A Book and Movie Review of Hunger Games
Is the book better than the movie?



In the book and movie the Hunger Games, there slightly differences, but both are good. The book is better if you have an imagination and can picture the action in your mind. The movie is better if you have a hard time putting details or clues together. The best thing about the movie is that it explains everything in detail so you cannot miss a thing. But the best thing about the book is that it’s the original idea.
The book has the amazing original plot, the rising action stays throughout the chapters making the suspense greater and greater. In the gory parts of the book, it is extremely graphic and gives great detail, mostly about Peeta's leg and how it gets amputated in the end.
The movie, I feel, is a lot different from the book. The good thing about the movie is that they show the game makers more clearly and how the arena works. They show how they made fire to make Katniss stay in the arena and how the dogs were released at the end. The movie is a lot less violent and the action happens a little too quickly for my taste, so there is less suspense.
The Hunger Games is competition to the death between 24 teenagers, 2 from each district, and there is only one survivor. The games started after district 13 rebelled and now the other 12 districts must prove their loyalty to the Capitol. The Hunger Games is held sometime in the future; the actual games take place somewhere in the Rocky Mountains on the west coast of Panem. The twelve districts that are spaced apart around Panem give two tributes between the ages of 11-18, one boy and one girl. All the districts are separated and produce goods for the Capitol. Living in Panem in any of the districts or the Capitol, isn’t ideal because it is a dictatorship.
Katniss is the main female character. She is sixteen years old and a hunter/gatherer. She doesn’t believe in love and she comes from a very poor family in district 12. Peeta, the seventeen year old boy, is the male protagonist , he comes from a wealthy baker family in district 12. He isn’t poor like Katniss and also has no hunting skills like she does. He believes in love very strongly. Gale is an 18 year old boy that is good friends with Katniss in the district. He hunts and gathers with Katniss. Cato is the antagonist, the villain in the story. The strongest tribute in the games, he is aggressive and mean and out for blood, ready to kill, and comes from a very wealthy district. Prim is Katniss’s younger sister, 11 years old, and was originally picked to fight in the Hunger Games before Katniss volunteered herself. Prim is also Katniss’s main motivation to win the Hunger Games.
Here are a few highlights from the book and the movie. The reaping is the first highlight. It’s when a boy and a girl ages 11-18 get picked to fight in the Hunger Games. Prim originally got picked but Katniss volunteered in her position to save her little sister. Effie chose Peeta as the boy and Katniss and Peeta were the two from district twelve. The start of the games were very intense: the tributes ran for supplies and Cato killed off the first half of the group in less than 20 minutes. Katniss ran for safety and made a new friend, one of the younger girls, Rue. The bigger tributes were hunting for Katniss because they wanted her gone as she was a good archer. After Peeta got really sick from his infection, Katniss went out to get his medicine, risking her life. When she was getting the medicine, she got tackled and was fighting with Fox face. When Fox face was about to kill Katniss, Tresh saved her life. The last suspenseful moment was Cato’s death. He tried to take Peeta with him but Katniss shot Cato in the right place and he died a long a painful death.
The themes of the story are a warning about how TV will get worse, very violent and try to force you to watch it. Another theme is that a dictatorship will start and the rich will stay wealthy and be in power over the poor.
The book is very suspenseful. It’s a page turner and it’s hard to put down. The book is a lot more gory than the movie. It tells and explains in great detail. The story is a lot more interesting to read because you can picture everything and imagine it.
The movie is very easy to watch. If you have a hard time putting pieces together and following the book, the movie will help you understand everything. They picked the right actors that fit the roles perfectly, making the movie believable. But in the movie, the story is shown from the game maker’s perspective instead of Katniss’s.