Oh Katniss, what are we going to do with you? In The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Jennifer Lawrence returns playing the bow wielding heroine, who stuck a thorn in the side of the Capitol when she survived the Hunger Games along with her district-mate Peeta (Josh Hutcherson). Now as word of a rebellion spreads throughout the districts, the two victors go on their cross-country victory tour. That seems nice. Well, it’s not and then they get thrown right back into the arena for a victors only Hunger Games. Panem is such a dramatic place.
The story is pretty clearly split in half with the victory tour and the games each taking their share of screen time. But the film, which runs close to two and a half hours, is paced out very well and is quite exciting throughout. I would even argue that a good portion of the story is more exciting than the original novel. I know Hunger Games fans, those are fighting words, but they’re true. In her first return to the franchise since winning an Oscar, Lawrence shows just how good of an actress she is, with a more balanced effort than the first installment.
A newcomer to the series, but not action franchises, Sam Claflin (Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides, Snow White and the Huntsman) does very well as trident wielding tough guy, Finnick Odair. Beyond Lawrence, he is the most impressive in his role. I mean I like Peeta, but the guy just gets hurt a lot. Both fans and casual moviegoers will enjoy Catching Fire, which is a loyal and impressive adaptation of the best-selling book. What they’ll do with Mockingjay being split into two films is anyone’s guess. It could be really great like the Harry Potter 7 split or pretty dull like Breaking Dawn. Let’s cross our fingers.
Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.
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