FandomFanatic21
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the second installment in the Hunger Games series following Kaniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark after they spark a rebellion when winning the hunger games. These events lead Panem's leader President Snow to gather the victors from previous games to be drawn and entered into a whole new arena where they must fight till the death a second time. Catching Fire is a chilling thrill ride with more twists and suspense as the movie introduces new characters, a rising rebellion, and a whole new plan to take down Panem and their twisted games. Catching Fire may be the best of the films as it takes you deeper into this dystopian society reminding everyone to remember who the enemy is."People are looking to you, Katniss. You've given them an opportunity. They just have to be brave enough to take it."
-Gale Hawthorne, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
zkonedog
The first "Hunger Games" movie's popularity to each person ran roughly equal to their enjoyment of the written works. Essentially, how much you liked/disliked the book was exactly how much you liked/disliked the movie. With "Catching Fire", however, director Francis Lawrence actually turns in what may very well be a superior product to Suzanne Collins' tome.For a basic plot summary, "Catching Fire" sees Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) back from their original Hunger Games experience now living on "Panem's dime" while on the promotional tour for the next games. When President Snow (Donald Sutherland) doesn't like the symbol that Katniss may be turning into, he rigs the upcoming Quarter Quell (75th edition of the Games) with a special new set of rules unprecedented in the history of the event.While the first "Hunger Games" movie was impressive in its own right, I believe that "Catching Fire" is superior because it is a bit more "versatile". The original movie was very dark in tone and serious throughout. I have read all the books, so I completely realized that the tone is quite serious, but I really appreciated the lighter moments of "Catching Fire", those moments when I felt like it was okay to laugh or smile at something that was transpiring.The main cog in making the machine work is Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss. Other great performances from characters like Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth), Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks), Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci), and Primrose Everdeen (Willow Shields) are packed with subtle nuances all their own, but it is truly Lawrence who holds this whole thing together. Her screen presence alone is a force to be reckoned with. Even if her portrayal of Katniss is quite a bit different (at least physical) from how she is portrayed in the books, Lawrence has easily made the character entirely her own.Thus, while the first movie in this series whetted my appetite for more, "Catching Fire" satiated the hunger by mixing some brevity and wit into some deadly serious subject matter. It changes the style of the series-so-far while also staying pretty true to the source material.
RavenGlamDVDCollector
You'd expect a merry-go-round in the sky, almost, the way people are on about Katniss Everdeen. I won the full set in a competition where mine was the winning review, thank you Raru South Africa, I do appreciate, I never would have seen it otherwise, the original box cover artwork of THE HUNGER GAMES reminded me too much of images I have seen of computer- animated Lara Croft and I didn't have this on my list of DVDs to obtain, but when my BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER review took first prize, I was real chuffed for the nifty boxset.Once again though, there's nothing really, really special in here. Come on, people, it's an average performance in a movie coming in well below what it should have been. I hasten to add, in all fairness, that those computer-generated mandrills... Ooh jeepers they made excellent excellent adversaries, the only real high point of the movie. Had the entire flick been that kind of edge-of-your-seat stuff...But Jennifer Lawrence is nothing extra-special in this movie. Do not get me wrong, I am not dissing her, no. But worthy of all this acclaim, for this... This? People, you are seeing way more in this than there actually is. Take another look at it. What it does do, is deliver a theme of televised blood sport, and this is what enthralls you lot. There is bound to be more. Of this (the DIVERGENT series aside) with better performances, and you'll see, though I most likely wouldn't, I prefer other kinds of story lines, I wouldn't be salivating over the blood games to follow.Notice that the poster artwork got recognition. Yeah, where are the days of the great poster artwork, like THE GAUNTLET, and the Roger Moore James Bond movies?In closing, I repeat, I do not mean it is a weak movie/weak performance. It is just, this is the first movie since THE EXORCIST where a movie with an actress headlining the show tops the box office. For this? Weren't there so many, many others so far, far more worthy?
