It is incredibly refreshing to see a film targeted for the teenage audience that isn’t plagued with clichés, atrocious screenplay writing and/or unbelievably awful acting. Today’s youth deserves better than what we’ve been offered in past years. This is why I’m elated to see the return of a brilliant series that kids and adults can enjoy. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire not only destroyed the box office this weekend with a $161.1 million dollar opening, but it also destroyed the bottom- of- the -barrel expectations left over from past mediocre young adult films with its engaging storyline, shocking special effects and stellar acting performances from the whole cast.
This is the second installment of The Hunger Games franchise authored by Suzanne Collins and directed by Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend). In this film, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) are on tour greeting their fans around the twelve districts of Panem after making history as dual victors of The Hunger Games, and shattering the illusion that the Capitol can’t be beaten. Now, Katniss and Peeta are under burning microscopes as the President Snow (Donald Sutherland) is looking for the best way to terminate the pair while forcing them to pretend to be madly in love to distract the other districts and prevent an uprising. This is harder than it seems because Peeta is in the friend zone and making kissy faces and acting like romantic fools is the last thing Katniss wants to do. But, if they want to keep themselves and their families alive, then they have no other choice than to pretend they are hopelessly in love and couldn’t bear to leave the arena without each other.
The pressure is building as the pair wants nothing more than to join in on the uprising but have to continue their charade and even get engaged all while pretending not to notice people being flogged and killed in the streets.
The time comes for the 75th annual Hunger Games, which the new Games designer, Plutarch Heavensbee (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) promises will be the most exciting one yet. The competitors will be selected from winners of previous years and Katniss and Peeta are forced to succumb to the Hunger Games once again, with little hope of making it out alive. The prepping process before the games is more familiar and all the more terrifying and somber for the competitors, ranging from young to old and sane to not quite so.
Katniss emerges on Caesar Flickerman’s (played by the perfect Stanley Tucci in a purple hairdo and bleach-white teeth) pre-Games talk show in an overwhelming wedding dress that transforms with a twirl into a stunning dark blue gown donned with wings to emulate the mockingjay, the symbol of hope for the uprising. This causes an uproar in the crowd and puts everyone involved in even more danger
The last hour of the film focuses on the games and the new arena is a tropical island with hellacious additions like savage primates, waves of blood, and poisonous fog as the feelings between Katniss and Peeta become even more unclear.
As far as acting performances go, I was very impressed by the whole cast. Jennifer Lawrence, in particular, was a gorgeous picture throughout the film, whether she was in an ornate gown or a training uniform for the Games. She displayed her inner turmoil with or without words and demonstrated a remarkable acing range when she portrayed a character that is being physically and emotionally tortured every moment. Her cries of pain or fear pierce your heart and the look on her face when Johanna (Jena Malone) strips naked in front of her and Peeta during an elevator ride is priceless. Thanks to Lawrence, we can be proud to finally have a strong female lead that holds her own and even outshines some male super hero characters.
The supporting cast definitely shines as well. Hutcherson plays Peeta, who is still his warm and loveable self, but with constant danger and Katniss’ refusal to honestly love him, his character becomes like a sad puppy. Donald Sutherland, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, Jena Malone, Sam Claflin, and Willow Shields all put forth authentic performances with little screen time and everyone seemed comfortable in their roles.
This second film is much better than last year’s The Hunger Games since it takes the time to thoroughly tell the story and pays attention to detail. The special effects were much more life-like, the dialogue more genuine, and the film held moments that were even more intense and distressing. Even if you’ve read the books, the movie keeps you on the edge of your seat and leaves little to be desired.
I give it 8 out of 10.