THE HUNGER GAMES 2: CATCHING FIRE
DIRECTOR: Francis Lawrence
CAST: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland
CLASSIFICATION: 10-12 PG V
RUNNING TIME: 146 minutes
RATING: ***
REALITY TV for disillusioned young adults makes for another round of The Hunger Games, though heavens be praised because this one doesn’t suffer from sequelitis.
If you don’t know what happened in the first you can pick it up, and if you are a fan of the first, you are going to love this one even more.
Picking up where the first film left off, Catching Fire starts with Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Hutcherson) embarking on their Victory Tour through the Districts, accompanied by seemingly vacant Effie Trinket (Banks) and haunted Haymitch Abernathy (Harrelson).
Keeping up appearances of being in love, Katniss and Peeta notice the simmering socio-political tension wherever they go but, advised by Haymitch and Effie, they stick to the script after a first disastrous attempt at telling the truth.
Both get drawn back into the next Games, which brings back victors from previous Games – so we don’t have to go through too much training beyond introducing the characters, and then it is off to a treacher- ous jungle.
Water is a very important issue, and watch out for various reactions to the substance because there will be a pop quiz in the third film. Just kidding about the quiz, but the water theme will continue – it is important in the book series.
Jennifer Lawrence is a strong lead, carrying the story on capable shoulders – Katniss is trying to figure out who she can trust, haunted by what she has done to save those she loves.
Even when the plot becomes rather clichéd in terms of her relationship with Hutcherson she manages to convince us she means it.
Hutcherson gets to bring a bit more shading to his character while Hemsworth – the third leg of this little romantic triangle, Gale – doesn’t get much screen time; that will be saved for Mockingjay, the two-film finalé.
We see less of Katniss’ stylist Cinna (Kravitz), but more of Effie, though since this film is called Catching Fire it is only fair that we see more of his hot designs.
New Games master Plutarch Heavensbee ( Hoffman) matches President Snow’s (Sutherland) underlying menace to make for two charming if rather ruthless villians. The film carries on in much the same vein as the first one – themes of sacrifice, love and friendship are explored over a dystopian background complete with a camera in your face every step of the way.
It all comes in easily digestible sound bites and imagery purpose-made for big screen treatment. The Games, afterall, are the modern day equivalent of the Roman gladiator games, meant to distract the populous from the bad things happening right next door.
This is just the teen lit version, carefully crafted to show and tell because just hinting at anything is apparently not enough – but when you compare it to something like Twilight or The Host, the Percy Jackson films or Beautiful Creatures, it comes out miles ahead in terms of substance.
Golden Compass bombed because it left out the context – that heavily religious backdrop and how the characters moved through it was what made the book such a meaty read.
Here screenwriters Michael Arndt and Simon Beaufoy, and director Francis Lawrence have left alone Hunger Games’ totalitarian government, the glamorous Capitol and the starving, outerlying Districts.
With Catching Fire they start to fan the rebellious little flames lit in the first film. Well-crafted, this sequel is a set-up for what should be an all-out, down and dirty fight in the finalé – Mockingjay – but as place holders go it is entertaining and complex enough for a second viewing.
If you liked The Hunger Games you will like this.