who made even the smallest act of so-called rebellion were immediately “taken care of” by the Peace Keepers of Panem. Examples of this include an elderly man from District 11 being shot and Gale Hawthorne being severely flogged. I had seen floggings before in movies (the most extreme being in The Passion of the Christ), yet this, I believe, was the gentle push downhill.
I agree with Haymitch, the last Hunger Games were indeed child’s play. It was absolutely nothing compared to what I witnessed. Now, I don’t get creeped out very easily. I’ve seen some creepy stuff in my lifetime; most of them by my own choice. Honestly, I still have no idea why this disturbed me as much as it did, but I do know that I ended up huddled on the couch with the other two members of my company covered in a blanket. Perhaps it was the psychological aspect of it all. The jabberjays screaming in the voices of loved ones, the mandrills, and the blood raining down from the sky all combined to create a horror filled death trap was obviously enough to scar our minds, our not-easily-scared minds, and make us paranoid. The poisonous fog was a prominent factor as well. I could handle the wounds from it fairly well; it was the fact that Mags sacrificed herself and ran into the fog that affected me so strongly. I can understand the idea of killing off a beloved character to play on the audiences’ minds. It seems that I fell right into the psychological trap.
Throughout the movie one can observe Katniss slowly spiraling into the clutches of insanity. I don’t know if other people had the same experience as I did, but I personally felt myself losing my sanity alongside her. Again, the psychological aspect of this movie comes into play. It was not just the mind games that made me a little more than uncomfortable. The character Joanna was a contributing factor to this; beginning with her little strip session in the elevator. I've seen things like this before-- as I've said before, I've seen some pretty trippy stuff-- but that does not desensitize the situation. It was still very uncomfortable to watch. Joanna’s little outburst during her pre-game interview wasn't appreciated either in my eyes. No amount of bleeping could mask the fact that she dropped two f-bombs. I get it, she was angry, but that is no reason to glorify cursing; even if it is a common thing that people do today.
In all honesty, I have mixed feelings about this movie. I didn't absolutely hate it even though it was pretty psychologically damaging for me. Still, I didn't particularly like it either. There were times where at least one of my company (including me) would ask aloud, “Why are we watching this?” Why did we watch it? Why did we watch a movie which glorified the genocide of people ranging from young children to the elderly? Is this really what society deems as acceptable, now? I've heard my friends at school say how they loved this movie and couldn't wait for the next one. Are these people so blind and numb that they see this extreme violence as fun? Maybe, but this is where I draw the line. I can deal with all that I've seen, read, and listened to prior to this but I refuse to be sucked into this growing trend. I don’t see the glory in this. I don’t see the fun in organized genocide, because that is exactly what this trilogy is. I didn't care about this series before and I should have remained that way. I want no part of this Hunger Games fad that everyone around me seems to be falling into. It’s not worth my time; I have better things to do than watch a bunch of people kill each other because the government tells them to.
