The Case for More Flammability

Hunger Games: Catching Fire reunites me with Jennifer Lawrence.  It is a match made in heaven.

Well, not quite.  Watching Lawrence on screen is a blessing, and she continues to impress with the role of Katniss Everdeen, though sometimes I wish she got the chance to smile just a little more. 

Catching Fire picks up where the Hunger Games left off: Katniss torn between the man she loves and the man who loves her and the whole world thinks she loves; the oppressive Panem state clamping down on all dissent in the outlying slave "districts", and the ongoing repercussions of her involvement in the 74th Hunger Games. 

Donald Sutherland returns and is awesome as the cold President Snow, determined to keep Panem - and his rule - in control.  His calm voice and hard eyes almost sent shivers down my spine, his portrayal of a man making brutal decisions not because he is (necessarily) insane, but more that he is convinced that he is right, as is the way things are.  He is joined in the adult stakes by the incredible Stanley Tucci, with his startlingly white teeth and extreme TV persona, Elizabeth Banks showing a huge amount of uncertainty and doubt despite the layers of makeup and mad clothing that make her into Effie, and Woody Harrelson is also back as the jaded ex-winner Hamich, though this time he seems to have more of a plan to his drunkenness than before. 

Of the younger cast, it is Lawrence who stands head and shoulders above everyone else, except for Jena Malone as another near psychotic ex-winner, as Malone has always been a personal favourite.  The love guys, Peeta and Gale (Josh Hutchison and Liam Hemsworth), are fine.  Despite the influence they have on Katniss' life, their on screen characters don't really shine, either due to the writing or perhaps also due to the actors own limited abilities.  Finnick the Merman (played with a winning smile by Sam Claflin) seems to have a lot more on screen spark of all the young males, but again he too is eclipsed by the amazing Lawrence (and, to my perception at least, the hilarious Malone). 

 

The movie itself is well constructed, though it does seem to drag at times.  It spends a lot less time in the Hunger Games arena than I would have thought, instead building up the world of Panem a lot more, and skilfully skipping a lot of detail in the book that, quite frankly, it was wise to do.  Still, when it gets to the games, any slowness is forgotten as the killing begins... but where will it end? 

While I loved reading the second book, the movie seems to make the point a bit clearer how the story is moving away from Katniss's story of survival and more towards how the world is reacting to her actions.  The books were all first person narrative, but the movies by necessity are third person, and so when things start happening to Katniss or around her, it is much easier to weave that into the story than when it is Katniss who needs to experience or understand them.  Still, it will be interesting to see how the third (and weakest?) book is translated into two movies.  And I shall say no more. 

Verdict:  If anything, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is a step up from the first Hunger Games film.  Lawrence is inspirational in so many ways, bringing a real actor's "soul" to a driven yet conflicted character.  This film has a whole lot of elements that combine brilliantly together, with only the necessary world building at the start of the film slowing things down a little.  8.5 mockingjays out of 10.