Sonic Cinema

Sounds, Visions and Insights by Brian Skutle

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Grade : A Year : 2013 Director : Francis Lawrence Running Time : 2hr 26min Genre : , , ,
Movie review score
A

The biggest thing that separates “The Hunger Games” franchise from other mega-blockbusters isn’t just that it’s primary character, Katniss Everdeen, is female, but that the story is so grounded in emotion. Yes, once her and the other Tributes are thrown into the game arena, action takes over, and that’s especially true in “Catching Fire,” but what lasts longest in watching these films are the feelings Katniss and the other characters experience. And so long as emotions are front-and-center in this series, based on the young adult novels by Suzanne Collins, it will be a franchise that rivals the finest of modern filmmaking.

But there’s something else that really differentiates “The Hunger Games” from things like “The Host” and “Twilight,” which most people like to compare “Games” to (unfairly, in my opinion). One of the things I loved about that first movie, directed by Gary Ross, was how, it seemed, someone finally captured what was so appealing about Joss Whedon’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” TV show on the big screen. For Whedon, it wasn’t just about genre, and it wasn’t just about one young woman torn between two men, which is where “Twilight” failed hardest, in my opinion. In the character of Buffy Summers, the journey was emotional, about growing up too fast, and trying to protect those she loved most, sometimes even sacrificing herself to do so. When Katniss volunteers as Tribute in place of her sister in the first film, that is a very Buffy thing to do, and when she finds herself caught between up in a love story tailor made for the cameras when Peeta expresses his own feelings on the matter, it’s not something she embraces, and not just because she has a guy back in District 12 (Gale) she has feelings for herself. Like Buffy, guys and romance cannot be a priority for Katniss, no matter whether she wishes they could be or not; she has other things that have to come first, like her loved ones, and a larger purpose. For Katniss, that larger purpose comes into focus in “Catching Fire.”

Most middle chapters of a trilogy are designed to be placeholders, moving the narrative along well enough, but leaving the big surprises for the final part of the story. Most great middle chapters, however, do more than that, and shake things up in ways we don’t expect, and by the end, “Catching Fire” has done just that. Under the direction of Frances Lawrence (“Constantine,” “I Am Legend”), “Catching Fire”– written by Simon Beaufoy and Michael Arndt (credited as Michael deBruyn)–has turned it’s story on it’s head, and given us a conclusion that forces us to completely recalibrate ourselves for what we might expect in the last story, “Mockingjay” (which will be broken up into two films, ’cause hey, that strategy worked for “Harry Potter” and “Twilight”). In that way, it reminded me of the much-maligned “The Matrix Reloaded,” which also punched us in the gut with an idea that turned the entire story we just watched upside down, making us question if we believe it or not.

“Catching Fire” takes place not long after Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) defied the system, and went home co-victors of the 74th Hunger Games. They are now champions, saved by a love story that plays well for the cameras, and is felt by Peeta, but turns icy when the cameras are off, because Katniss has feelings for Gale (Liam Hemsworth). That creates a problem for all three participants, and an opportunity for the ruthless President Snow (Donald Sutherland), who knows how powerful a symbol Katniss is. He and his new game master (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) brainstorm ways to twist the knife on Katniss, which leads us to the 75th Games. Every 25 years, the Games are known as a Quarter Quell, and Snow and the game master come up with something special for the Tributes. This year, Snow decides that the reaping will be done from the still-living crop of past winners, which means not only will Katniss have to take part again, being the only female winner from District 12, but she’ll have to face off against either Peeta or Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), the only surviving male winners from D-12. But as Haymitch predicts, rightly, these games are going to be different, and soon, alliances form between these Tributes that will be important for tier long-term survival, both inside (and out of) the arena.

The idea of an all-victor group of Tributes does two things: from a strictly narrative perspective, it means Collins (and subsequently, the filmmakers) can put Katniss back in the arena, but more importantly, it raises the stakes, since all of the participants are experienced killers. Katniss and Peeta didn’t do a whole lot of killing themselves last year, and rather outsmarted everyone else to get to the end. That may not work so well this time, as Hoffman’s Plutarch Heavensbee (and what a stroke of genius to cast Hoffman in this role) has conceived of a deadly arena where the Tributes aren’t necessarily the most dangerous things one has to worry about. As a result, alliances like the one Katniss formed with the young Rue in the first film are more important than ever, and this time, the Tributes split off into teams, and while Katniss is weary of one person in particular (Finnick, played marvelously by Sam Claflin), she comes to realize how vital it is to have as many allies as possible, even if they’re vicious hunters like Jena Malone’s Johanna, who is also resentful of having to take part in the Games again because of Katniss. Fun times, everyone, and you’ll never guess how things play out by the end.

A lot of critics have pointed to the change in director as something that elevates “Catching Fire” above the first “Hunger Games,” and it’s true that Lawrence (no relation to his star) has a more dynamic visual style that he brings to “Catching Fire,” and not just as a result of his shooting some sequences on IMAX a la Chris Nolan’s “Dark Knight” films. The scenes in the victor’s courtyard in D-12 at the beginning have a wintery feel to them that points to the dark days ahead, and yes, once the action moves to the arena, Lawrence really brings his A-game as a filmmaker. But Ross (who established the visual aesthetic of Panem beautifully in the first film, in my opinion) really made sure to ground the action in character and emotion rather than visual effects, which is where “Catching Fire” fell off the pace somewhat for me. That said, Lawrence handles the emotional stuff incredibly well pre-arena, especially when it comes to the “love triangle” that’s developing between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale.

The material that sticks the most with us, though, is the dynamic between Katniss and President Snow. If you haven’t watched the bonus features on the “Hunger Games” Blu-Ray, you should, if only to see the featurette with Ross and Donald Sutherland discussing how they developed Snow for the film. It’s a master class in how to develop a character for a film, and it shows that Sutherland wanted to do something special with this character rather than phoning it in, and his commitment to Snow is even deeper in “Catching Fire.” Katniss gets her first, real glimpse at how ruthless Snow is in this film, and it terrifies her. That’s all Sutherland, but Lawrence goes toe-to-toe with him, and comes out, still standing. And what luck on Lionsgate’s part to cast Lawrence, now an Oscar-winner (and likely to be a multiple winner when all is said and done), just at the moment she was becoming a well-known actress. The best part about her is that she’s not treating this as a paycheck role (something to beef up her box-office rep), but as a character as lively and exciting to watch as her Oscar-nominated role in “Winter’s Bone,” or her Oscar-winning character in “Silver Linings Playbook.” I can’t wait to see where the two-part “Mockingjay” takes the character, and how Lawrence manages to bringing us deeper to the core of the role, sure to become one of the most iconic in blockbuster movie history.

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