Right so now onto the second post of my look at the Hunger Games as the second film was released last week, Catching Fire, I went and saw it up the town, so let's have a closer look.....
OK so I will try and not reveal the whole plot and cover only certain section as to not spoil it all. So the story begins with Catniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) having returned home to District 12. Catniss and Peeta are given the task of having to tour the country to the other districts and on the day they begin, President Snow (Donald Sutherland) visits Catniss and tells her that as a result of her acts of defiance there have been many riots in other distrcits, and she now must convince the people that her actions were done out of love for Peeta, or else her family and Peeta's will be killed. The first stop on the tour is District 11 where the young girl Rue in the original games, who was Catniss's ally died, and Catniss pays a touching tribute to her by giving a heartfelt speech to the crowd. However as a result of the speech one man in the crowd makes the three fingered salute of Distrcit 12, which causes the peacekeepers to shoot the man dead. Catniss and Peeta are then taken away where their mentor, Haymitch (Woody Harrleson) tells them he fears for their safety as they have now become a political target. After this Catniss and Peeta dutifully carry out the rest of the tour of the other districts, and as an act of faith to keep Snow in check, Peeta proposes to Catniss on television.
As Catniss returns to District 12 the peacekeepers are wreaking havoc in the area and Catniss's best friend (Liam Hemsworth) is whipped by the peacekeeping commander, after trying to save an old lady. Catniss intervenes and the commander threatens to shoot her, but Haymitch stops it from happening and convinces the commander not to as he informs him who Catniss is and the potential consequences if she is killed. Afterward Catniss treats and tends after Gale when suddenly there is an annoncement that the 75th Hunger Games will have a quarter quell, which happens every 25 years. However as a new rule to the games the tributes will be reaped from a pool of victors from previous games, this new rule having been created by the games creator, Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who works with Snow to try and discredit and bring down Catniss. As a result of this Katniss is chosen to enter the games and despite Haymitch's promise to keep Peeta safe, as Haymitch is selected, Peeta instead volunteers, leaving Haymitch no choice in the matter. And as a result Catniss and Peeta once again have to face another harrowing trial of endurance in the games, in which this years other tributes are far more deadly....
As a continuation of the first film, Catching Fire is an excellent follow up and it remains an engrossing story as the two main characters continue to have to face trials even after they have triumped in the first hunger games as Catniss and Peeta are forced into a life of maintaining the image for the Capitol as two lovers. The difference this time is Catniss has become more a figure of hope for the districts and that she alone could influence the downfall of the Capitol. And as the film progresses those themes are explored further, but I won't go into that just now as I don't want to spoil it. :-)
Moving onto the performances they are once again excellent with Jennifer Lawrence providing another great effort as the spirited Catniss, who as a result of her continued defiance is forced back into the hunger games. Jennifer has several highlights in the film such as in the scene where she meets with Snow and he tells her she must play ball or else her family will be killed and the scene where she intervenes on Gale's public flogging. Jennifer also has an amusing scene where as she did in the first film have to display her skills during the training, and she grabs one of the robotic dolls and ties a rope around it and secures the rope to the table and hoists it up so the judges can see it, which she has defaced, and she smiles to the judges and leaves. Josh Hutcherson also provides another fine performance as Peeta, who steps in again to the games and he continues to show he has feelings for Catniss, who (OK this is a SPOILER) finally returns those feelings during the games.
Woody Harrelson is great once again as well as Haymitch who acts a protector as well as mentor to Catniss and Peeta and he tries to keep his promise to keep Peeta safe for Catniss. Woody also get's some fun moments again in the film, one such scene is where after the tributes all have their television interviews, Catniss, Peeta and Haymich share an elevator with one of the other previous games victors, Johanna gets undressed in the elevator in front of them and she walks out naked and Haymitch says "It was fun, sweetheart!" (or something along those lines). Woody also has a good scene where he briefs Catniss and Peeta on the new games they will enter and how they will be even more dangerous this time and he says "I want you to forget everything you know about the games. Last year was child's play. This year you are dealing with all experienced killers".
Philip Seymour Hoffman, making his first appearance in the games films, is excellent as the scheming and manipulative games maker, Plutarch Heavensbee (now that is one hell of a name!) and his scenes with Donald Sutherland are his main highlights. Hoffman also has some good lines, such as where he talks to President Snow about including a new rule to the hunger games and he says "There's always a surprise we can add into the games. Its what we call a wrinkle!". And in another scene with Snow who says Catniss must be eliminated and Heavensbee replies "I agree but I think she should die the right way. Catniss is a symbol, we don't have to destroy her, just her image. Show them she's one of us now. They will rally behind that. They are gonna hate her so much they just might kill her for you".
The rest of the supporting cast are also excellent which include Elizabeth Banks as Effie, Haymitch's chaperone, who for the most part is overbearingly cheery, but she has one moment where she drops her facade and sobs for Catniss and Peeta as they leave for the games and she says "You deserve so much better!". Liam Hemsworth also provides a good performance as Gale, Catniss's best friend, who suffers a heavy beating at the hands of the peacekeepers when he saves an old lady from a similar fate, and also watches the hunger games in longing for Catniss to come back to him, but fearing she will fall for Peeta. New faces to the games also include Jeffrey Wright who does a good job as Beetee Latier, a former victor, Amanda Plummer as his counterpart Wiress, who ends up in a state of trauma during the games. Jena Malone is also pretty good in her role as the spunky Johanna Mason, a former victor who is quite outspoken in her interview as she swears at the program makers live on TV, and also has that scene where she gets undressed in the elevator in front of Hay, Cat and Peet.
In other regular roles Stanley Tucci is great once again in his role as the flamboyant TV host of the Hunger Games and he provides a series of colourful interviews with the tributes. Tucci get's some good lines in his role, but one that comes to mind is when he interviews Catniss and she spins her dress which funnily enough as part of the visual design catches fire and he says "Catniss Everdeen! The girl on fire!" Lenny Kravitz also again does a good job with his role as Cinna, the fashion designer, who designs a new dress for Catniss, and also later pays a heavy price for his support in Catniss. And finally Donald Sutherland is great as the ruthless President Snow who tries to do everything in his power to discredit as well as kill off Catniss. His best scenes are generally when he meets with Heavensbee, but he also has a great scene with Catniss near the start of the film. And Snow says to Catniss "You fought hard in the games, Miss Everdeen. But they were games. Would you like to be in a real war? Imagine thousands of your people dead. You family, gone." What a lovely guy eh?? (Sorry I meant bastard!).
Francis Lawrence (who directed the underrated I Am Legend and no relation to Jennifer!) takes over the directorial helm from Gary Ross here, and he does a solid job with Catching Fire as he keeps the unease and the suspense in the games sequences racked up very well. Lawrence also used IMAX cameras for the seqeunces in the games (which were shot in Hawaii) which I'm sure would look amazing on an IMAX screen, unfortunately I wasn't able to go and see it on the IMAX (in fact I'm not even sure its on there!). The music score by James Newton Howard is worthy of note as well, which is very good and has plenty of potent dramatic passages that highlight the drama and the grim tone of the film in general perfectly.
So flaws????? Well not to be picky but yes Catching fire isn't quite perfect as again the film is somewhat overlong as there is a slow build up towards the games as it appears to take an almost identical path towards them as in the first film (the only difference being the tour). Again as is often the case in sequels you also get an abundance of new characters and there is not much time devoted towards them either, especially with the former victors who fight in the hunger games again as half of them are just there as filler (or fodder more like!) who end up getting killed off pretty quick and we hear that familiar canon go off in the background (which fires off every time a tribute dies in the games). The razamatazz of the film is also a bit distracting and annoying at times as well as the wealthy Edwardian folk that live decadent lifestyles in the Capitol are an almost infuriating contrast to the poor starving masses in the districts out in the real world (but then that is the point I guess).
But anyway all that aside Catching Fire is an entertaining, engrossing and dramatic sequel to the Hunger Games and if you haven't seen it yet, I'd recommend to give it a go.
So with that, I shall leave it there.
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