Of the Girl on Fire

So a few weeks ago, I posted my review of The Hunger Games teaser trailer. Well, now I'm back with the first full theatrical trailer.

I'm not going to go through this one frame by frame like I did the last, but I will hit on a few of the main points. Again, I wholeheartedly encourage you to watch the trailer here before reading my analysis.

Again: loved the trailer. It starts out with Katniss quickly sneaking out of the bounds of the District. She meets up with Gale, and we hear a snippet of conversation in which Gale says that they could do it - run away and survive in the wild. "They'd catch us," Katniss says. "We wouldn't make it five miles." For those who haven't read the book, maybe they're thinking the parents. But as a huge hovercraft comes into view and Katniss and Gale hide, it becomes abundantly clear that that is not quite the case.

What follows are scenes from the Reaping, the ride to the Capitol, and training scenes. All are very intense and emotional. In particular, Katniss' volunteer scene is heartwrenching. Cinna has a few brief appearances, and already they are cementing the importance of his character - besides Katniss and the other tributes and such, he is the only adult who seems to look serious or solemn. "I'm here to help you make an impression," he says. We catch glimpses of other adults with their funny makeup, outfits, and hairdos. Cinna is the only one who seems somewhat normal to our view. This is already setting him up as an important, possibly subversive character.

The score of the trailer is beautiful. I love the music accompanying the train ride to the Capitol and our first look at the Capitol. There's something about it that's elegant, grim, serious, and otherworldly all at once. I think it's beautiful.

Then the rules are explained: each District chooses one boy and one girl, between the ages of twelve and eighteen, to fight to the death. Scenes of training, people chopping up mannequins and the like. We see Peeta and Katniss' rooftop scene, where Peeta wants to make sure that if "I die, I'm still me." "I just can't afford to think like that," Katniss replies in a low voice. Wow. The impact of this scene - if you didn't know what was going on before, you know now.

Getting close to the end, the music revs up a bit and we see some scenes of Katniss with her sister, Katniss giving District 11 the respectful hand gesture via television screen, Katniss guarded in a hallway. Then she's in a glass cylinder, and we hear the countdown. Ten, nine, eight, seven....

Cut to scenes of her home, her face on a large video screen, a crying Prim, and a lonely Gale as the last five seconds are counted down. Then back to the tributes, and they're all off their blocks, sprinting to the supplies. Katniss grabs a back without even stopping, and the camera is running into the woods.

The title frame pops up, and Rue's whistle to end the trailer.

This trailer is so eloquent and beautiful. It really looks like they're going to be really faithful to the book, and that's so important to all us die-hard fans. I am really surprised at how much I like Jennifer Lawrence in Katniss' role so far. She really seems to fit the role.