Movie Review

Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Catching Fire is a not a bad film at all. I really quite liked it and I hope you take the time to see it. It improves tremendously on the first Hunger Games’ flaws, while still not quite nailing everything like I would want for a really spectacular film. Thankfully the weird shaky camera and editing is gone and we get more of a sense of Panem as a world with its own history. This might be thanks to new director Francis Lawrence, who also improves the pacing (although it’s still a little long. Seeing it on an empty stomach might give you Hunger Pains. Yeah).

By winning the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) has become a revolutionary icon in the world of Panem, inspiring an uprising of sorts in the disenfranchised masses. She is forced to keep up a public romance with Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) who won the last games with her, lest her family be killed by President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Snow has his own plans and along with a new Gamemaker (the late, wonderful, Philip Seymour Hoffman) a special “best of” Hunger Games is launched with previous victors, inevitably getting Katniss back in the ring one last time.

Unfortunately the Katniss inspired revolution is mostly off screen. A few more scenes showing the protests might have oriented the audience more about what is really going on out in the revolting districts. Luckily we do get plenty of moments of Katniss fretting over her family and kissing boys. The actual Hunger Games depicted has a smattering of déjà vu, although it is done extremely well again. The new contestants, previous victors all, are interesting enough but there are too many to really get to know them well. I get that Katniss isn’t sure who she can really trust but at the same time keeping all the supporting characters at an arms length keeps us caring little. All in all the film takes a long time to reach an explosive climax and ending, but then ends too suddenly. A cliffhangery sort of ending was bad enough to deal with on Breaking Bad (RIP) with a week between episodes. The next Hunger Games is a year away, and even then it’s only half of the last novel, which is split in two again, a weird, potentially cynical money making grab which follows the likes of Twilight, Harry Potter and The Hobbit.

Hopefully this doesn’t sound too negative. I enjoyed the film and I recommend you see it, if only for Jennifer Lawrence and Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s performances. His recent passing will make the remaining films even more poignant as they are likely his last screen performances we will see. With its reflections on revolution, dictatorship, mass media as distraction, and its strong moral message of “doing the right thing”, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is trying for something more than most films, particularly those aimed at young people, which is admirable.

Better than the first, but still with some room for improvement for the sequels. 3.5/5

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