Young Adult Month - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

In the not too distant future, after a disaster takes place

A nerdy guy with Rage Issues, among the last of the human race

He was just a media nerd, he ranted a lot, it was quite absurd

But he was special for some reason, so bad men decided it was Rage Issues season

He’ll star in 3 movies, 4 if we squeeze him dry

He’ll go and join a rebel force, as he’ll slowly lose his mind

Now keep in mind, he’s just a guy, no different from you or me

So, he’ll have to learn how to survive, with the help of YA Movies

Franchise Roll call:

The Hunger Games

The Maze Runner

Diiiiiiiivergent

If you’re wondering how he posts his thoughts, and who he’s posting for

Repeat to yourself, it’s just a theme, and stop thinking any more

It’s Young Adult Month!

And we’re continuing with the Hunger Games with Catching Fire. Released in 2013, the first thing of note about this movie is the change in director. Francis Lawrence takes the helm with this movie sees it through to the franchise’s conclusion, Gary Ross stepping down due to the ‘tight’ scheduling of the movie.

They also had an issue that Jennifer Lawrence was working on X-men: Days of Future Past (where she plays Mystique) at around the same time, so scheduling had to be agreed between Fox and Lionsgate.

Still, it was successful earning over $800m on a $140 budget and has a respectable 89% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critic score of 7.6/10 and an audience rating of 89% with an average 4.2/5.

After her stunt to avoid having to kill or be killed by Peeta during the 74^th Hunger Games, things haven’t gotten better for Katniss Everdeen. A visit from President Snow tells her that whilst her attempt to paint her act as purely in the name of love may have worked in the Capitol, it hasn’t worked in the outer districts and she has to convince him of their love during their 12-week visit to the other districts.

When this doesn’t work, it’s announced that the 75^th Hunger Games, following a tradition known as the Quarter Quell, will have contestants made entirely up of previous winners, forcing Katniss back into the arena, and Peeta too as he volunteers to protect her. With new faces to fight, new challenges in the arena, it’s a whole new game now.

The impression I get from this series is that it’s showing the down-side of violence, this is gonna become far more obvious in Mockingjay but it’s prevalent here too, Katniss is showing extreme PTSD and even Peeta admits to having nightmares about the first games.

Peeta in the first film felt a bit useless as it’s Katniss who is involved in most of the major fights but clearly this time they remembered that you need to feel for Peeta in order for the ending and basically all of Mockingjay to work so they give him a lot more to do. He’s the emotional rock for Katniss throughout the movie, volunteers to protect her, saves her life more than once (although that does still happen in reverse too) and gives some meaningful gestures.

The 12-week victory tour feels very slimmed down in this film. I think the writers realised the interesting part of the film comes with the Quarter Quell so they glossed over the victory tour with only the disaster in District 2 and some various uprisings shown before they realise their tactics aren’t working and announce their engagement just before entering the Capitol.

The general aesthetic of the Capitol is good, the over-the-top look of everyone, the huge banquets and drinks that make you sick so you can eat more (don’t know if I would eat more if I was sick but…) and I saw enough of Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) that you do feel sorry for him when you learn his ultimate fate.

But the Quarter Quell is where things get interesting, we meet characters like Finnick Odair (Sam Claffin), Johanna Mason (Jena Malone), Beetee Latier (Jeffrey Wright) and Mags Flannigan (Lynn Cohen) among others destined to die before you even know who they are. Most of them are important later on, except for Mags, poor poor Mags. Anyway, they’re all likeable in their own right so I look forward to their roles later on.

In the games itself, the direction is much better, partly because this guy can keep the camera still, damn does that improve everything. The variety of death-traps is interesting but I don’t know why the Capitol would insist on them rotating, rather than just activating them whenever a tribute thinks they’re safe. Well, actually I do know why but I’ll get to Plutarch in a minute.

Because of the improved direction the action is more satisfying than it was in the first movie, the one issue I do see that Katniss’ arrows just reappear whenever she needs them. It would only take them a few seconds to show her picking them up occasionally. The battle becomes less about fighting tributes than it does surviving the death traps but that’s fine, as the core of this story is on more than just Katniss and Peeta’s survival.

I do have some minor plot-hole issues though, the first of which is Plutarch suggesting that Katniss re-enter the Hunger Games to President Snow, given what’s later revealed about his motivations, this makes absolutely no sense! Bringing Katniss to harm or potentially killing her would be counter-productive to his ultimate agenda.

Then there’s the lightning force-field trick. This is beyond silly. Even if Katniss had the strength to fire an arrow that got as far as the top of the force-field, which is laughable in its own right, the probability of her doing so with such perfect timing that the lightning reaches the end of cable at the exact moment the arrow hits the force-field is so low, even Flo Rida is jealous of it.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire offered improved direction from the first one, without a lot of compromise with the quality of the story or acting. This made the arena action more satisfying, but that said, this is a grim movie, with every action Katniss makes, intentionally or otherwise, having consequences.

Rating 75/100