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As an Australian fan of the Hunger Games franchise I’ve had a good three days for my thoughts to settle after a very exciting and eagerly-awaited midnight screening on Wednesday night. After seeing the film, though I was undoubtedly satisfied, there was something about the film that didn’t quite meet my expectations.

As an avid MuggleCast listener, I’ve heard the problem mentioned time and time again regarding the Harry Potter film adaptations, and I think it applies to The Hunger Games, too: pacing.

At the midnight screening, shortly after Katniss and Peeta arrive in the arena, my friend pulled out her mobile phone to check the time and was so shocked that she showed me too. As I looked at the 1:45 AM shining off the screen at me and did the quick math in my head, shocked to think how much story was going to be squashed into the final 30 minutes of the film.

So much time and detail was spent at the beginning of the film that there seemed to be little time left to spare on the actual time in the arena. Though this tight deadline gave the arena a frantic feeling, to a book reader like myself, it made the latter part of the film feel rushed. The time in the arena was condensed flawlessly, but so much happened in such quick succession that I believe deaths such as Rue’s and Cato’s could have been significantly more emotional, had they been given a position that wasn’t so heavily surrounded by other areas of action and excitement.

Was this rush the result of the small budget the film had? Or an attempt to ensure a PG13 rating by shortening the violent sequences? Or did the filmmakers feel the need to spend ample time explaining the background story?

How will they handle the next film? Catching Fire has significantly more content to get through than The Hunger Games did. Based on what was left out in this film, what can we expect to be sacrificed as they cram the next book into just under two and a half hours?