I saw this film on Friday. I thought it was a very good adaptation of the book. It really captured the pace and the feel of the book although unfortunately some dialogue as well as background of the characters did have to be cut to fit it into the film's time frame.
Many of the critics said that they really liked Elizabeth Bank's portrayal of Effie Trinket, and the viewer felt this character was bothered by the re-reaping scene. Where in the previous movie Effie's shallowness, makes her apparently oblivious to the fact that her job entails leading lambs to the slaughter, in this movie she has gained some depth through the time she spent with Katniss and Peeta who "won" the Hunger Games last year, and this growth in sympathy allows her be visually shaken by the injustice the Capital is inflicting by making them return to participate in the Quarter Quell. Effie personifies the views of the other citizens of the Capital, who over the years grow quite affectionate towards the Victors (or veterans of the Hunger Games), and watching them have to go back into the arena, against the premise that they are forever "safe" once they survive this ordeal disturbs the citizens of the Capital. Without realizing it, President Snow is not only attacking the districts and the Victors, but the loyalty of the Capital's citizens in him and the whole Panem authoritarian system.
One of the things I was sad to see not depicted was the back story of Haymitch Abernathy. One of the things that readers do find out in the book, Catching Fire, is how Haymitch won his Hunger Games. Not only does this victory show his resourcefulness and cunning as a young tribute, it very clearly shows why 24 years later he is a such a screwed up alcoholic. He is the only Victor from District 12 and over the years, watching his loved ones killed by the Capital, as well as the children / tributes he mentored die, has made hims so psychologically damaged the only way he can cope day- to-day is to isolate himself emotionally from everyone. In the book, Katniss describes going to his lovely house but being overwhemed by the stench of dried vomit, boiled cabbage, and stale food. Had the Hunger Games continued, and had Katniss won without the rule change which allowed her to team up with Peeta, it is very strongly implied that Katniss would have ended up exactly like Haymitch.
Haymitch is also a vehicle that allows the back story of Peeta and Katniss' parents to also be told. Katniss's mother's best friend dies in the Quarter Quell that Haymitch survives. Peeta's father tells Peeta he was supposed to have been the one to have married Katniss' mother, as they were both merchant class, but Katniss' mother chose to wed Katniss's father. The familiar way that Haymitch and Katniss' mother talk to each over about the past (when he's sober) allows the reader a glimpse of their young lives in the Merchant Sector and what both of them have lost.
