The
Hunger Games:
Catching Fire
Chapter 2 picks up not too long after Chapter 1 has ended. Katniss
(Jennifer Lawrence) is back home in District 12 getting ready to hit
the road with Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) for a massive publicity tour, but
President Snow (Donald Sutherland) is trying to reestablish some sort
of control over the new heroine of the people.
Since Katniss’s performance at The Hunger Games, revolution
is in the air and people in other districts are rebelling against the
rich and powerful who inhabit The Capitol, so Snow has made it clear to
Katniss that everyone and everything she loves is in danger if she
doesn’t play ball. Of course, it’s pretty difficult
for her to keep her true feelings hidden, and, as violence is breaking
out all over Panem, Snow decides to call for a new kind of Hunger Games
to prove resistance is futile.
An All Star edition of sorts has been organized, and new game master,
Plutarch (Philip Seymour Hoffman), has a plan to kill off Katniss once
and for all.
Check
out my interview with Willow Shields (Primrose Everdeen) on DC50tv.com
The strength of The Hunger
Games: Catching Fire lies in the
action and story outside of the games. Led by the novel by Suzanne
Collins, director Francis Lawrence and writers Simon Beaufoy and
Michael Arndt dive head first into the political and revolutionary
intrigue of Panem with fantastic results.
The Hunger
Games was about the brutality of
the games and establishing the resolution and cunning of Katniss, but The
Hunger Games: Catching Fire is
about putting those skills to real world use as Katniss and her team of
supporters face intrigue, rebellion and danger beyond anything they
might be able to overcome.
That danger is on so many levels you can’t close your eyes
for a moment. The audience is enraptured as Katniss has to worry about
her own personal safety, that of her family, the future of her home
and, not in an overexaggeration, she has to worry about all of Panem.
This is big stuff we’re dealing with here!
Luckily, we have Lawrence on hand to bring it all to the screen. She
has to show the conflict within Katniss as she knows the fight will
have to continue, but she would rather run away with her loverboy Gale
(Liam Hemsworth) and leave all of this responsibility and danger
behind. She helps add to the feeling Katniss is a reluctant symbol who
wants and reminisces over a more simple life and time.
Plus, Lawrence is fantastic as we see the emotional damage The Hunger
Games has wrought on her and the immense fear and resentment she faces
when it looks like she has to go back in there and do it all again. The
actress brings so many shades and textures to her acting in every scene
that you can’t imagine any other actress her age could even
come close to achieving this kind of brilliance.
The rest of the cast also joins in on that theme of shame and the
haunting the victors feel as we meet other Hunger Games
“winners.” Woody Harrelson, Jeffrey Wright and Jena
Malone help their characters embody that mixed emotion they feel for
achieving greatness and comfort based on the atrocities they committed,
which makes the ultimate reaction from all of the victors make so much
sense as the movie progresses to the new games and conclusion of The
Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
And, you have to love the addition of Sam Clafin as the cocky
competitor Finnick, who embodies the perfect attitude of a vain winner.
Yet, without giving too much away, you better appreciate Clafin as the
character becomes so much more throughout the movie. He’s a
very welcome addition to the team.
Then, I can’t ignore the great performance by Elizabeth Banks
as Effie Trinket. The most cotton candy, vapid character in The
Hunger Games: Catching Fire
starts to see her entire world for what it really is, and Banks so
shockingly and amazingly transforms Effie’s heart and soul.
Through this character, the audience gets to see how the hearts and
minds of Panem are being changed as the thrill and romance of The
Hunger Games is all gone, and the brutality is first and foremost on
their minds, especially the sadness.
Sadly, the big love triangle is the weakest aspect of The
Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
Which boy she wants to kiss becomes a trivial question in the face of
everything else happening in the world, and director Lawrence
can’t dedicate the kind of time and resources needed to make
it more important or reveal the deeper complexities and conflicts
emerging in Katniss when it comes to her feelings for these two guys.
The Hunger
Games: Catching Fire is
everything you need a good movie to be, and you will walk out wanting
more after that fantastic climax and final scene.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is rated PG-13
for intense sequences of violence and action, some frightening images,
thematic elements, a suggestive situation and language.
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