Her aim is true, unfortunately the film misses big time
Rarely do movie versions of books live up to their print source material. The Hunger Games movie is a huge disappointment compared to the book.
Suzanne Collins wrote the bestseller book and co-wrote the screenplay for the blockbuster movie. She is to be hailed for the former and partially blamed for the latter. If you did not read the book, don’t bother with the movie. You will be confused and wonder what all the hoopla’s about.
If you read the book, do not see the movie. You will be disappointed.
The book is such a wonderful page-turner, it practically reads itself. The movie somehow makes the same story dull, which is a damn shame because Jennifer Lawrence is so good.
I blame the screenplay and the director. What should have been an incredible cinema experience is pedestrian and feels cheap. It lacks pace, pathos, excitement.
Read the book. Maybe some day Hollywood make a picture worthy of the pages, but for now, save your money.
Sometimes a winning franchise needs to go backwards to go forward and give it a shot of adrenalin. Such was the case with the Batman and Star Trek series, and such is the case with the X-Men tales.And she has super powers, too?X-Men: First Class takes us to the origins of super-powered mutants. Like Christopher Nolan’s 2005 Batman Begins and 2009’s Star Trek by J.J. Abrams, this prequel is action-packed popcorn-munching good times. And like those two brilliant prequels, this is one of the best in the franchise.
The story in X-Men: First Class is rich, interesting, well acted and directed (by Matthew Vaughn of Layer Cake and Layer Cake fame). Learn about the early days of Professor X and Magneto, and what drove them apart. Hint: it wasn’t one lending his albums to the other and having them come back scratched (although that might make for a good sequel to this prequel).
The effects are cool but do not get in the way of a complex and satisfying character-driven story.
Not being an action comics fan, I didn’t know the beginning story of the mutants, how they came together and fell apart. It’s a classic tale of good and evil (oh, evil– why must you be so evil?). We’ve got Nazis, CIA spooks, Ruskies, JFK, government bureaucrats–– and those aren’t even the mutants!
For mutated wonders, there’s mind readers, a metal bender, shape shifter, chameleon, flier and fireball spitter, harness-energy-and-then-zap-it-back-at-you wonderdude and more. Plus January Jones, who had some kind of superpower but she doesn’t really need it because, well, she looks like January Jones and that’s strong enough stuff to stop Don Draper in his Florsheims.
There’s plenty of terrific performances by Kevin Bacon, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and a crew of up and comers who’ll be here soon enough.
I won’t get into details. Suffice to say this movie has a lot of charisma, energy and charm, and is certainly the best action adventure fare this year.
See it and believe in the power of fantastical stories again.
