Catching Fire! - The Movie

How many of you went to see Catching Fire last night?! I went last night to the 10 p.m. showing with my sister who is an equal fan of the series, and a friend who had stopped reading mid-Catching Fire and I had to convince to come see the movie because she'd lost interest.

(If you have not read Catching Fire, or seen the movie, please note that this post has spoilers. If you want to know more about Catching Fire, see my spoiler-free book review here)

To give you an idea on how we felt about it, my sister and I spent the entire time covering our faces and whimpering because we knew what horrible thing was coming next (i.e., speech in District 11, Quarter Quell announcement, Cinna, Mags...). My friend sat through it all silently and occasionally curled up and whimpered also. At the end, my sister and I immediately made plans to go back on Saturday and see it again. My friend didn't say much until we got out of the theater and she exclaimed "I'm so impressed!" She went on to say that this movie was so much better than the first, she can't believe how good it was, and that she wants to come back with us on Saturday to see it again. WE. LOVED. IT.

I saw some tweets immediately after about it being good despite the changes. I say, who cares about the changes, it was amazing! They did leave some things out and change the way some things happen, most notably:

     There are no escapees hiding in the woods trying to get to the fabled District 13, so Katniss has no idea of District 13 until the very end.

     Gale gets whipped not for selling game but for attacking a Peacekeeper.

     Katniss doesnt get whipped in the face, just punched.

     There are a ton of scenes with President Snow and Plutarch Heavensbee that don't actually happen in the books, but for some reason I actually like them. Especially the ones with Snow and his granddaughter... good set up for the next two movies, especially.

There were many other little changes, and probably some big ones I didn't care enough about to remember. I think the changes made were good for the movie adaptation and I absolutely loved it. The action was so well done, so exciting to watch. All of the emotions that leave us so bereft in the books come to life and do it to you all over again in the movie. By the time we left, I was so emotionally drained.. I just wanted to curl up in my bed for a few days. I will be seeing it several more times over the next few weeks, you'd better believe it!

So, please, please, please tell me - have you gone to see this movie? If not, are you going some time soon? I need to discuss how amazing it was!

A.