Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen shines in Catching Fire in much the same way she did as the main protagonist in Hunger Games. A change of directors has led to a more polished and slicker appearance on the screen, fewer shaky camera shots but there is a sense that everyone has grown up not just physically – most noticeable with Primrose – but mentally too. Not quite accepting the status quo and having hope that there might be a different path is the main theme of this part of the book trilogy. The relentless underlying message that all is not how it appears to the masses is magnificent. The only way to win is to have a killer instinct but to play the game well with artifice for its effect to be realised.
Despite the fact that the three books are going to be turned into four films, there were several important sub plots left out of the film. Katniss in the book keeps being given clues about what that alternative is so that at the end of the novel it all suddenly makes sense. In the film however it all comes out of the blue. That said however, the film does not dumb down for the sake of the people who have not read the books and they must be somewhat perplexed by some of the things they see on screen. We see people with their faces covered up by ornate half masks, for example, and only those who had read the books would know they had had their tongues cut out.
Peeta seems smaller in this film. Although we know Josh Hutcherson is smaller than Jennifer Lawrence in RL, I don’t think the difference in stature was so obvious in Hunger Games.
The key scene is the wedding dress transformation in Katniss’s journey to being the symbol of the revolution. Sacrifice for the perceived greater good is threaded through the storyline.
I went to see this at the IMAX in Glasgow and the perspective from the centre of the row is terrific but the level of detail is sometimes difficult to take in. There is one very close-up shot of kissing while upset where there was a definite exchange of saliva and I’m not sure if it was the IMAX perspective that made that possible or if this is something everyone will see. (If so, ewww!)
Donald Sutherland is all veiled threat and murderous. One can almost smell the distasteful rot coming from his gut masked by white roses as his baleful eyes suggest he has seen it all before.
Just a word of caution however, this is a 12A. That does not mean it was suitable for the little children I saw running about on Friday night. Catching Fire is about fighting to the death and the brutality of un-elected regimes. Do not take your children. If they are too young to understand the books, they are too young to see the movie.
Professional review here:
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/nov/24/hunger-games-catching-fire-review
Benandjerrygirl's Blog 