Note to self - you can't catch fire... or throw it
It wasn't long after this that the Nazi's fired their fashion designer
DIRECTOR: Francis Lawrence
CAST: Jennifer Lawrence (no relation), a load of men that aren't good enough for Jennifer Lawrence, one of seven psychopaths, the mother of JD's child, the head of Scientology, Kiefer Sutherland's dad, the pervert from The Lovely Bones, baboons, fog and blisters ...
PLOT: It's the second adaptation in Suzanne Collins' immensely popular series of books, and with Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) trying to get over the fun of the first film, she's invited (forced) back for more Hunger Games brutality when a selection of the previous winners are pitted against one another.
The biggest issue that the makers of the The Hunger Games: Catching Fire had to go up against was producing a different enough story than Gary Ross' adaptation of the first novel. It would have been easy to become The Hunger Games 2.0 instead of its own film by just showing another competition of predominantly adolescents offing each other whilst trying to keep the BBFC from losing their shit. Not only did Francis Lawrence make Catching Fire its own film, he made it the better film.
For the first half of the film's arguably overlong duration some viewers may feel agitated. Instead of watching the aforementioned competitors fighting to the death which took up the vast majority of the time in last year's prequel and became what it is now famous for, we get a wider exploration of the themes and the problems that mare the District's of Panem and are delivered an engrossing and compromising character study, including a further insight into a love triangle and dystopian social and political commentary that may not be subtle but is certainly most welcome.
This is a franchise that has been conceived and birthed during the Twilight era but the important difference is that it has some added weight... and context, intelligence, heart, and overall genuine talent, really.
The Stig had to find another job after Top Gear's eventual cancellation
But as with the predecessor, despite the fact that the cast are all exceedingly impressive (even the worst Hemsworth brother is quite good), the biggest draw to the film is Jennifer Lawrence. She holds the camera and our attention with ease with her effortless likability and her flawless ability to throw herself head first into any role that comes her way. With any other actress, her character could come across as droll and joyless, but Lawrence's charisma and willingness to grasp the low key emotional scenes as well as the high-octane scenes so firmly has made it so that Katniss Everdeen has become her own beast, almost her own creation; if you read the novels now you envision Lawrence, and nobody would rightfully complain about that.
As with the second half of the film, the actual Games themselves, it is a step up from the first. There are more challenges other than the enemy "tributes", a further reliance on teamwork and surviving against the elements, some of which when listed out on paper sound absolutely ludicrous but actually work out very well onscreen. The quality direction and cinematography, combining with the great performances, makes the Games a evermore growingly tense viewing throughout, with small hints that suggests which direction the emotional climax and the remainder of the franchise is going to go in, but is thankfully never too obvious for less active audiences.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is a much more confident affair than its prequel. The unstoppable force that is Jennifer Lawrence grabs the role with both hands and the overall arcing story of Suzanne Collins' novels can no longer be backhanded by the ignorant as a mere knock-off of Battle Royale. It's become much, much more than that. The next two instalments, the novel Mockingjay which is being split into two films, will be a further test to translate to screen, but with the sustained talent of everyone involved, there's no reason that this unlikely phenomenon cannot continue to take the box office by storm.
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