Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson and Donald Sutherland
Director: Francis Lawrence
While the first Hunger Games was a huge letdown, you just can’t have children trying to kill children with all the death off screen, I want visual child murder even if it is PG-13. The Hunger Games seemed like a neutered mixture of the great Japanese film Battle Royale combined with Twilight. It had huge plot holes and just seemed overly watered down. Walking into Catching Fire I had slim hopes that this would be good. I anticipated another film that would get people into the seats on name recognition rather than from it being a quality film.
Thankfully Director Francis Lawrence was up to the challenge of delivering a film that defied my expectations. The first thing of note is that unlike the Twilight films the Actors in The Hunger Games are first rate. In Addition to returning cast members Jennifer Lawrence, Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson They have brought in Philip Seymour Hoffman who is stellar as usual.
What sets Catching Fire apart from the first Hunger Games is that this is a far more mature film. This isn’t strictly a bunch of kids trying to kill each other. The first 75% of the film is dealing with the repercussions of Katniss and Peeta winning the Games. What Katniss and Peeta never realized is that in their victory they didn’t just save their own lives they gave the people of all 12 districts hope. President Snow (Donald Sutherland) is ruthless enough to see that this hope poses a problem and could result in a disruption of his power. He has brought on board a new game master Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who conspires with Snow to destroy the image of Peeta and Katniss before killing them to crush the spirits of the people. To kill them they modify the rules of the Hunger games and have all the participants consist of former winners, creating a sort of greatest hits, best of the best event for the 75th cycle of the Games or 3rd Quarter Quell if you will. The odds are stacked against Katniss and danger is around every corner. Such cornerstones of the book appear in the arena the Jabber Jays, The poisonous Fog, and The evil little monkeys. They are all here.
The crux of the story though is the journey of Katniss and Jennifer Lawrence is outstanding she is a delight able to exude an exterior toughness while being completely vulnerable. The love triangle feels legitimate this time rather than forced. It’s more believable to have Katniss and Peeta bond over their experience in the arena rather than over a loaf of bread in the rain.
I am not the target audience for the film, yet I thoroughly enjoyed it despite this fact. It has an almost three hour run time yet leaves you wanting more.
Being the second in a trilogy Catching Fire is going to get compared to a lot of films. Most notably the fan favorite in the Star Wars trilogy (I am a purist who will never acknowledge episodes 1-3) the Empire strikes back. There is even a scene where Finnick Odair (Sam Claflin) runs with Mags (Lynn Cohen) on his back through the forest. The visual is so reminiscent of Luke running with Yoda on his back in Dagobah it’s creepy. There also is a cliffhanger ending that sets up the next film perfectly. It’s a great middle act.
Everything about me, walked in with very little interest yet I walked out with my point of view changed. That is the hallmark of a good film, Catching Fire is not just popular it’s extremely good. A welcome reward for the missed opportunities of the first film.
Grade – 90
