THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (2013)
Unrest is brewing in Panem following the defiant double victory of District 12 tributes Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) in The Hunger Games. The unprecedented way the two overcame the obstacles thrown at them in the arena upset the veneer of order President Snow’s government had in place. In Catching Fire, Katniss and Peeta are Snow’s pawns, dispatched on a whirlwind post-victory tour in an attempt to quell the public’s fears and quash any ideas of rebellion. Unfortunately the young victors’ masquerade proves insufficient for Snow and the venerable Plutarch Heavensbee (played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman) is called in to assume the role of Games Master in the 75th Hunger Games. These games are different, as every 25 years a change to the format is introduced called a Quarter Quell, meant to spice things up so the tributes don’t get complacent. The change proves catastrophic for Katniss and Peeta, when it is revealed that this year’s tributes will be reaped from the existing group of victors and the two, along with their colleagues, will have to fight for their lives in the arena again.
"The last hunger games was just child’s play," Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch Abernathy states matter-of-factly. He’s right. Catching Fire feels like a far more mature, intense and interesting endeavor than the Gary Ross film that came before it. The sequel dispenses of the first film’s shakycam and, with director Francis Lawrence at the helm, shows audiences a Panem like we’ve never seen before. There are fantastic establishing shots that really set the mood, signaling darker times ahead for our young protagonist. From a production standpoint, the film is really well done, with camera movement that enhanced both dramatic and action elements. Symmetrical shots, gritty landscapes and lavish costume design cemented the audience in this dystopian world of harsh inequalities. The pacing and editing of the film couldn’t be tighter and more concise, with the story evenly split between District 12 (including Victors Village) and the actual games. There’s also the matter of the exceptional cast, led by an unwavering Jennifer Lawrence who rightfully shone in every scene she was in. Catching Fire is captivating from start to finish, and it is undoubtedly one of the best blockbusters of the year.
The film gets bonus points for giving Katniss Everdeen’s character much more depth and dimension. What I love about her as a character is that she isn’t your typical protagonist with a messiah complex. She has simple goals: providing for her family and surviving. Catching Fire often shows Katniss being selfish, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s a great thing, because it shows that she’s young and very human. She’s compassionate and brazen, but she doesn’t want a war because she knows what that will mean to the people around her. She resents being looked at as the symbol of Panem’s opportunity for liberty because she doesn’t want that kind of responsibility on her shoulders. She just wants to be left alone in the woods to hunt and gallivant as she pleases. When she begs Gale to run away with her, she exposes this side of her character that is interesting. She’s not thinking of the greater good every time she makes decisions, and that’s something very relatable and, ultimately, what makes her a fascinating character.
Jennifer Lawrence was pitch perfect as the fiery Katniss. Her performance was strong and emotional, and she really was the heart of the film. The audience can see how much of a toll the games have taken on her. Katniss has nightmares and hallucinations, becoming increasingly paranoid and a lot slower to trust than ever before. We see her slowly being stripped of her humanity, which is the effect that being in survival mode has on a young girl. In one scene when Haymitch is talking about Mags, an older mentor who has volunteered as tribute in the games, Katniss callously says that she’s undoubtedly not going to last very long because of how frail she is. Haymitch says that he hopes Mags goes quickly because she’s actually a nice lady, a comment that stuns Katniss because she realizes that she is slowly turning into the unfeeling monster that the Games want her to be. It’s little scenes like these that give Catching Fire a lot more depth and really illustrate to the audiences the frames of mind of its characters. 
The rest of the cast was phenomenal, especially Josh Hutcherson and Jena Malone, who both gave the film an emotional drive that complemented Katniss. I’ve never been a huge fan of Jena Malone’s, but she was fantastic in this film as firecracker Johanna Mason. Johanna is outspoken and defiant, unflinching in her display of contempt at being forced to compete at the Games once again. She acts like someone with nothing to lose, and that’s because the Capitol has taken everyone and everything from her. Malone plays Johanna with a great mix of camp and venom, making her entertaining to watch. Sam Claflin, who played the flamboyant and charming Finnick Odair, came off a bit much at first, however after being described by Haymitch as a bit of a peacock, I realized that Claflin played him exactly like that. Finnick is a character with many layers, on the one hand selfless in his sacrifice for Mags and on the other, deadly in his skilled wielding of a trident. By far my favorite parts in the film, however, involved Josh Hutcherson, because I thought he really shone as Peeta in this second film. The appeal of Peeta is that he perfectly balances Katniss out with his mild manner and gentleness. It is often the running joke that Katniss frequently has to haul Peeta out of danger, and this is a nice contrast between the two characters that also happens to make them both complementary. Katniss is physically much more adept than Peeta, having been accustomed to hunting and caring for herself for as long as she can remember. Peeta, on the other hand, has learned to keep his emotions in check, given his rough family background (none of his family volunteered in his stead when he was reaped for the last Hunger Games). So it’s a delightful contrast to see Peeta pick up the emotional slack when Katniss can’t muster enough strength to get through the pretense that President Snow has forced them to perform. Katniss may be more physically skilled at combat and defense than Peeta, but it is Peeta who frequently rises to the occasion where Katniss’s emotions get the better of her.
Although some audiences may roll their eyes at the love triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale, I have to disagree that this is a trope. There is a completely understandable reason why this kind of romantic development occurs. Katniss is drawn to Gale because he reminds her of the life she had prior to the Games - a simple, uncomplicated life without fear of persecution, mistrust and conspiracy. However, going through the trauma of the Games with Peeta gave them a different kind of bond. Peeta went through the same trials and tribulations that Katniss did, and they carry that weight together. It’s a part of her that Gale will never understand, and as a result, brings Katniss closer to Peeta. There were so many ways that this love triangle could have been poorly handled, yet the script, direction and acting culminated to make this seem like a very natural, organic development. We see the exact moment that Katniss falls in love with Peeta, and it’s during a moment of purity and selfless kindness. She recognizes this instantly because she sees it around her. From Mags’ sacrifice for Finnick to Cinna’s defiant orchestration of her fiery Mockingjay costume, she witnesses the lengths people go for each other, and she sees it in Peeta. It’s unapologetically sweet, his devotion to her, and quite the diamond in the rough amid the tragedy all around them. Both Lawrence and Hutcherson do a remarkable job getting to the heart of these characters without care for the cynicism that others would have been so quick to judge with.
One of my complaints from the first film was that there didn’t seem to be any real danger. The second film addresses this issue fairly well by portraying an increasingly bleak Panem and packing the second half with action that bordered on the relentless. Katniss and her allies barely get any reprieve before they find themselves assaulted by yet another trap in the arena. There was also a sense of hopelessness and dire straits that echoed throughout the film that was absent in The Hunger Games. Floggings and executions run rampant in the various districts, none of which are glossed over by the film. When Katniss hears that she will have to fight in the arena again, the audience can feel her spirit break. There was a sense of desperation in these Games that really made it seem like these people were fighting for their lives and there was no hope of a way out, a suspension of disbelief for a jaded moviegoing audience that is very rare to achieve these days.
I also found it interesting that Suzanne Collins, who co-wrote the screenplay of the first film, was absent in this sequel. It may have had a positive effect on the movie because fresh eyes were on the material in the form of Little Miss Sunshine writer Michael Arndt. I felt that the movie had all the necessary ingredients without being drawn out. The script felt focused and lean, with Arndt managing to fit in everything that mattered to the story while editing out parts of the book that, while insightful, had no place in the movie. There were also some changes made to the original story that worked for the film, such as giving certain parts or lines of dialogue to different characters in order to enrich them (as in the case of Beetee). One of the new additions that I found particularly interesting was President Snow’s granddaughter. Making her aspire to be like Katniss (may it be through wearing her hair the same way or longing for Peeta and Katniss’s love) was a brilliant idea, showing Snow just how twisted these Games are and how he is losing control of the message. The little girl telling Katniss that one day she would like to volunteer as tribute so that she can be as stellar as Katniss was spine-chilling, not joyous, and a sly comment on the often demented aspirations pop culture can have on young people. It could be thought of as a reference to young kids who dream of being in the military because of how much Hollywood glorifies war and violence.
I didn’t deliberately go into the film blind. I had planned on reading Catching Fire before going to see this film but could not get to it in time. In many ways, this was a happy accident because I feel as though I enjoyed the movie so much more because I was able to go in without the weight of any expectations. I was able to go through the motions along with the characters, making the experience a lot more emotional. There were surprises in the film that also made me audibly gasp, which was so great because I would not have had that by reading the book. For instance, the part where Peeta plays to the crowd during the interview session with Stanley Tucci’s Caesar (who was magnificent as always) and says that Katniss is pregnant. I remember looking at my friend and going “Ho shit.” That was a bomb that I didn’t see coming at all and I thought it was rather well played. I’m glad I got to react just like the audience in the Capitol hall.
Catching Fire also made much more of a statement than The Hunger Games did, injecting the political and social commentary that really elevated Collins’s series. For instance, there was a line in the film about how the victors only served to distract people from their harsh realities; that was certainly a dig at America’s celebrity-obsessed culture. Why bother with things like drone strikes that kill innocent bystanders or the invasion of our privacy by the government when Kim and Kanye just released an outrageous music video? Why concern ourselves with typhoons that have death tolls in the thousands, or a rapidly warming planet that causes such calamities, when Miley Cyrus is twerking on national television? Collins weaves this theme expertly into the series, and the film does an excellent job incorporating it into the story without necessarily being didactic.
The film ends perfectly, with Katniss’s realization that her home of District 12 has been wiped off the map. The way Lawrence’s expression changes from shock and disbelief to seething rage in mere seconds was so satisfying to watch, and it’s perhaps one of the best cliffhangers in film series history. Catching Fire was exciting, emotional and engaging, thanks to a much improved script, smart direction and captivating performances from its talented cast. It does the spirit of Suzanne Collins’s books justice, and this moviegoer certainly can’t wait to see Mockingjay. The success of the film is encouraging because it’s proof that stories with female protagonists are bankable, and they don’t have to be diluted to throwaway rom-coms, saccharine dramas or hypermasculine action flicks. They can be thought-provoking, intelligent and action-packed pieces, and they aren’t just for the young adult female readers who made the books best-sellers.