Movie Review: Catching Fire

First let's clear up one thing:  I did not cry during this film.  Okay, I didn't cry a lot.  Okay fine, I at least didn't cry quite as much as the young woman behind me, who from the sound of things was in tears from beginning to end.  I'm not sure even she understood why she was having this reaction, but I can say that I don't blame her a bit.

That's just the kind of movie Catching Fire is--it takes your emotions and tugs them up through your throat, wraps them around your neck, and then asks you to try and breathe through the choke-hold.  This review is itself being delayed for several hours after my initial viewing because I needed that time to process everything I thought about during and after this film, and to figure out how to best put it into words.

With a new director at the helm, Catching Fire could easily have felt choppy or jarringly desperate to stand out from its predecessor (think Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), but it just didn't.  Francis Lawrence understands the importance of maintaining and escalating the unique tone of the first movie, and his vision is executed beautifully onscreen without feeling like too sharp a departure from the universe established for us in The Hunger Games.  Improvements were made in the few places they were needed, and while a few tidbits from the book were omitted, the film was admirably and almost completely true to its source material.  The few instances where creative license is taken with scenes or characters feel organic and fit smoothly into the existing plot, and I find myself hard-pressed to think of one that ought to have been changed.

If memory serves I said this about the first film, but it feels doubly true now:  looking at the directors, the screenwriters, the performers, I can't find a weak link in the bunch.  It's almost as though they've all conspired to turn in some of the best work of their careers in the name of making this movie a success.  I fully expected Jennifer Lawrence to be brilliant, as she so reliably is.  What I didn't expect was for Jena Malone and Sam Claflin to so skillfully embody their fan-favorite characters.  What I didn't expect was for Phillip Seymour-Hoffman to portray an intriguing new gamemaker with a cleverness I haven't seen since Alan Rickman humanized Severus Snape on the big screen.  I didn't expect (though I hoped) that Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth would overcome the heartthrob status assigned to them and bring better performances than anticipated, showing that though neither of them will ever outshine J-Law, they are at least entitled to play on the same field.  Further praise goes deservedly to Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, and Donald Sutherland for preventing their characters from becoming caricatures, and for bringing some of the most punch-in-the-gut emotional moments of the film.

When I initially read the book series back in late 2010, devouring all three within a week's time, I viewed Catching Fire as a hinge, a bridge between the initial horrors of The Hunger Games and the roaring conclusion of Mockingjay.  Seeing the film, however, helped me appreciate the tight narrative it is in its own right.  Catching Fire provides the most character development of the three novels, and the film fully rises to that task.  One can seen the tone, as well as Katniss herself, travel from fear to anger to violence, inciting the revolution that will make or break the districts of Panem.  Francis Lawrence has depicted it just about flawlessly, and the intensity of the film's proverbial call to action makes the audience want to join the rebellion themselves, or at the very least set some shit on fire.

As with many great films, there are a number of little things that really enhance the experience, making the film stand out not just as good, but great.  Catching Fire incorporates the musical score from the previous film, using familiar refrains as callbacks to critical events which unfolded in The Hunger Games.  It is also careful to re-establish certain visual elements as important, so that we feel re-immersed in Katniss' world rather than like we're being introduced to something brand new.  The pacing is fairly remarkable as well-- this film approaches the 2.5 hour mark, and yet it feels smooth and free of those restless moments in which most viewers might feel tempted to check the time.

It is also worth noting just how well this film serves as the middle piece of the puzzle:  it hearkens back to The Hunger Games without tediously recapping, and it foreshadows what is to come without forgetting itself as a standalone plot.  The final scenes do feel ever so slightly rushed (one of my few complaints about the film) but in them we get a very clear preview of what to expect in Mockingjay, which rumor has it will be split into two parts.  Questions of staggering significance lay on the table unanswered, and Katniss herself is in a state of visible turmoil, both anxious and afraid but also enraged and thirsting for revenge.  Moviegoers will leave the theater feeling similarly, and eagerly awaiting the final installment.

Book Review: Catching Fire

This is probably my least favorite of the three Hunger Games novels, but even so it weaves a pretty good tale.  Catching Fire picks up a few weeks after the first book left off, on the brink of Katniss and Peeta's victory tour.  They must go into all 12 districts and play the hero and heroine, while also continuing to pretend they are in love, while also walking a fine line between caution and defiance.  After all, they wouldn't want to start a revolution, would they?

My problem with this book, and it's really only an issue for the first third or so of the narrative, is that Suzanne Collins spends way too much time reminding us exactly what happened in the previous book.  Katniss' reminiscing doesn't feel organic to the plot, it feels forced, with the information dropped in awkwardly, telling us about events that, so long as we actually read the first book, I don't think any of us have forgotten during the intervening time.  She also re-outlines the supposed love triangle with Peeta, Gale, and Katniss, clearly intending to beat it into our skulls as a significant plot point.  However, I just don't feel that Gale was ever present enough (physically or emotionally for Katniss) in the first novel to really feel like a contender when Catching Fire begins.  And yes, Katniss continues to insist that she doesn't really love Peeta, that it's all for show, but I think it's clear to the reader that parts of it are real, even if it isn't clear to the characters yet.  I think this book (and the series as a whole) could have easily done without the love triangle plot, because for me I never considered it a triangle at all.  Katniss loves Gale, certainly, but not in the way she thinks, the way she maybe thinks she should, given that they've known each other so long and have always had each other's backs.  Even in her most torn moments, her supposed desire for Gale feels like something she's forcing herself to believe in, rather than something she actually, ultimately feels.  And I think this book could have been every bit as intriguing and impactful if this plot line simply consisted of Katniss trying to sift through her feelings toward Peeta, with Gale firmly cemented as the friend and compatriot that he is.

Just in case you've gotten lost in perhaps too much analysis of a love story between teenagers, there is an actual plot taking place amid all the feelings, and a complex one at that.  President Snow, the current ruler of Panem, believes that Katniss' actions at the end of the Hunger Games tournament were intended as a rebellion, intended to spark a revolution.  And indeed murmurings of revolution follow Katniss and company wherever they go, almost regardless of what she does to try and suppress them.  What's more is the rebels are using Katniss as a representative, a symbol of their building revolution.  The government struggles to keep Katniss from fueling the flames, and eventually come up with a solution:  another Hunger Games, this one consisting solely of previous competitors.  Given that Katniss and Peeta are 2 of the 3 victors from District 12, they face the inevitable horror of reliving their experience all over again.

Katniss has one objective in the arena this time around, and it isn't her survival, it's Peeta's.  She knows that she will be killed, that she is not the right person to give a voice to the growing rebellion in the districts, but Peeta has a quality about him, a sense of what to do and say, that will make him an impressive leader.  The second tournament is deliberately more terrifying than the first, and the stakes are steeply increased by Katniss' need to preserve Peeta's life.  In the midst of peril coming literally from all sides, thing are turned upside down by a series of unexpected twists that result in Peeta's capture by the government and the beginnings of all-out revolution in the districts.

This book, especially compared with its predecessor and successor, definitely takes time to find its bearings, but when it does, really gives the reader a sense of the urgency and the danger of what is and what might be happening.  There are few characters who can be trusted beyond the shadow of a doubt, and neither Katniss nor the reader can discern which ones they might be, if there are any at all.  If the first Hunger Games book wasn't enough to persuade you that this is story is hardly kids' stuff, Catching Fire surely will.  With all the lives at stake and all the potential for disaster at every turn, it can be nearly impossible at times to believe that the outcome rests almost entirely on the shoulders of a few teenagers.  The second installment in the series provides a strong hinge between the build of the first novel and the impending conclusion of the third, leaving you ready to see how it all will end.