The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
Grade: A
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Claflin, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright and Jena Malone
Premise: Katniss Everdeen deals with deadly traps and shaky alliances in a new hunger games as she fights to protect her closest ally, Peeta.
Rated PG-13 for violence and intense action, blood and disturbing images, intense emotional content and brief language
The movie posters and marketing campaign for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire state clearly that the star of the film is Jennifer Lawrence. Ask anyone on their way to the theater to see the movie, and they’ll tell you the same thing. They’re wrong. No offense to the 23-year-old Oscar-winning actress, who headlines this film with a solid performance, but after seeing this movie, I’m convinced the real star is Director Francis Lawrence (no relation). Hired when the first Hunger Games’ director, Gary Ross, dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, Mr. Lawrence has made a sequel that is not only up to par, but arguably superior to the first movie in every way. Faster, sleeker, and more consistently entertaining, Catching Fire makes its predecessor look like an ambitious home movie, with its constant shaky-cam effects and uneven pace. This second installment is also one of the best movie adaptations of a book I’ve ever seen (I’ve read Catching Fire, the second book in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy, about five times, and while watching the movie I thought: they couldn’t possibly make a better movie of Catching Fire; this is literally almost perfect).
Ross’s Hunger Games had no shortage of admirers, what with over $400 million in its domestic coffers, but Catching Fire is an immediate, unmistakable improvement, and one of the year’s best movies so far.
Plot:
As one half of the winning duo of the 74th Hunger Games, teenager Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) has become an instant celebrity. Her family now lives in a mansion instead of a shack, she has more money than she knows what to do with, and everyone in her world knows her name. But her life is not without its troubles. Peeta (Josh Hutcherson)—the boy she pretended to love in order to convince the makers of the Hunger Games to let two people win instead of one—has largely turned his back on her, offended and hurt by what he perceives as nothing but acting. And that’s child’s play compared to the grudge being nursed by President Snow (Donald Sutherland), the head of the country of Panem, who saw Katniss’ actions in the Games as direct defiance of his regime and all it stands for. He considers her responsible for rebellions that have started across the twelve districts in his orderly nation, and he’s hired a new security advisor (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to think of ways to manipulate and harm Katniss. Desperate to protect herself and her family, Katniss considers running away and living a life in hiding, but the stubbornness and affection of her best friend and sort-of crush, Gale (Liam Hemsworth), stops her.
Then, in an unprecedented development, Katniss is forced to compete in the Hunger Games again, when the 75th anniversary Games is turned into a sort of All-Star affair, with previous winners as the participants. Katniss is automatically selected, but, when her drunken mentor Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) is selected as her male counterpart, Peeta volunteers in his place. Touched, Katniss makes a secret deal with Haymitch, who will be on the outside looking in at the Games: make sure Peeta’s the one who lives. She even vows to do whatever she can--including sacrificing her own life--to ensure his survival. But even that might not be enough, because the new Games turns out to be more terrifying than any other—the arena is rigged with deadly booby traps like invisible force fields, lightning storms, unstoppable tidal waves and vicious animals. And then there are the other contestants, all former winners and, as such, proven killers, including the swaggering, confident Finnick (Sam Clalfin), cunning, fierce Johanna (Jena Malone), wicked-smart Beetee (Jeffrey Wright), and hulking Brutus (Bruno Gunn). Katniss has skill, and plenty of courage, but, as ever with the Hunger Games, there can only be one winner.
What Works?
This might be extravagant praise, but Catching Fire might be one of the most accessible movies ever made. Anyone can walk into the theater, watch it, and appreciate it, regardless of their familiarity with the source text. The direction is so assured, and the script so complete, that those who haven’t read the book won’t be missing anything (though a repeat viewing of the first movie might be necessary, as this installment hits the ground running). And devotees of Collins’ book will be enraptured, as nearly every scene has a direct basis in the text, and more than half the dialogue has been retained verbatim. As was the case in the first Hunger Games, the only significant things that have been added are a handful of behind-the-scenes sequences with President Snow, as he sits in his office watching the Games and mulling over how to exploit/demean/kill Katniss next. These scenes weren’t possible in the book because of the first-person viewpoint; they’re good for quick catch-up exposition for those who didn’t read the book (they’re certainly not hindrances, what with Sutherland’s superb, quietly-calculating performance).
>>>NOTE: You may know me as an incredible stickler for movie adaptations being faithful to the books. Catching Fire adheres far more closely to its source text than any of the Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings or Hobbit movies, and it actually improves on a number of things from the book. Some lengthy scenes have been shortened and made more direct, some things are conveyed in a line or two of dialogue instead of pages of thought, and some of the action has been streamlined (the last third of the book has been brilliantly condensed here to leave out all unnecessary details). Ultimately, not only did it enter this reviewer’s mind that this is the best Catching Fire movie they could’ve made; it also entered my mind that this could be the (extremely) rare movie that’s actually better than the book it’s based on. I won’t say that outright, but anyone who does has a valid argument.
In this age of blockbusters filled to the brim with overwhelming CGI and constant shaky-cam-style photography, Catching Fire looks great. The cityscape of the Capitol is fuller, more convincing, and more impressive this time. The outlandish outfits worn by the well-to-do in the Capitol are as incredibly elaborate and eye-catching as ever. The arena looks great, the cinematography is incredible (the camera captures some images perfectly) and three of the central action sequences in the Games have been made into three of this year’s most awesome and invigorating sequences (in particular, there’s a bit with a flock of attacking birds that comes straight from a Hitchcockian nightmare). In other words, they did a darn good job making this movie.
No, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire isn’t really an actors’ movie, but the iconic characters are all brought to life by fully-committed performers. In the biggest and juiciest role, Jennifer Lawrence acquits herself well. Despite her Best Actress Oscar win last year, I have doubts about the overall range of her acting ability, but she’s found a perfect role for her talents in Katniss, and she can turn on the hysterics like few others (she can shake an audience to its core--and does it--with her crying/screaming antics in the big moments here). No one else has as showy a role as Lawrence
What Doesn’t Work?
Uhhh…was there anything? Well, I won’t deny Catching Fire is long—it feels like two-and-a-half hours, and despite the excitement happening, it can drag. Happily, all of its slowest moments happen early on—about ten minutes in comes a scene between Donald Sutherland and Jennifer Lawrence that crackles with sharp dialogue, and that rights the ship. This isn't a perfect movie, but I can't pretend I have many beefs with it.
Content
There are a few cuss words (including two actually bleeped out by the movie), and a few brief innuendos, but, of course, what makes this movie tough is the majority of its content. There’s less people-on-people fighting this time around, but still plenty of close-ups of people who are dead, dying, or severely injured. There are a lot of scary or unsettling moments, whether that’s attacking animals, a pounding soundtrack, or Jennifer Lawrence screaming in distress. It’s true that the books were aimed at teenagers, but I would advise parents with younger kids to see it first themselves (or watch the first one, because it’s the same sort of general content).
Bottom Line (seriously, this is it)
Whew, that was a lot. A great book turned into a movie that might actually be outright better than the book? Have I ever written anything like that on this blog before? Seriously, Hunger Games: Catching Fire is a terrific adaptation, a considerably better movie than its predecessor, and easily the best big-budget spectacle in a year full of half-hearted disappointments. And it really does make you want to see the next one right now.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
Directed by Francis Lawrence
Written by Simon Beaufoy and Michael Arndt; Based on the novel by Suzanne Collins
Rated PG-13
Length: 146 minutes
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