One is an extremely well-versed 15-year-old fan girl hoping the film she went to see at yesterday’s midnight screening would live up to her favourite book. The other is our resident wise ass columnist who has minimal Hunger Games experience at best.
These are their stories.
YASMIN, 15, HUNGER GAMES FAN & HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
I had high hopes for Catching Fire last night. Anticipation, hope, fear and excitement were coursing through my veins; was the film going to live up to the complexity and magnificence of the book? I decided to walk into that cinema with an open mind and be prepared to accept any direction the movie took. And I stand by my word when I say it went far beyond my expectations.
Before the movie, lively voices of groups chatting amongst themselves filled the room, along with the occasional excited squeal – many being from me. But as soon as the movie started, the cinema fell completely silent. Not even the faint sound of breathing could be heard; like me, everyone else was holding their breath. I clutched my Mockingjay pin necklace while we all watched with wide eyes as the clock struck 12:01am and the screen came to life and a snowy forest gloomed into view.
As the film gets going, you immediately become aware of the effects that the Hunger Games have had on Katniss, who panics hysterically after having a hallucination of one of the kills she had to make in the original games. Immediately the tension in the room soared beyond anything you could imagine and both my friend and I had to resort to squeezing each other’s hands until our thumbs turned blue.
One of the most noticeable improvements since the first The Hunger Games film is the development of the chemistry between the ‘star-crossed lovers’, Katniss and Peeta. In the first movie, their characters’ so-called relationship was forced in order to improve their public image – being a favourite in the games can mean the difference between life and death. When the paparazzi are not focused on them though, Katniss returns to her isolated, silent self, much to the disappointment of Peeta who you can clearly see has feelings for her. It was lovely to see their character development; Katniss slowly lets down her walls and starts accepting the feelings Peeta has for her, while discovering her own. Their moments together suddenly become more real without it having to be faked for the camera, as Katniss begins to warm up to Peeta and discovers new strengths, but also many weaknesses.
From the Hunger Games, we have the knowledge that the idea of a rebellion is beginning to spark amongst the Districts. In Catching Fire, this starts to escalate. During the Victory Tour in which Katniss and Peeta visit all the Districts and give condolences to the families of the fallen tributes, Katniss gives a speech about Rue, a twelve-year old girl from District 11 who was one of Katniss’s only allies. It all ends in controversy when the Peace Keepers, the soldiers of the Capitol, execute a man who shows a symbol of gratitude which everyone in the crowd replicates. Many other districts begin to take matters into their own hands and follow the initiative of District 11 with riots and protests under Katniss’s symbol: the Mockingjay.
President Snow soon comes to realise there is a revolution rising up against the Capitol and that Katniss is their “beacon of hope”, so he comes to the solution she must be eliminated. Every 25 years there is a Quarter Quell which is similar to the Hunger Games but usually with a drastic twist to the rules and landscape. Since it is the 75th Hunger Games and the 3rd Quarter Quell, President Snow decrees that tributes will be selected from the pool of surviving victors of all the past games, including Katniss and Peeta. Gasps of shock erupt from the crowd as we watch Katniss and Peeta come to the realisation they are going back into the games.
I am very happy to say that the movie followed the book extremely well, especially during the Quarter Quell, and included many of my favourite scenes and quotes (which we mouthed along with them).
After we had all recited ‘May the odds be ever in your favour’ quietly to ourselves, before we knew it Katniss was in the elevator shaft that would take her up into the arena. Each scene gives a clue as to what the tributes will be facing in the arena and you begin to take notice of the 12 different sections the arena is split into and why Wiress, one of the tributes, continually says ‘tick tock’ and recites ‘Hickory Dickory Dock’.
Each section has some kind of horror or lethal action: blood rain, wild and violent monkeys, tsunamis and a poisonous mist. However it was the Jabberjay horror that contained one of my favourite scenes from the movie. The Jabberjays are used as a form of torture and the noises they make are the screams and pleas of the tributes’ loved ones. Katniss is horribly fooled at one point and sinks to her knees, crying and screaming, while Peeta watches on desperately from the other side of the forcefield trying to console her, shouting that it all isn’t real, it’s ok and that he’s right there for her.
I am very glad to say that Catching Fire is the best movie I have seen all year. Walking out of the cinema, I was speechless. Words cannot truly describe how incredible this movie is and how it captured every element of the story that made it so unique with the powerful messages and deeper meanings behind it.
For all those lucky enough to see such a brilliant movie, I have one message for you…
May the odds be ever in your favour.
STEVO, 29, DAD-OF-TWO & BLOGGER (THE UNEDUCATED OPINION)
I can’t contain it past the first sentence: if this film was a 90’s prostitute and I was Richard Gere, we would cuddle forever and she wouldn’t make me pay. This is love, people. Although I had ironically skipped dinner and was in the depths of my own hunger game throughout it, I was completely shocked at my ability to remain nourished on popcorn and frozen coke for 146 minutes. Usually in your Jennifer Anniston-style rom com although I may be laughing, my ability to refrain from a burrito mission mid-film is unachievable. It’s obviously not important for me to discuss my eating habits in a movie review though.
The second of what will be four films in The Hunger Games franchise, Catching Fire kicks off by slamming an arrow into an innocent man’s heart. A novel way to kick off the first two minutes of any film, and reminiscent of any mildly scary film that has ever made me s*** my pants. Holding my Wife’s hand, she was already appreciating my forethought to cut my fingernails. It’s unfair of me to paint this movie as a scary one though, because it isn’t; I am just a class-A pussy. Like the first film, it just has you on the edge of your seat attempting to control your urge to yell at the screen for the characters to “LOOK BEHIND YOU!” or “RUN!”.
For anyone that has read the books (I have not) I apologise for my short synopsis that is to follow. I am sure it bears little resemblance to the depths the books must go into. I am not a novelist. In short, Catching Fire re-joins Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) one year after the previous movie’s end. They are to embark on a tour of the districts to reaffirm their love to the people and in turn take their minds off the slavery that they call day-to-day life. President Snow (Donald Sutherland) fears a rebellion in the districts and blames Katniss and Peeta’s message of hope for this. Without giving too much away this ends with the leads back inside the Hunger Games (surprise).
Catching Fire once again contains the ever-intoxicated Woody Harrelson. Breaking up the nausea-inducing tension of the film is a role once again given to the comedy stylings of Stanley Tucci as he hosts the Hunger Games in his overtly homosexual manner (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Lenny Kravitz was there again…such an interesting guy. I’m not sure if his character (above) is supposed to be sexy or not, but it doesn’t usually matter who he is talking to in the film, I just assume he is about to have sex with them. It’s either brute sex appeal on Lenny’s part or just really terrible acting, I can’t decide. Close-ups of his wandering eyes don’t help. The addition of Philip Seymour Hoffman to the cast was a very welcome and successful surprise. I imagine having him around for the odd acting tip was very useful for director Francis Lawrence when it came to Lenny.
I spent this entire film believing I was watching Kristen Stewart take part in her first acting experience, playing the role of previous Hunger Games victor Johanna Mason. I was going to applaud Francis Lawrence and the obvious guidance of Philip Seymour Hoffman in removing her from the cardboard box she has been acting in since birth. A quick Google search on my arrival home provided me with a far better alternative to Kristen Stewart learning to act though: it was actually an actress named Jena Malone. Thank Jesus for that, I was worried there would be a tear in the fabric of the universe. Everyone continue to go about their lives like nothing happened.
To wrap up what can barely be classed as a review, please go and see this film. Before it, make sure you have seen the first. After it, enjoy the torment of knowing it’s going to be at least a year before you have some answers to the questions it raises. That is of course unless you wish to read the book, which I do not.
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