When The Hunger Games hit theaters last year, I'll admit that I wasn't expecting much out of it. I thought it would be just another movie in the vein of the Twilight franchise, a lame piece of crap made solely for the tweens who'd read and adored the books that inspired it. The fact that one of the constant criticisms was a negative comparison to Battle Royale, a movie that I absolutely love, didn't help my initial perceptions either. But then I actually saw The Hunger Games, and was blown away by just how good it was. I left the theater excited to see the sequels, and hoping they would come sooner rather than later.
So when the second chapter in the franchise was released, I was the odd man out, the adult man surrounded by an army of teenage girls that had been camping out at the theater all day in anticipating of the movie's first showing. But it was totally worth it, because The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is a legitimately fantastic movie.
For the first time in its history, two people have emerged victorious from the Hunger Games. But for Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), winning the Games is only the beginning. As they prepare for their upcoming "Victors' Tour" of Panem's twelve districts, President Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland) confronts Katniss in secret. He explains that while many viewed Katniss and Peeta's attempted suicide pact at the end of the Games as romantic, it made fools of the Capitol and has sown the seeds of rebellion amongst the districts. And unless she and Peeta want their loved ones to be killed, they'll have to use the Victors' Tour convince the nation and Snow himself that the whole suicide idea was not an act of defiance against the Capitol, but as the last desperate act of two young lovers who couldn't bear living without one another.
It doesn't exactly work that way, though, as uprisings continue to gain steam despite Katniss and Peeta's attempts to publicly play a happy, loving couple. Realizing that Katniss is developing a reputation a symbol of the rebellion, Snow decides that she has to be eliminated. Most attempts would just turn Katniss into a martyr and make her a greater symbol than she already is, but an opportunity presents itself in the form of the third Quarter Quell, a special version of the Hunger Games that occurs every twenty-five years and boasts a major twist to shake things up.
With the Quarter Quell approaching, President Snow announces that this year's twist will be that its Tributes will be selected solely from all living Hunger Games winners. And since Katniss is District 12's only female victor, she realizes that Snow has essentially written her death sentence. As this new game begins, she and Peeta quickly align themselves with the handful of fellow Tributes they feel that can actually trust. Survival is not their only plan, though, as some of the Tributes ― among them cocky pretty boy Finnick Odair (Sam Claflin), scientifically-minded Beetee Latier (Jeffrey Wright), and bitterly sarcastic Johanna Mason (Jena Malone) ― have devised a way to give the Capital the finger even if it costs them their own lives.
I'll admit that I approached Catching Fire differently than I did the first movie. While I went into the first movie with a bit of trepidation because of my inexperience with the source material and a general distrust of movies based on young adult novels (a distrust that was caused solely by Twilight), I was excited to see Catching Fire. I couldn't wait to step into that theater and see what would happen next in the world of Panem, and Catching Fire didn't disappoint either. It's one of those seemingly rare sequels that completely outdoes its progenitor.
With Gary Ross unable to return to the franchise due to scheduling conflicts, Francis Lawrence replaces him in the director's chair and does a fine job with it. Seeing Lawrence attached to the movie didn't really fill me with a lot of hope, since my past experiences with his body of work ― I Am Legend and Constantine ― weren't exactly all that great. But I did, however, really like his efforts with Catching Fire. Much of the movie is dedicated to how the characters must deal with the emotional and sociopolitical fallout from the Hunger Games, material that Lawrence handles delicately. He doesn't rush anything, instead allowing it to simmer until it finally boils over in the climax.
The Quarter Quell makes up the movie's third act, and Lawrence makes sure these games feel like a far different beast than the ones we saw in the first movie. There's something deeper to it; it isn't children being forced to die for a government's amusement, but that government using it as a weapon to throw water on a fire of rebellion that threatens to burn out of control. The delicacy Lawrence used with the rest of the movie is there, but it feels meaner, more rough and intense. These aren't frightened kids in the arena, but experienced killers with a bucket of psychological issues, and Lawrence builds this accordingly.
With the trendy shaky-cam used sparingly and only when it work in the movie's favor, Lawrence crafts the Quarter Quell in a way that makes it feel even more dangerous. Certain moments, like the swarm of screaming "jabberjay" birds and the scene where the center of the arena is spun like a top while the Tributes fight atop it, are particularly intense. But Lawrence never forgets that the characters are bigger than the games and he makes sure it stays about them.
While Lawrence's direction is very good, Simon Beaufoy and Michael Arndt's script might actually be better. I've only read a few bits and pieces of Suzanne Collins's novel, so I can't truly speak for how faithful Beaufoy and Arndt were to it. What they bring to the movie, though, is a deptyh and intelligence that many of these movie based on young adult novels wish they had. The material could lend itself to schlocky melodrama if handled wrong, but Beaufoy and Arndt approach it maturely.
Their script doesn't treat the audience like idiots, nor does it shy away from the psychological and political repercussions of the Hunger Games. Katniss has constant nightmares about the horrors she saw and constant guilt over the horrors she was forced to commit, while the downtrodden citizens of the Districts see her as a symbol of hope following her acts of compassion and bravery in the Games, realizing that if a teenage girl can stand up to the Capital's oppression, they can too. Beaufoy and Arndt obviously wrote the movie with a audience full of young women in mind, but they treat it in a way that allows it to be greater than the trappings of the substandard claptrap foisted upon today's youth by much of Hollywood.
Meanwhile, the acting will bring up the rear of this review, and it's just as fantastic as the rest of the movie. Nearly everyone makes some kind of memorable contribution, no matter how major or minor their role. Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks are funny and sweet as Katniss and Peeta's mentor and Capitol-assigned chaperone respectively, while Jena Malone and Philip Seymour Hoffman are in top form in their roles. Jeffrey Wright and Sam Claflin are also very likable as well, with Claflin in particular standing out with his confident, charismatic performance.
Among the more major players, I really liked Josh Hutcherson here. He has a certain "nice guy" vibe going that makes you want to root for him. I can't really say the same for Liam Hemsworth, though. The movie tries setting up a love triangle between Katniss, Peeta, and Hemsworth's character, but Hemsworth has so little screen time and that you never really get a chance to feel anything other than ambivalence towards him. It doesn't help that he's dull as dishwater and doesn't have much in the way of on-screen chemistry with Jennifer Lawrence, either. All he does is just make the love triangle element feel tacked on.
But Hemsworth's shortcomings are made up for not only by the strength of the rest of the movie, but by its villain and heroine as well. Donald Sutherland makes for a damn fine bad guy, playing President Snow as calm and cool but delivering every line of dialogue as if his words were the auditory equivalent of rattlesnake venom. Snow is smarmy, vindictive, power-hungry, and absolutely heartless, and Sutherland plays it perfectly.
But above all else, the movie belongs to Jennifer Lawrence. She's an insanely talented actress, and she uses those talents to make Katniss a character worth following. Lawrence imbues her character with heartbreak and anguish and rage, simultaneously terrified yet daring to fight and potentially die to protect those she loves. Katniss is a very complex, very deep character, and Lawrence makes her one you absolutely cannot take your eyes off of.
I can actually say the same about Catching Fire as a whole. It's an impressive movie, one whose complexities are deceptively hidden beneath the glossy sheen of a teen-oriented Hollywood blockbuster. Catching Fire also defies the notion that the middle chapter of a trilogy is the weakest by being a fascinating, exciting watch. It commands your attention and refuses to let go once it has it. I hear that they'll be following in the footsteps of the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises by splitting the third Hunger Games book into two movies, a decision that I'm not one hundred percent sure I agree with. I don't know why the producers would feel the need to really do that other than to milk the franchise for all they can get, but either way, Catching Fire is such a fantastic movie that it's made me excited to see both of them. This is that kind of movie.
Final Rating: ****
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