pennybug84,
It's funny, but there are a lot of people I talked to who have seen the movie and absolutely love it. They don't have the issues I had with the movie. I enjoyed the movie myself, but it seemed to be missing an emotional core.
The cave scene and Peeta's leg. Yup, the cave scene wasn't developed enough, and Peeta's leg remains intact. I didn't really have a problem with the leg thing, I'm actually glad Peeta gets to keep it. BUT, his willingness to bleed out and give Katniss the victory was a very handy way to show the audience just how Peeta feels about Katniss. If Josh and Jennifer had some real chemistry, it isn't needed. Since they don't have much, they could have used that scene to demonstrate some emotional intensity.
If they need to bring in leg difficulties for Peeta later in the movies, I guess they can pin it later on it healing imperfectly.
Yeah, Peeta does catch on to Katniss at the end of the first book, but Katniss herself is VERY confused about her feelings. She definitely felt something real there in the cave, but she keeps that to herself.
Maybe that's the problem, that all of that confusion would have been so difficult to actually portray in the movie. Marielle's suggestion of voiceovers could have worked, but that's a tricky thing to carry off.
Maybe Openhome's suggestion hit the mark. The romance is going to be greatly simplified, and the triangle developed mostly in the second movie.
pennybug84 wrote:The more I think about it, the more the ending really irritates me. I know things needed to be changed/left out but it seems like they left out some major things.
The book ending with Katniss in confusion is perfectly set up throughout the rest of the book. It isn't set up well in the movie. I've tried to think how it would have worked if they had stuck it in, but by the end of the movie it may have been even more confusing without the proper prep.
pennybug84 wrote:I think if the cave scene was longer & we saw more of their relationship forming (including their discussion on the roof), it would have made it more believable.
I think that was where the crucial bonding had to take place. It's over 4 chapters in the book, and about 1/6 of the total page count. Suzanne Collins invested a lot there in the cave. My bet is the filmmakers decided that it would drag the movie down, so it was cut down greatly in significance.