“Sometimes he would remember a moment of sweetness and almost wish things had ended differently. But It would never have worked out between them, even if he’d stayed. They were simply too different. And he didn’t like love, the way it had made him feel stupid and vulnerable.” Uhh the book makes the movie hit different
I watched the movie first, then went straight to book store and bought the book. Finished reading it, and went to see the movie again. I already like the movie the first time I watched it, but with more understanding from Snow's monologue in the book, I love this movie even more! Because Snow is a great actor, always calculating what would benefit him best, so he seems like a good person in the movie, but you get some subtle hints here and there, for example when he went in to the arena, what Gaul used as an incentive is the Plinth prize, not his friend's life. Or when he promised Sejanus in the district that he will keep him safe but he already sent the bird etc. The cinematography is on point!
It's the Capitol and then 12 districts. Snow is from the Capitol and they are poor due to the war and father Snow dying. This is a decent adaptation but definitely suffers from the lack of Snow inner monologue. It shows us a lot about his thoughts and actions not being consistent with each other.
I think the books do a better job of showing the slow burn of how he devolves into the President Snow of the Hunger Games trilogy. It's mainly because the book has a lot of his inner monologues where he feels entitled to Lucy Gray, the Plinth prize, and power. Anything in his way is an obstacle to his rightful place on top and he will find any way to justify his actions! Snow had a deeeeeep hatred and jealousy towards Sejanus in the books because he had everything he wanted: wealth, power, influence and the kicker was that Sejanus was from the districts. Snow could not fathom how someone he deemed below himself to have more money, power, and influence than him. He would only act nice to Sejanus' face so that he could have him in his corner, but would also ridicule him with the other capital children to make sure they knew he was one of them. He also was very possessive of Lucy Gray in the books. He thought of her as a songbird that he can parade around to show off his great prowess as a mentor in the capital. In the districts, when he had nothing, he felt like he finally had something that was "his" that no one else had. There are some crazy quotes in the books where he would wish Lucy Gray would just shut up and stop singing because he didn't understand the song and it wasn't about him lol. Or how he wished she was back in the Hunger Games so that he knew exactly where she is and what she's doing. Crazy! I had a lot of fun dissecting and reading the books to understand Snow as a character and the movie did what it could without the monologue to convey it. Overall I really liked the books and movies I think Suzanne Collins is a brilliant writer and the actors did a great job carrying on after the main cast of the Hunger Games.
Yeh I didn't get that jealousy in the movie. I wonder why they didn't add it in. Maybe the books would have done a better job of getting us to empathise with him or at least ease us into the character change that happened in the last quarter of the movie..
The way you thought they were gonna hold off on grabbing weapons and killing each other is exactly how it went in the book. They all ran and hid and a few grabbed a weapon and hid as well.
Great reaction! Regarding seeing a different side of Snow until the sudden turn - actually, when I was reading the book, there were so many points where I was like “wtf do you hear yourself right now?” Like his worldview was just so… backwards and hypocritical sometimes, it’s crazy haha. But the descent into madness also happened gradually, and it just really gave you an impending sense of doom - like “oh no Snow, please don’t go down that path...” By the end, his character arc made total sense. Also, as you guys mentioned, everyone around him really shaped who he became to be - but I just wanted to mention that (from the book), I do feel that his growing fear of Dr. Gaul really had a substantial influence on his actions as well. The movie cut out some things that further showed how cruel, ruthless, and unhinged she was. Like for example - with Clemensia and the snakes - it was more suspenseful and unsettling bc Dr. Gaul didn’t mention the consequences until it was too late, that even Snow was horrified that she was bitten. Then afterwards, he actually got to see the horrible aftermath (he visited Clemmie in the hospital) as well, and he also learned that Dr. Gaul continued to experiment on her… I feel like that was such a turning point where he realized just how insane she was. And the overall horror of it all probably cemented the idea that he needed to "land on top" to protect himself. As the story progresses, he definitely was finding it easier and easier to justify his bad actions that just kept piling up after he crossed the line, so much so that there was no way back anymore. But I would say the biggest thing the movies cut out from the books that I believe they should have kept, was his relationship with Sejanus's parents. The Plinths literally treated Snow like their second child, like cooking and packing him meals, things like that. So it makes his betrayal even more cruel in the books. And he basically only rose to power through the help of THEIR money, because they pretty much adopted him as their second son after losing Sejanus. So that would have been another point to show how manipulative and twisted he already was. Not to mention, as I see other people have already commented, his feelings for Lucy Gray was very... I wouldn't say 100% fake, but he was possessive and he cared more about the benefits of her for sure. It was really evident in the book that he only tried to run away with her bc he was terrified the guns would turn up and upend his life, and he thought this was the only way out. In the shed, they both realized at the same time that she was the only loose end keeping him from ending this "fiasco" once and for all, and she ultimately decided not to stay around to find out if he was actually gonna kill her or not. Regardless, I still really liked the movie, it was shot beautifully and the actors all did amazing. And I loved that this prequel showed the origins of everything happening in Katniss’s time. Everything from all the ideas Snow implemented in the games, the mutations, to his attachment to roses (his mom), and how he got the idea to start poisoning people to eliminate political threats, etc. And the little Easter eggs with all the names linking back to present day characters (Heavensbee, Crane, Flickerman, etc.). But yeah, sorry for the super long comment! But I hope this gave a bit more insight. I am impressed at how much you guys were able to catch without the background context though, I always enjoy y'all's insights and comments :)
Oh btw, I’m glad you guys said you thought that the tributes would be less inclined to go for the weapons at that point in time though - bc that was exactly how it was in the book. I think the movie just added the bloodbath in the beginning for the thrill factor to appeal to the general audience more. You’re right, in the book, it was actually a pretty “boring” game until things were forced to pick up.
Yeh, see I can understand "book Snow" a bit better when you put it like that. Maybe this movie would've ran too long but they seem like important details to leave out.
I'm glad that you were able to catch onto enough to understand at least part of the story's points. It's unfortunate that the film didn't stick to the guns the book was blasting. There were several key moments that the film chose to make Snow more sympathetic, thereby undermining the reality that he was always a manipulative, jealous, traumatized, and sociopathic young man. That "change" at the end comes out of nowhere for a lot of people, and many believe that it's because Lucy "betrayed" Snow. Actually, he turned on her out of paranoia and ambition. The film also cuts a decent portion of the plot lines that make it clear that Snow's developing worldview is seriously messed up, and that studying under Gaul is absolutely the last thing the world needed.
@@RamblersIncI don’t think he was “always” that way. I believe the focus of this n book was to get us to question our beliefs about good and evil. Are people just inherently born that way or are they nurtured into it. Or perhaps a mixture. If we say Snow was always evil, are we suggesting that when he was a child rummaging for food he was evil? Because then Tigris would be too! I think the point is to consider how people can live through the same tragedy (Tigris and Snow in same household, Snow vs districts) and see how privilege and power can propel some while others are destitute. He did what he had to survive but I think his motivations were self preservation and family at points and then it turned into something else. In a way Tigris had a different social positioning and perhaps wasn’t allowed to carry the weight of helping family survive so while we can say Tigris was just “good” and Snow was “bad” if Tigris had been responsible for keeping family afloat and alive, had she been born as the man of the family, and had she been mentored by Dr. Gaul, would she have ventured down same path? This is why I find these discussions so fascinating because there are so many new boxes to overturn. 😆
I genuinely want to thank both of you for all of your Hunger Games reactions! The moment I started watching your reaction for the first movie I immediately buckled down in preparation to watch your reactions to all of the rest throughout the day and, as expected, they did not disappoint. I’m so thankful for how intelligent and empathetic you both were as viewers and I think those things alone made these my all time favorite reactions to this series. So again, thanks so much for checking them out and sharing your reactions with us. It was very enjoyable to witness! I will definitely be checking out other reactions on your channel and looking out for ones that you post in the future. I wonder if you’d consider checking out the movie Tenet. It’s a sort of futuristic sci-fi movie that deals with time travel and really messes with your mind. Though most people don’t quite understand it the first watch, I have a feeling you guys would grasp it much better than others (certainly better than I did the first time around). It’s also just really well done and quite emotional towards the end and I’m genuinely surprised that it’s not as popular as all the biggest sci-fi movies. I’m a sci-fi lover myself and I’ve seen a LOT of movies, but this is easily one of my favorites, especially after a second watch (it sort of requires a second watch to fully appreciate it and you’ll understand why once you’ve seen it).
Thank you for joining us in watching these amazing movies 😊 We are planning to do more Christopher Nolan movies after watching The Prestige. Tenet and Memento are on our watchlist. Hopefully soon 🤞
I've never read the book so my only frame of reference is this movie, and from what I've seen ppl comment about the book, I definitely agree that the book was able to do a lot more to show how evil Snow really is. But that's bc printed medium is much better at implementing interal monologue. And for ppl who are watching without having read the book first, I believe the movie DOES want them to view Snow as the 'underdog' who deserves his dues (just as Snow says, audiences want someone to root for & against) even if you know how his story ends. The movie shows him externally & how people around him see him as smart & charming- but not his true inner thoughts, which is why he comes across as misunderstood but not evil at first. I also think the movie wants you to expect there to be a clear turning point for him, but there's never a moment where he actually 'turns evil' because he's been playing the game as selfishly as possible the whole time and only dialed it up when it became life or death for him as a peacemaker. On a rewatch it's easier to see that his deceitful & narcissistic traits are pretty much scattered throughout the movie, especially during his personal 'hunger games' in act 3. Snow's paranoia at the very end makes him determined to take her out the same way he did with Sejanus, where he's hunting her down like another tribute, even though the snake under his mother's scarf could've coincidentally just slithered under it to hide from the rain. They sprinkle in moments that could be confused as him just wanting to win the Plinth prize & they make him sympathetic, but he's always in situations where he can make one of 2 decisions and he always picks the self-serving option. And he always has to be given ideas by ppl who are truly good-hearted like Tigris, Sejanus, or Lucy Gray, just to change them into things that he can benefit from. I personally enjoyed the movie a lot bc even as someone who's never watched/read any other piece of Hunger Games media, I picked up on the signs that he's a discrete manipulator.
I think I watched it wrong because a big part of me genuinely thought he wanted to win because of Lucy. Now that I've had time to think about it, there have been so many selfish moments from him.
Love this comment! There is so much nuance so the fact that folks have such mixed reactions in trying to pinpoint one moment is part of Collin’s writing!! It brings to life that we can’t pinpoint a moment someone turns evil. I see a decline but I also found myself viewing the movie rooting for him to make different choices. I think it’s a good thing and reflects perhaps that we still want to see people as human and not categorize people so quickly into good or bad. This character really causes an internal struggle since we have knowledge of how he ends up. Super perplexing but fun to see discussions about the book context n
@@DovesEyes623 Thank you so much :) I find people's different reactions to the movie vs the book super interesting! And I'd definitely love to read Collin's version of Snow directly from her books to get a fuller picture of his character.
The movie did kinda mess up the ending. People often interpret it as her betraylimg him when really she knew she couldn't trust him. Throughout the book we hear his point of view and he is posessive, looks down on Lucy and never really changes his views on District. He basically wants to bring her to the Captial and make her Captial. But fantatic reaction as always!
There was a tonal shift as soon as he found those guns. I don't know if that's what they were trying to portray but it all of a sudden got really cold between the both of them.
@RamblersInc there absolutely is. The leas up in the book though was a bit darker for me. I kept thinking, oh no. No, no,no, Snow. Please don't do anything. And as soon as the guns were found I knew for certain, he was gonna kill/attempt to kill Lucy. And it was crushing. I knew how it was gonna end, but it still upset me. But I have seen a lot of reactors, basically almost side with Snow and flat out, say it's Lucy's fault Snow is evil, because she broke his heart. While in the book, there is no doubt his intentions, much, much, sooner. How people can swing that way is insane to me. Even my husband seemed confused by it.
I am scared to watch this reaction because I’m already noticing the comments 😅 which as someone who read the book after watching the movie, I see the adaptations differently than most. Biggest critique I see : “we’re missing his inner dialogue” Hearing narration in this type of movie would have been insufferable! We didn’t have it for any of the other THG, and there were nuances missed in all. But this story was about privilege, power,and the nature vs nurture debate. Collin’s is an outstanding writer and it would have dumbed down the context to insult her by adding narration imo. Second common critique: “the movie made Snow more sympathetic” When I first watched it I caught myself surprised at several points and then quickly reminded self “oh wait yes that makes sense, it’s Snow”. I don’t see how folks get to Third part without seeing his consistent decline throughout the film. I think the film made him look less sympathetic. But you have to look past his charming demeanor and the attractive person playing him. It’s quite brilliant as it brings to life what Suzanne was articulating about privilege. Even though he was poor and very much like the district, his heritage and appearance was able to gain trust quickly. One key moment that was changed from book that made Snow looked 10x worse was Bobbin. In the book it was dark and he had no clue if he hit him or not. In the movie they added the last swing of club that was definitely unwarranted which I think displayed a clear shift in his character. Additionally without inner monologue, his actual dialogue in movie was clearly bigoted against the districts and that was consistently worse throughout the film. He wanted to bring Lucy gray to capital and he never once saw himself as a person district so the obsession with LG may be the only critique that didn’t fully come through on film but the other two critiques are the bane of my existence 😂 😅
I think for the entirety of the movie, in my mind, I had Donald Sutherland's Snow. So since the introduction all I saw was an evil guy. But it kept on painting him kind of opposite until the last act. Now that I read your comment and some of the others, I definitely missed the points throughout where he had been self serving or possessive though. "...the obsession with LG may be the only critique that didn’t fully come through on film". This was a big one for me yeh. Don't hesitate to watch it and correct us if we've made mistakes. Just keep in mind that we share one brain cell between the both of us 😂
@@RamblersInc yea, I think they did casting too good, and Tom Blyth did too well of even convincing audience he was good. If you watch again, you’ll see he does a lot through his eyes. But I definitely remember being in the theater and shocked every time he did something and then snapped back. The book goes way more into Dr. Gaul and the songs really tell story too buti understand they just wanted this to be one movie. But of course I’ll watch yalls review 😆 ! I enjoy yalls reviews since I found yall for The Good Place! Very insightful! It’s on my queue for today!
22:36 common misconception. The Capitol arena was used for the execution of captured rebels during the war, so it became common for the rebels to bomb it once they surrounded the Capitol. When the war ended the arena had been bombed so much that its only use was the Hunger Games. It would have been too much of a hazard for the average Capitol citizen to enter the arena post-rebellion. People all over the internet say the first Hunger Games had a live audience but that makes literally no sense when you know what state the Capitol was in after the war.
Background - this was written by the original writer *Suzanne Collins a few years after the other movies came out. It was unexpected because she said she was done with the Hunger Games world. Now she is writing another about the 50th Hunger Games which was the one Haymitch won. I didn't like this book myself. Hard to empathize with the bad guy. Lucy is a traveler aka gypsy that's why the difference. Her people just got stuck in 12 when the capital won the war.
I'm so glad I wasn't the only one. Whilst we haven't read the books, we've had 4 movies to really get to know just how evil this guy is. The hardships of the Snow family doesn't do anything for me (except for Tigris...I felt for her).
“Sometimes he would remember a moment of sweetness and almost wish things had ended differently. But It would never have worked out between them, even if he’d stayed. They were simply too different. And he didn’t like love, the way it had made him feel stupid and vulnerable.” Uhh the book makes the movie hit different
I don't know how you portray that on screen either.
I watched the movie first, then went straight to book store and bought the book. Finished reading it, and went to see the movie again. I already like the movie the first time I watched it, but with more understanding from Snow's monologue in the book, I love this movie even more! Because Snow is a great actor, always calculating what would benefit him best, so he seems like a good person in the movie, but you get some subtle hints here and there, for example when he went in to the arena, what Gaul used as an incentive is the Plinth prize, not his friend's life. Or when he promised Sejanus in the district that he will keep him safe but he already sent the bird etc. The cinematography is on point!
Good point. He didn't go in specifically to save him.
It's the Capitol and then 12 districts. Snow is from the Capitol and they are poor due to the war and father Snow dying.
This is a decent adaptation but definitely suffers from the lack of Snow inner monologue. It shows us a lot about his thoughts and actions not being consistent with each other.
Maybe if they added narration, it could have worked better?
Actually the districts and the capitol are completely separate snow isn't from district 1
I think the books do a better job of showing the slow burn of how he devolves into the President Snow of the Hunger Games trilogy. It's mainly because the book has a lot of his inner monologues where he feels entitled to Lucy Gray, the Plinth prize, and power. Anything in his way is an obstacle to his rightful place on top and he will find any way to justify his actions!
Snow had a deeeeeep hatred and jealousy towards Sejanus in the books because he had everything he wanted: wealth, power, influence and the kicker was that Sejanus was from the districts. Snow could not fathom how someone he deemed below himself to have more money, power, and influence than him. He would only act nice to Sejanus' face so that he could have him in his corner, but would also ridicule him with the other capital children to make sure they knew he was one of them.
He also was very possessive of Lucy Gray in the books. He thought of her as a songbird that he can parade around to show off his great prowess as a mentor in the capital. In the districts, when he had nothing, he felt like he finally had something that was "his" that no one else had. There are some crazy quotes in the books where he would wish Lucy Gray would just shut up and stop singing because he didn't understand the song and it wasn't about him lol. Or how he wished she was back in the Hunger Games so that he knew exactly where she is and what she's doing. Crazy!
I had a lot of fun dissecting and reading the books to understand Snow as a character and the movie did what it could without the monologue to convey it. Overall I really liked the books and movies I think Suzanne Collins is a brilliant writer and the actors did a great job carrying on after the main cast of the Hunger Games.
Yeh I didn't get that jealousy in the movie. I wonder why they didn't add it in.
Maybe the books would have done a better job of getting us to empathise with him or at least ease us into the character change that happened in the last quarter of the movie..
The way you thought they were gonna hold off on grabbing weapons and killing each other is exactly how it went in the book. They all ran and hid and a few grabbed a weapon and hid as well.
That makes sense right? Especially in the early days
Great reaction! Regarding seeing a different side of Snow until the sudden turn - actually, when I was reading the book, there were so many points where I was like “wtf do you hear yourself right now?” Like his worldview was just so… backwards and hypocritical sometimes, it’s crazy haha. But the descent into madness also happened gradually, and it just really gave you an impending sense of doom - like “oh no Snow, please don’t go down that path...” By the end, his character arc made total sense. Also, as you guys mentioned, everyone around him really shaped who he became to be - but I just wanted to mention that (from the book), I do feel that his growing fear of Dr. Gaul really had a substantial influence on his actions as well. The movie cut out some things that further showed how cruel, ruthless, and unhinged she was. Like for example - with Clemensia and the snakes - it was more suspenseful and unsettling bc Dr. Gaul didn’t mention the consequences until it was too late, that even Snow was horrified that she was bitten. Then afterwards, he actually got to see the horrible aftermath (he visited Clemmie in the hospital) as well, and he also learned that Dr. Gaul continued to experiment on her… I feel like that was such a turning point where he realized just how insane she was. And the overall horror of it all probably cemented the idea that he needed to "land on top" to protect himself. As the story progresses, he definitely was finding it easier and easier to justify his bad actions that just kept piling up after he crossed the line, so much so that there was no way back anymore.
But I would say the biggest thing the movies cut out from the books that I believe they should have kept, was his relationship with Sejanus's parents. The Plinths literally treated Snow like their second child, like cooking and packing him meals, things like that. So it makes his betrayal even more cruel in the books. And he basically only rose to power through the help of THEIR money, because they pretty much adopted him as their second son after losing Sejanus. So that would have been another point to show how manipulative and twisted he already was. Not to mention, as I see other people have already commented, his feelings for Lucy Gray was very... I wouldn't say 100% fake, but he was possessive and he cared more about the benefits of her for sure. It was really evident in the book that he only tried to run away with her bc he was terrified the guns would turn up and upend his life, and he thought this was the only way out. In the shed, they both realized at the same time that she was the only loose end keeping him from ending this "fiasco" once and for all, and she ultimately decided not to stay around to find out if he was actually gonna kill her or not.
Regardless, I still really liked the movie, it was shot beautifully and the actors all did amazing. And I loved that this prequel showed the origins of everything happening in Katniss’s time. Everything from all the ideas Snow implemented in the games, the mutations, to his attachment to roses (his mom), and how he got the idea to start poisoning people to eliminate political threats, etc. And the little Easter eggs with all the names linking back to present day characters (Heavensbee, Crane, Flickerman, etc.). But yeah, sorry for the super long comment! But I hope this gave a bit more insight. I am impressed at how much you guys were able to catch without the background context though, I always enjoy y'all's insights and comments :)
Oh btw, I’m glad you guys said you thought that the tributes would be less inclined to go for the weapons at that point in time though - bc that was exactly how it was in the book. I think the movie just added the bloodbath in the beginning for the thrill factor to appeal to the general audience more. You’re right, in the book, it was actually a pretty “boring” game until things were forced to pick up.
Yeh, see I can understand "book Snow" a bit better when you put it like that. Maybe this movie would've ran too long but they seem like important details to leave out.
I'm glad that you were able to catch onto enough to understand at least part of the story's points. It's unfortunate that the film didn't stick to the guns the book was blasting. There were several key moments that the film chose to make Snow more sympathetic, thereby undermining the reality that he was always a manipulative, jealous, traumatized, and sociopathic young man. That "change" at the end comes out of nowhere for a lot of people, and many believe that it's because Lucy "betrayed" Snow. Actually, he turned on her out of paranoia and ambition. The film also cuts a decent portion of the plot lines that make it clear that Snow's developing worldview is seriously messed up, and that studying under Gaul is absolutely the last thing the world needed.
So was he always that way (possessive, jealous etc)? Because the movie portrays him as "the nice guy" that turns bad in the last 15 minutes.
@@RamblersInc Yep, he was. I don't know why the film wasn't comfortable with that, but there it is.
@@RamblersIncthe film focuses more on show’s outward appearance. I’m sure the movie Snow is how he looked to the OTHER characters.
@@RamblersIncI don’t think he was “always” that way. I believe the focus of this n book was to get us to question our beliefs about good and evil. Are people just inherently born that way or are they nurtured into it. Or perhaps a mixture. If we say Snow was always evil, are we suggesting that when he was a child rummaging for food he was evil? Because then Tigris would be too! I think the point is to consider how people can live through the same tragedy (Tigris and Snow in same household, Snow vs districts) and see how privilege and power can propel some while others are destitute. He did what he had to survive but I think his motivations were self preservation and family at points and then it turned into something else. In a way Tigris had a different social positioning and perhaps wasn’t allowed to carry the weight of helping family survive so while we can say Tigris was just “good” and Snow was “bad” if Tigris had been responsible for keeping family afloat and alive, had she been born as the man of the family, and had she been mentored by Dr. Gaul, would she have ventured down same path? This is why I find these discussions so fascinating because there are so many new boxes to overturn. 😆
I genuinely want to thank both of you for all of your Hunger Games reactions! The moment I started watching your reaction for the first movie I immediately buckled down in preparation to watch your reactions to all of the rest throughout the day and, as expected, they did not disappoint. I’m so thankful for how intelligent and empathetic you both were as viewers and I think those things alone made these my all time favorite reactions to this series. So again, thanks so much for checking them out and sharing your reactions with us. It was very enjoyable to witness! I will definitely be checking out other reactions on your channel and looking out for ones that you post in the future. I wonder if you’d consider checking out the movie Tenet. It’s a sort of futuristic sci-fi movie that deals with time travel and really messes with your mind. Though most people don’t quite understand it the first watch, I have a feeling you guys would grasp it much better than others (certainly better than I did the first time around). It’s also just really well done and quite emotional towards the end and I’m genuinely surprised that it’s not as popular as all the biggest sci-fi movies. I’m a sci-fi lover myself and I’ve seen a LOT of movies, but this is easily one of my favorites, especially after a second watch (it sort of requires a second watch to fully appreciate it and you’ll understand why once you’ve seen it).
Thank you for joining us in watching these amazing movies 😊
We are planning to do more Christopher Nolan movies after watching The Prestige. Tenet and Memento are on our watchlist. Hopefully soon 🤞
I've never read the book so my only frame of reference is this movie, and from what I've seen ppl comment about the book, I definitely agree that the book was able to do a lot more to show how evil Snow really is. But that's bc printed medium is much better at implementing interal monologue. And for ppl who are watching without having read the book first, I believe the movie DOES want them to view Snow as the 'underdog' who deserves his dues (just as Snow says, audiences want someone to root for & against) even if you know how his story ends. The movie shows him externally & how people around him see him as smart & charming- but not his true inner thoughts, which is why he comes across as misunderstood but not evil at first.
I also think the movie wants you to expect there to be a clear turning point for him, but there's never a moment where he actually 'turns evil' because he's been playing the game as selfishly as possible the whole time and only dialed it up when it became life or death for him as a peacemaker. On a rewatch it's easier to see that his deceitful & narcissistic traits are pretty much scattered throughout the movie, especially during his personal 'hunger games' in act 3. Snow's paranoia at the very end makes him determined to take her out the same way he did with Sejanus, where he's hunting her down like another tribute, even though the snake under his mother's scarf could've coincidentally just slithered under it to hide from the rain.
They sprinkle in moments that could be confused as him just wanting to win the Plinth prize & they make him sympathetic, but he's always in situations where he can make one of 2 decisions and he always picks the self-serving option. And he always has to be given ideas by ppl who are truly good-hearted like Tigris, Sejanus, or Lucy Gray, just to change them into things that he can benefit from. I personally enjoyed the movie a lot bc even as someone who's never watched/read any other piece of Hunger Games media, I picked up on the signs that he's a discrete manipulator.
I think I watched it wrong because a big part of me genuinely thought he wanted to win because of Lucy. Now that I've had time to think about it, there have been so many selfish moments from him.
Love this comment! There is so much nuance so the fact that folks have such mixed reactions in trying to pinpoint one moment is part of Collin’s writing!! It brings to life that we can’t pinpoint a moment someone turns evil. I see a decline but I also found myself viewing the movie rooting for him to make different choices. I think it’s a good thing and reflects perhaps that we still want to see people as human and not categorize people so quickly into good or bad. This character really causes an internal struggle since we have knowledge of how he ends up. Super perplexing but fun to see discussions about the book context n
@@DovesEyes623 Thank you so much :) I find people's different reactions to the movie vs the book super interesting! And I'd definitely love to read Collin's version of Snow directly from her books to get a fuller picture of his character.
The movie did kinda mess up the ending. People often interpret it as her betraylimg him when really she knew she couldn't trust him. Throughout the book we hear his point of view and he is posessive, looks down on Lucy and never really changes his views on District. He basically wants to bring her to the Captial and make her Captial. But fantatic reaction as always!
There was a tonal shift as soon as he found those guns. I don't know if that's what they were trying to portray but it all of a sudden got really cold between the both of them.
@RamblersInc there absolutely is. The leas up in the book though was a bit darker for me. I kept thinking, oh no. No, no,no, Snow. Please don't do anything. And as soon as the guns were found I knew for certain, he was gonna kill/attempt to kill Lucy. And it was crushing. I knew how it was gonna end, but it still upset me. But I have seen a lot of reactors, basically almost side with Snow and flat out, say it's Lucy's fault Snow is evil, because she broke his heart. While in the book, there is no doubt his intentions, much, much, sooner. How people can swing that way is insane to me. Even my husband seemed confused by it.
Also it's a shame we never see or hear about her again. Maybe that lack of closure is meant to feel uneasy.
Already half way through and as always yall have a good reaction. Can't wait for another prequel of the 2nd quarter quell.
Agree. Really like these guys.
Thanks 🙂
I am scared to watch this reaction because I’m already noticing the comments 😅 which as someone who read the book after watching the movie, I see the adaptations differently than most.
Biggest critique I see : “we’re missing his inner dialogue”
Hearing narration in this type of movie would have been insufferable! We didn’t have it for any of the other THG, and there were nuances missed in all. But this story was about privilege, power,and the nature vs nurture debate. Collin’s is an outstanding writer and it would have dumbed down the context to insult her by adding narration imo.
Second common critique: “the movie made Snow more sympathetic”
When I first watched it I caught myself surprised at several points and then quickly reminded self “oh wait yes that makes sense, it’s Snow”. I don’t see how folks get to Third part without seeing his consistent decline throughout the film. I think the film made him look less sympathetic. But you have to look past his charming demeanor and the attractive person playing him. It’s quite brilliant as it brings to life what Suzanne was articulating about privilege. Even though he was poor and very much like the district, his heritage and appearance was able to gain trust quickly.
One key moment that was changed from book that made Snow looked 10x worse was Bobbin. In the book it was dark and he had no clue if he hit him or not. In the movie they added the last swing of club that was definitely unwarranted which I think displayed a clear shift in his character. Additionally without inner monologue, his actual dialogue in movie was clearly bigoted against the districts and that was consistently worse throughout the film. He wanted to bring Lucy gray to capital and he never once saw himself as a person district so the obsession with LG may be the only critique that didn’t fully come through on film but the other two critiques are the bane of my existence 😂 😅
I think for the entirety of the movie, in my mind, I had Donald Sutherland's Snow. So since the introduction all I saw was an evil guy. But it kept on painting him kind of opposite until the last act. Now that I read your comment and some of the others, I definitely missed the points throughout where he had been self serving or possessive though.
"...the obsession with LG may be the only critique that didn’t fully come through on film". This was a big one for me yeh.
Don't hesitate to watch it and correct us if we've made mistakes. Just keep in mind that we share one brain cell between the both of us 😂
@@RamblersInc yea, I think they did casting too good, and Tom Blyth did too well of even convincing audience he was good. If you watch again, you’ll see he does a lot through his eyes. But I definitely remember being in the theater and shocked every time he did something and then snapped back. The book goes way more into Dr. Gaul and the songs really tell story too buti understand they just wanted this to be one movie.
But of course I’ll watch yalls review 😆 ! I enjoy yalls reviews since I found yall for The Good Place! Very insightful! It’s on my queue for today!
22:36 common misconception.
The Capitol arena was used for the execution of captured rebels during the war, so it became common for the rebels to bomb it once they surrounded the Capitol. When the war ended the arena had been bombed so much that its only use was the Hunger Games. It would have been too much of a hazard for the average Capitol citizen to enter the arena post-rebellion. People all over the internet say the first Hunger Games had a live audience but that makes literally no sense when you know what state the Capitol was in after the war.
That's a fair point. It would have been chaotic and a mess.
Background - this was written by the original writer *Suzanne Collins a few years after the other movies came out. It was unexpected because she said she was done with the Hunger Games world.
Now she is writing another about the 50th Hunger Games which was the one Haymitch won.
I didn't like this book myself. Hard to empathize with the bad guy.
Lucy is a traveler aka gypsy that's why the difference. Her people just got stuck in 12 when the capital won the war.
I'm so glad I wasn't the only one. Whilst we haven't read the books, we've had 4 movies to really get to know just how evil this guy is. The hardships of the Snow family doesn't do anything for me (except for Tigris...I felt for her).