REVIEW - 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire'

'The Hunger Games:  Catching Fire' (PG-13) ***

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) become targets of the Capitol after their victory in the 74th Hunger Games sparks a rebellion in the Districts of Panem.  After going on a victory tour through the various districts they soon find themselves being chosen for the 75th Hunger Games, with the competitors being chosen from previous victors in the Hunger Games.  

There are a lot of things to like about this movie.  First and foremost, on a technical level thankfully there is no shaky cam in this movie at all.  While I didn't mind it in the first movie I know a common complaint about it was the shakiness of the camera throughout much of the action scenes in the Games.  I'm usually not a fan of shaky cam ('Quantum of Solace' in particular) but thankfully there is none to be had in this movie. 

Moving on to more important things other than the much improved camerawork, we do get to explore a lot more of Panem than we did in the first movie.  Now this isn't exactly a world that I'd want to live in but it is interesting to watch this futuristic, totalitarian nation of Panem with it's utopian Capitol.  The musical score was again is great to listen to.  It has an even darker, bleaker tone than the first movie had.  Another thing I like is how downplayed the love triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale (Liam Hemsworth) is.  Sure it's part of the story but it never gets obnoxious nor does it detract from the rest of the movie.  Reading the book, yes, sometimes I was rolling my eyes whenever the love triangle popped up but thankfully it's downplayed in the movie.

But the strongest part of the movie though is the acting.  Jennifer Lawrence, fresh off of winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for 'Silver Linings Playbook' (great movie), gives another great performance as Katniss that even improves upon her performance from the first movie.  She never gets too over the top when she does start having an attack,  Throughout the movie she is suffering from PTSD due to the events of the previous Hunger Games.  In addition to those episodes of PTSD she also is quite reluctant of being someone that, for better or worse, has sparked a possible rebellion against the Capitol due to her defiant actions in the first movie.  She never wanted to incite a rebellion, she never wanted to be looked up to...she just wanted to survive a deadly game.   

The new characters are also fun, from new Head Gameskeeper Plutarch Heavensbee (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) to the new tributes that we actually do get to know including Finnick Odair (Sam Claflin, from the fourth 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movie and 'Snow White & The Huntsman"), Beetee Latier (Jeffrey Wright, from 'Casino Royale'), Johanna (Jena Malone, from 'Sucker Punch'), and Mags (Lynn Cohen from 'Sex and The City').  Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, and Donald Sutherland each get more to do with their roles of Haymitch, Effie and President Snow respectively. 

Yet for all of it's positives, their are still some nagging negatives that can't really be ignored.  Once it get's into the 75th annual Hunger Games the movie starts to drag a bit and the ending is quite abrupt.  Having read the book I knew about the abruptness of the ending, but it bothered me more during the movie.  It definitely has a cliffhanger 'Part 2 in a trilogy' ending, which makes me even more mad that they're $plitting the next book 'Mockingjay' into two movie$...

For once I can actually compare an adaptation to it's source material!  For the most part new director Francis Lawrence ("I Am Legend", "Constantine", "Water for Elephants") and new writers Simon Beaufoy ("Slumdog Millionaire", "127 Hours") and Michael Arndt ("Little Miss Sunshine", "Toy Story 3") do a fairly good job of adapting the book and still make it for it's intended young adult audience.  Let's face it:  If the "Hunger Games" movies were completely 100% faithful adaptations, they'd be rated R.  I mean a satire about reality TV that has kids killing kids and the entire nation is forced to watch?  That has 'R' all over it.  

As far as comparisons to the first movie go, I keep going back and forth between whether or not it's better than the first, on par with the first, or not as good as the first.  In many ways it's better than the first movie but in some ways its not.
             WHY IT'S BETTER:  Darker tone, more exploration of Panem, better overall story, less shaky cam.
             WHY IT'S NOT:  Pacing during the Games, and the ending.  At least the first 'Hunger Games' had an ending...


'The Hunger Games:  Catching Fire' is a solid, well-acted continuation of the 'Hunger Games' storyline that once again is headlined by a great performance from Jennifer Lawrence.  If you liked the first movie or you've read the books of course I recommend it.  You didn't like the first movie, this one won't exactly change your mind about the series. 








TRAILERS
'Divergent' -Another young adult novel being adapted for the screen.  It seems to have an interesting premise, but I don't know.  It could be good, it could suck.

'Endless Love' - First of all, this is a remake.  Secondly, this just looks creepy.  Last but not least, NO.

'American Hustle' - Still looks great.

'The Hobbit:  The Desolation of Smaug' - What can I $ay that I havent $aid already about thi$?  I will $till go $ee it.  It could be better than 'Unexpected Journey'.  Then again it would be much better a$ one movie in$tead of being $plit into three.....$till un$ure of the rea$on$ for thi$ $plit.........

'Maleficent' - A 3D retelling of the 'Sleeping Beauty' legend with Angelina Jolie looking pitch perfect in the title role.  I'm a bit iffy on Disney's retelling of classic tales (Disliked 'Alice In Wonderland', liked 'Oz') so who knows.  

'I, Frankenstein' - Aaron Eckhart as Frankenstein's monster fighting demons?  This could be awesome or it could be really dumb, though it's definitely leaning more toward the latter than the former....