Catching Fire: Let the Revolution Begin

Due to the frenzy of Hunger Games promotion in the past few weeks, I was compelled to re-read the books and re-watch the first movie. Now I've watched the sequel, Catching Fire, and it is clear that this franchise just keeps getting bigger and better.

In comparison to The Hunger Games, Catching Fire appears to have benefited from an enormous budget and increased investment in production value. I certainly enjoyed the first movie, but the aesthetics of the second film are on a completely different scale. The special effects are a lot sharper, District 12 looks grayer and grimier, the Capitol is even more garish and extravagant, the new Games arena is a riot of color and horror. As a result, the camerawork is steady and cinematic: the first movie was very shaky, which suited the more stripped-down nature of that film, but Catching Fire has a much more epic and grandiose feel to it. This is perhaps most obvious in the effort that has gone into the costumes. Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks), the Capitol chaperone who is always eye-popping in her strange Capitol outfits, has about a dozen costume changes, each one more elaborate than the last. Even her eyelashes have been meticulously crafted to suit each outfit and the effect is astonishing.

But special effects are nothing if you don't have a good cast and script. Catching Fire does a tremendous job of packing in the dense story and features every scene I wanted to see from the book. As a die-hard fan of the The Hunger Games trilogy, I cannot overemphasize the joy of reading the actual books and luxuriating in them. There is so much emotion and complexity expressed in the novels, much of which is nearly impossible to translate to film. Fortunately, Jennifer Lawrence makes Katniss Everdeen far more vulnerable in this installment and we have a better sense of the emotions raging within her while she tries to maintain a deadpan exterior in front of President Snow and his thugs. She ensures that Katniss continues to be a strong, smart, and compelling leading female character, always a rarity in a big blockbuster movie.

The supporting cast is nicely rounded off with Josh Hutcherson, who lends more maturity to the perpetually heartbroken Peeta Mellark, and Liam Hemsworth who is affecting in his few short scenes as Gale, the boy who loves Katniss but can't begin to understand her relationship with Peeta. Woody Harrelson's Haymitch is probably not as drunk as the book's version, but he still does a great job of wisely mentoring Peeta and Katniss whilst providing much-needed comic relief. Sam Claflin and Jena Malone are strong and witty as the new tributes, Finnick Odair and Johanna Mason, and they keep you entertained whenever they're on screen. Overall, despite the dark nature of the series, the movie retains an ability to inject some humor into horrifying situations and defuse the tension that keeps building up as the characters enter the arena for the 75th Hunger Games.

Catching Fire signals that the filmmakers understand exactly how to film these books to deliver the maximum impact. The movie has a relentless pace but takes the time to flesh out the emotional arcs of each character, lending much more depth and heartbreak to the romantic subplot. It is an edge-of-your-seat action thriller, but it fully develops the political back story as well, capturing the unrest in various Districts around Panem that will lead to the events of the next movie. My only quibble with this film was that I didn't want it to end. Sadly there's nothing I can do about that except hope that they hurry up the production of the next movie and deliver something as gorgeous and riveting as this film. Considering how well this franchise is doing already, I'd say the odds are ever in their favor.