Given the excitement surrounding our exclusive look at footage of the big-screen adaptation of Suzanne Collins' beloved dystopian bestseller, MTV News sought out three "Hunger Games" experts to get their reactions to seeing Katniss' survival skills first-hand.
"That was epic," gushed Samus Belle of fan site Sparks Will Fly. "I'm so excited. Especially seeing Jennifer Lawrence running through the whole arena, she looked like a hunter," Belle said. "She just captured Katniss onscreen."
Kimmy West, of Mockingjay.net agreed with Belle on Lawrence's spot-on portrayal: "Jennifer Lawrence is just embodying Katniss," West said. "The big trait about Katniss is that she's animalistic when she hunts. You can totally tell that she's been training so much for that shot," West explained of seeing Lawrence wield a bow and fire an arrow in the clip. "She really looks like a pro."
Our experts were so delighted to see Lawrence assume pole position in the teaser, they didn't mind not getting to see male leads Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and Gale (Liam Hemsworth) in action. Hemsworth's voice can be heard throughout the footage, however, offering Katniss words of encouragement that echo in her mind as she's running for her life.
"I think they maybe want to wait a little bit longer on [showing] Peeta to build up the excitement even more," said Arianna Ruiz of Down With the Capitol. "And Gale is still a very important part of Katniss' life."
"Basically, [Gale] is saying, 'You know how to hunt,' 'All they want is a good show,' 'Show them how good you are,' " West said, summarizing the voiceover. "I feel like it's a really good message to send across for the trailer because it's showing she's not a career tribute," she explained of the story's highly trained expert contestants. "She's not someone who wants to kill anyone; she's just wants to live after this."
Belle speculated about when fan favorite Peeta might appear in the film's marketing campaign: "I'm a Peeta fan, but I think they will put him somewhere during the trailers because half the 'Hunger Games' fandom probably wants him in there at some point.
"In all fairness, throughout the first part of the games, she is thinking mostly about Gale and the advice he gave her."
West added that although she is just as excited as anyone to see Peeta, she's happy for certain elements to remain a surprise for as long as possible.
"I like to be in anticipation still; I don't want to see everything," she explained. "I'm excited to see Effie and Haymitch and Primm and Peeta," West said of her favorite characters. "But I think it's good I'm still waiting for it."
Speaking of waiting for things, West thinks director Gary Ross and Lionsgate added a special bonus for fans to pick up on at the very end of the footage.
"Right as you see the 'Add us on Facebook' stuff, and the screen turns black, and you can hear four really high-pitched whistles, kind of like if you're not listening hard, you might miss it," she explained of a character's memorable communicative methods with Katniss in the book. "That's really awesome. I was wondering what tune they were going to use, and it sounds really perfect for what I was thinking."
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