Review - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

          Hey guys, Chuck here. Back in March, we took a look at the 2012 film The Hunger Games in honor of the film's tenth anniversary. Today, I'd like to take a look at the 2013 sequel: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, based on the Suzanne Collins novel Catching Fire , and directed this time by Francis Lawrence, a director we've discussed throughout the year with my reviews of his films I Am Legend with Will Smith and Constantine with Keanu Reeves. The cast of this movie sees the returns of Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Willow Shields, Paula Malcolmson, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, and Donald Sutherland, with newcomers including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Claflin, Jeffrey Wright, Amanda Plummer, and Jena Malone. 

        So, several months after returning to District 12, Katniss Everdeen is suffering from PTSD due to her time in the arena during the 74th annual Hunger Games. Compounding the issue is the upcoming Victory Tour, wherein Katniss and her fellow victor, Peeta Mellark, would travel to the other eleven Districts of Panem to share their victory in the Games, honor those who didn't survive the Games, and eventually ending in a massive party at the President's Mansion in the Capitol. 

         Speaking of which, President Coriolanus Snow himself is in the study in the Everdeen house in the Victor's Village in District 12, informing Katniss that.her actions in the Games have started to stir unrest in the Districts. You see, whilst the citizens of the Capitol bought into Katniss and Peeta's star-crossed lovers act, people in the Districts saw Katniss' deal with the poisonous Nightlock berries as an act of defiance, not of love. So, now President Snow requires Katniss to be as convincing as possible, to the point of convincing Snow himself that her feelings of love towards Peeta are legit, even threatening the safety of her family, as well as her long-time friend Gale Hawthorne, if she doesn't cooperate. 

           Unfortunately, the Victory Tour doesn't go 100% well, as the first stop in District 11 gets to be too hectic, when Peeta offers a percentage of their winnings to the families of Thresh and Rue, and Katniss becoming overwhelmed with grief recounting her failure to protect Rue in the Games. The other ten Districts, while not as tense, also are a bit tense, with many in the Districts not buying into Katniss and Peeta's speeches, written for them by Effie. Whilst en route to the Capitol, Katniss makes a suggestion that she and Peeta get married, as it may be the key to convincing Snow of the earnestness of her and Peeta's feelings for each other. During the party, Katniss and Peeta are introduced to Plutarch Heavensbee, who is the successor to the deceased Seneca Crane as Head Game maker for the upcoming 75th Hunger Games, which will mark the third Quarter Quell. 

        Back in District 12, Katniss is still struggling with everything going on around her, further compounded by several behind the scenes moves by Snow and Heavensbee, the latter of whom suggests increasing the level of fear in the Districts by televising floggings and executions, blanketing them with coverage regarding Katniss and Peeta's upcoming wedding, as doing so would forever tarnish the image of the Mockingjay, which the people have dubbed Katniss as. Adding to this is the appointment of Romulus Thread as new Head Peacekeeper in District 12, and his actions in burning down the local black market known as The Hob, and taking Gale to a flogging post to be publicly flogged. Katniss intercedes, and both Peeta and Haymitch step in to assist. Thread begrudgingly agrees with Haymitch's position, and informs of a mandatory curfew now put into place. Watching the footage, Snow realizes that it's no longer just about Katniss, but the other Victors as well, leading to Heavensbee revealing to us, the viewers, about a wrinkle with the Quarter Quell. In the Avenue of the Tributes, Snow reveals in a televised speech across Panem that for the upcoming Hunger Games, which is the third Quarter Quell, that the Tributes will be drawn from the existing pool of Victor's across the twelve Districts of Panem, regardless of age. We see a shocked Katniss realizing what this means: she's going back to the Arena. 

        Katniss and Haymitch make a plan for Haymitch to volunteer should Peeta's name be pulled, but if the opposite should occur, there will be nothing Haymitch can do to keep Peeta from volunteering. Months pass, and Reaping Day has arrived. Of course, being the only one with her name in the bowl, Katniss'name is drawn, follows by Haymitch, which leads Peeta to volunteer as Tribute. Unfortunately, neither Katniss nor Peeta are given a chance to say goodbye to their families, as they're taken straight to the train. Upon arriving in the Capitol, Effie reveals that everything this go around is much more state-of-the-art as far as the living quarters and training center. Haymitch pulls the two aside and reveals that they'll need to forge alliances this time around, as everyone in the games this time are all experienced killers, and have known each other for years, which puts Katniss and Peeta at a disadvantage. Among the list include brother-sister duo Cashmere and Gloss from District 1, and Brutus and Enobaria from District 2, the four of them forming the Career Pack. Others including Beetee Latier and Wiress from District 3, Finnick Odair and Mags from District 4, the Morphlings from District 6, Johanna Mason from District 7, and Chaff and Seeder from District 11. 

         The lead-up to the Games goes as normal. The Tribute Parade takes place, this time in broad daylight as opposed to at night, the training segments go on, with Katniss befriending Wiress and Beetee, and even amazing ALL of the other Tributes with her archery skills, thus give her pick of the litter. Ultimately, she goes with Wiress, Beetee, and Mags. During individual assessment, Peeta paints a mural of Rue, to remind the Game makers of the lives they've taken, whilst Katniss hangs a training dummy, which she paints to resemble the late Seneca Crane, with his name painted on the dummy's chest. 

         We then jump ahead to the night of the interviews with Caesar Flickerman, and we see Cashmere and Gloss playing up to the crowd's emotions, Beetee suggesting that perhaps the Quarter Quell could be unwritten from law, Finnick speaking directly to the love of his life, and my personal favorite interview being Johanna, who just straight up rails on the Capitol for being chosen as Tribute once again, even shouting the words "F*ck that! And f*ck everybody that had anything to do with it!" much to my delight. But, ultimately, it comes down to Katniss and Peeta, with Katniss wearing what would have been the wedding dress for her and Peeta's wedding, and as she spins, the dress transforms, making Katniss look like a Mockingjay. Peeta, however, takes a different approach, saying that he and Katniss did have a wedding in secret, and that heading into the Games would be fine...if it weren't for the baby. This play does work on the crowd, as they call for the Games to be cancelled, but unfortunately the Games are still on. 

         The Tributes are sent into the Arena, which is a tropical setting surrounded by a dense jungle. Katniss and Peeta are quickly allied with Finnick and Mags, with the four sticking together. As the day turns to night, we see several different dangers throughout the jungle, ranging from a massive wave of water, toxic fog, killer monkeys, blood rain, and so forth. Mags, sadly, is lost due to the toxic fog. Katniss, Peeta, and Finnick later meet up with Johanna, Wiress, and Beetee, who has a plan to utilize a spool of wire and a tree that attracts strikes of lightning. The plan is to run the wire down to the beach, and use the lightning to electrocute anyone in the water around the Cornucopia, which is in the middle of the Arena. 

         Ultimately, as the lightning strike goes on, Katniss fires her arrow at.the top of the domed forcefield surrounding the Arena. Yeah, I forgot to mention that the Arena is surrounded by a massive domed forcefield. Oops. Anyway, she hits it with a charged arrow, causing the entire thing to come apart. Katniss gets lifted up by a hovercraft, carrying Finnick, Beetee, Haymitch, and Plutarch on board. Haymitch and Plutarch reveal that the plan was to get Katniss out of the Arena alive. And the hovercraft is en route to the previously thought destroyed District 13, which is where the rebellion is forming up. Unfortunately, they were up unable to rescue Peeta before the Capitol got to him, which infuriates Katniss to no end. After being drugged into unconsciousness, Katniss later comes to, greeted by Gale, who let's her know that while her mother and sister were saved, District 12 is gone. 

         This movie improves on a lot of things from the first movie, with the biggest part being the camera work. I made it known that the shaky cam in the first Hunger Games was disorienting, and I gotta say kudos to Francis Lawrence for deciding against using shaky cam in this movie. I also admire the overall look of the arena this time around. 

          Okay, so the returning cast all does really well. Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson are terrific as Katniss and Peeta, while we get a lot more development for Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, Elizabeth Banks as Effie, and Donald Sutherland as Snow. Of the film's newcomers, my three favorites are Sam Claflin as Finnick, Jeffrey Wright as Beetee, and Jena Malone as Johanna. And of course, I have to give a shout-out to the late Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch. He was absolutely phenomenal in this role, which was honestly my favorite role of his since he portrayed Dusty in the Jan de Bont film Twister back in the '90s. It's truly tragic that he passed away when he did, as he truly was a class act. 

          All in all, Francis Lawrence took the book, took everything that Gary Ross did with the first movie, and improved on both in many ways. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and I agree with most of the fans that this is the best film in the Hunger Games franchise. I'm giving The Hunger Games: Catching Fire a rating of 5/5. 

        Now, next week I will be wrapping up my Hunger Games reviews with my review of Mockingjay. On top of that, I'll also be giving my review of the new movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever before the month is over, in addition to my review of Disenchanted. With that said, this is Chuck signing off. Keep an eye out for all these reviews and more throughout the month of November, and I'll see you guys next time.