From: CrimsonOcean | #005
What are your thoughts on Cato as the main antagonist?
I liked him, he had this whole schoolyard bully about him and it seemed appropriate that he'd lead the careers alliance to clear up the map at the start. In enlisting Peeta and that kid with the mines it showed he was really smart and had planned well for all this, not just physically. Obviously had no bones discarding someone once their use was complete to him making him a real deadly opponent, he had a lot going for him and I was glad he wasn't just some souleless killing machine sort. He seemed genuinely upset at Cloves death, I don't know if that was out of self interest as it reduced his chances but he seemed to have some humanity in him at least. He was the complete opponent really.
As an antagonist, the conclusion was disappointing. Being the most deadly opponent you'd expect the mother of all face offs against Katniss, instead it was Katniss fully rested, focused, armed and with an Ally versus an unarmed, tired and wounded Cato. The "real" standoff battle seemed to be Cato vs Thresh so it was a bit disappointing there wasn't more on that or the kind of terrain Thresh had been living in.
Did you feel the movie did the book justice? Do you like what they cut/added in?
I'm not a huge fan of movies and pretty much always prefer the books to the movie adaptations so I wasn't expecting a superior experience or anything.
I thought it was really well made as movie adaptations go, the first half was notably quiet without narrations and I really liked that and the kind of atmosphere it created. It was all meant to be about observation at this stage so letting the scenes speak for themselves was great directing.
They cut out a lot of stuff that was filler was I grateful for, I think they left out the sleeping potion, the early lengthy scramble for water and the ear injury if I remember right. Some of the deaths were a bit less atmospheric, the hallucination after the tracker jacker sting was uh graphic in the book, the suicide pact seemed more like a bluff in the movie than something they'd have genuinely done in the book, rues death was a lot less atmospheric too and I'm not sure why they reversed the kill order of Thresh and Foxface o_O
The views of the gamemaster and announcer were interesting, I'd actually love to see a version entirely from the TV edit of what the districts saw! A good movie though, would have liked the kills to have been a bit less watered down but I suppose it was necessary for the age rating.
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