The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Review
Director: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Philip Seymour Hoffman
The Hunger Games is the next big teen franchise that's been making the rounds. With a strong female lead and an interesting theme it's pretty obvious why it's been received as well as it has. Catching Fire is the second book in the Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins and is the second film in the four film series based on the book trilogy. While I did not really like the first movie Catching Fire does improve on many of the faults of the first movie.
Catching Fire picks up a few months after the events of the first film, with her newly gained wealth Katniss has moved her family into better living conditions and both herself and Peeta are preparing for the Victors Tour, a grand tour across all the Districts that ends at Presidents Snow's mansion in the capital. However not all is as good as it seems. Katniss is suffering mentally from her experience in the games, and Peeta is struggling with his love for Katniss who clearly is not giving the same emotions back to make matters worse the two have to pretend to be in a relationship for the people of the world. But all of this is nothing compared to the scheme conducted by President Snow, who sees Katniss as a strong threat to his government. So he has forced not only Katniss, but all other past victors into another round of the Hunger Games.
The stakes are clearly higher and the film really showcases the bleak future of this world that (Suzanne)Collins created. The darker tone is a very welcome addition to the movie and you really feel as if Katniss is up against an enemy that has more power and more resources then she could ever hope to gain. Catching Fire improves on so many things that were wrong with the Hunger Games but still clings to the same faults that were evident in the first one.
The films strongest asset however is lead Jennifer Lawrence who is truly becoming on the of the best working talents today. With one Academy nomination for Winters Bone and a win for Silver Linings Play Book its clearly obvious that she would give a fine performance. I never cared for Katniss in the first movie but this time around I actually found myself worried for her wellbeing both physically and mentally. Lawrence can play heartbreak to gut wrenching perfection, this is her series and she shines. It's great to actually see a strong female protagonist whose main traits are not dating some one or being some form of eye candy, Collins really deserves the positive feedback this series has been getting, since the science fiction genre is a macho male dominated genre.
Hunger Games Director Gary Ross was cut from directing the sequel and was replaced with Francis Lawrence, this was a perfect choice because Lawrence has helped give this franchise a truly grand scope that was missing from the first movie. It seems like allot of care went into making this movie and taking the source material to heart. There is also no shaky cam anymore! You can actually see the action taking place on screen which is such a relief, it seems like all directors have decided to shoot every single action sequence in shaky cam, maybe it was nice and new in 200, but it's gotten very annoying very fast. (Francis)Lawrence also does his best to push the boundaries of the PG-13 rating that this film has, some scenes are pretty shocking even though there is an absence of blood.
The first half of this movie really helped with the incredible world building that I mentioned above, you actually get an inside look at Snow's corrupt regime and see the inner workings of this diabolical plan to keep the people afraid and in line. There are many parallels with the world in the Hunger Games and our own, one of my favorite themes in the movie was the use of media in order to distract the masses from the real problems that are going on the world. It's scary and very true at the same time, not since V for Vendetta have I seen a futuristic society that seemed almost completely plausible.
With all the right that has been done with movie there was still things that I did not care for in the film which made me feel indifferent about the experience. Many new characters are introduced during the course of the film, most of the new characters are from the roster of the tributes, however you only get to slightly know five of them, the rest are killed off screen during the games. The only characters you really get any insight to are Katniss and Peeta, I understand it's there show here but I do want to slightly care about Finnick and Johanna. Most of these characters are walking character traits, nothing is added to the characters accept that one is smart, another is really nice, and oh this one here is really really upset and angsty. The rest as I've said are killed off screen as fodder, I know we are focusing on Katniss but I do want to see how some of these people are killed. Even when some of the characters are forced to their emotional limits I found myself not really caring, these characters are just cardboard cutouts of a certain character type rather than being actual living people.
The game itself was a HUGE let down, for a movie that has a constant build up the games are very boring and bland. Most of the games seemed to be a wash and repeat system that got tiring really fast, to make matters worse the film seemed to come to an abrupt halt and end, I guess the ending was supposed to be a big cliff hanger but I found myself shrugging and leaving the theater. I felt no excitement and no suspense, all I felt was the feeling of indifference which exactly how I feel about this movie.
Catching Fire is a huge improvement over the Hunger Games but that isn't really saying allot. I don't hate this movie like the first one I just feel indifferent, hopefully with the final two films I can actually care about the other characters and actually feel invested into the story. The movie started out strong but sizzled once the Hunger Games actually commenced.
I give The Hunger Games: Catching Fire a
6/10
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Philip Seymour Hoffman
The Hunger Games is the next big teen franchise that's been making the rounds. With a strong female lead and an interesting theme it's pretty obvious why it's been received as well as it has. Catching Fire is the second book in the Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins and is the second film in the four film series based on the book trilogy. While I did not really like the first movie Catching Fire does improve on many of the faults of the first movie.
Catching Fire picks up a few months after the events of the first film, with her newly gained wealth Katniss has moved her family into better living conditions and both herself and Peeta are preparing for the Victors Tour, a grand tour across all the Districts that ends at Presidents Snow's mansion in the capital. However not all is as good as it seems. Katniss is suffering mentally from her experience in the games, and Peeta is struggling with his love for Katniss who clearly is not giving the same emotions back to make matters worse the two have to pretend to be in a relationship for the people of the world. But all of this is nothing compared to the scheme conducted by President Snow, who sees Katniss as a strong threat to his government. So he has forced not only Katniss, but all other past victors into another round of the Hunger Games.
The stakes are clearly higher and the film really showcases the bleak future of this world that (Suzanne)Collins created. The darker tone is a very welcome addition to the movie and you really feel as if Katniss is up against an enemy that has more power and more resources then she could ever hope to gain. Catching Fire improves on so many things that were wrong with the Hunger Games but still clings to the same faults that were evident in the first one.
The films strongest asset however is lead Jennifer Lawrence who is truly becoming on the of the best working talents today. With one Academy nomination for Winters Bone and a win for Silver Linings Play Book its clearly obvious that she would give a fine performance. I never cared for Katniss in the first movie but this time around I actually found myself worried for her wellbeing both physically and mentally. Lawrence can play heartbreak to gut wrenching perfection, this is her series and she shines. It's great to actually see a strong female protagonist whose main traits are not dating some one or being some form of eye candy, Collins really deserves the positive feedback this series has been getting, since the science fiction genre is a macho male dominated genre.
Hunger Games Director Gary Ross was cut from directing the sequel and was replaced with Francis Lawrence, this was a perfect choice because Lawrence has helped give this franchise a truly grand scope that was missing from the first movie. It seems like allot of care went into making this movie and taking the source material to heart. There is also no shaky cam anymore! You can actually see the action taking place on screen which is such a relief, it seems like all directors have decided to shoot every single action sequence in shaky cam, maybe it was nice and new in 200, but it's gotten very annoying very fast. (Francis)Lawrence also does his best to push the boundaries of the PG-13 rating that this film has, some scenes are pretty shocking even though there is an absence of blood.
The first half of this movie really helped with the incredible world building that I mentioned above, you actually get an inside look at Snow's corrupt regime and see the inner workings of this diabolical plan to keep the people afraid and in line. There are many parallels with the world in the Hunger Games and our own, one of my favorite themes in the movie was the use of media in order to distract the masses from the real problems that are going on the world. It's scary and very true at the same time, not since V for Vendetta have I seen a futuristic society that seemed almost completely plausible.
With all the right that has been done with movie there was still things that I did not care for in the film which made me feel indifferent about the experience. Many new characters are introduced during the course of the film, most of the new characters are from the roster of the tributes, however you only get to slightly know five of them, the rest are killed off screen during the games. The only characters you really get any insight to are Katniss and Peeta, I understand it's there show here but I do want to slightly care about Finnick and Johanna. Most of these characters are walking character traits, nothing is added to the characters accept that one is smart, another is really nice, and oh this one here is really really upset and angsty. The rest as I've said are killed off screen as fodder, I know we are focusing on Katniss but I do want to see how some of these people are killed. Even when some of the characters are forced to their emotional limits I found myself not really caring, these characters are just cardboard cutouts of a certain character type rather than being actual living people.
The game itself was a HUGE let down, for a movie that has a constant build up the games are very boring and bland. Most of the games seemed to be a wash and repeat system that got tiring really fast, to make matters worse the film seemed to come to an abrupt halt and end, I guess the ending was supposed to be a big cliff hanger but I found myself shrugging and leaving the theater. I felt no excitement and no suspense, all I felt was the feeling of indifference which exactly how I feel about this movie.
Catching Fire is a huge improvement over the Hunger Games but that isn't really saying allot. I don't hate this movie like the first one I just feel indifferent, hopefully with the final two films I can actually care about the other characters and actually feel invested into the story. The movie started out strong but sizzled once the Hunger Games actually commenced.
I give The Hunger Games: Catching Fire a
6/10
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