I never intended to watch this franchise when the first Hunger Games came out in March last year. The main reason was that the target market was teenage girls, and a lot of people were comparing it to Twilight, which I have no ambition whatsoever to watch that particular franchise. But after hearing the ideas within the story, and some of the cast involved. I was going to give it a chance and managed to get round to watching it last summer.
I was instantly proved wrong, and without hesitation I had 'Catching Fire' in my list for films to watch in 2013 without even watching the trailer.
After now seeing the highly-anticipated sequel, I will make sure I get to see the next stage of the franchise in 2014. I felt totally gripped as we start to see the bigger picture of the world of Panem as there is something more than just the games itself.
You were constantly learning more about life outside the games, but as one scene was explaining new things, I just knew that the book would tell me more. But I was still being entertained and that did not bother me about not knowing everything.
As we build-up to the next games, we start to see many more interesting characters with their own motives on life and the Capitol. One that I noticed was Sam Clafin who played the priest in Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. So that was a nice comforting actor to have along the way. One huge shock was seeing Jena Malone, who I loved in Donnie Darko and Into The Wild. Definitely an actress who deserves more chances. Another nice surprise was Jeffrey Wright, who is well known for playing Felix in the latest James Bond films.
As we were building up to the climax, my tension levels were high and I had no idea who was on what side as there was so much suspicion throughout. What I saw in the final third of the film had me having a reaction I have only experienced once. As soon as it ended, I felt gutted as I wanted to see what happened next. But that means, it was the perfect response to a sequel. It left me wanting more, and the almost 2 1/2 hour duration obviously must have flown by. The only other time I reacted like this when the first Lord Of The Rings ended. That was only really because I did not know they were in three books.
The performances were a big positive. Jennifer Lawrence is fantastic as Katniss Everdeen. I am glad to see her become a huge inspiration to girls everywhere, and it is always great to see a heroine take the lead in such a big blockbuster. Joss Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark did a solid performance and I felt it was better then the first Hunger Games. Donald Sutherland is great as President Snow. His on-screen presence is instant villain and you always know he is bad news. As well, is new addition Philipp Seymour-Hoffman who is never in a bad film. His villain in Mission Impossible III will do well to be bettered, but his performance as the new game-maker Plutarch Heavensbee was a nice touch. Other worthy mentions were Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket, Stanley Tucci who continues to be as flamboyant as ever as Caesar Flickerman and Malone who played the odd character of Johanna Mason.
Another nice positive was the CGI. After receiving much more budget, they have managed to improve the visual effects after what I thought were pretty poor effects in the previous installment. The set-designs also looked like they have been improved with the expanded budget. I was very happy to see where they know the improvements were.
Not many negatives to speak of. The only one that slightly bothered me was some of the dark scenes were proper dark. I would have liked a fraction more light to see what was going on. But as I am only nit-picking, it shows how much I enjoyed this film.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. To me, it is clearly as good and at times better than the first installment. I still love the ideas and that they were not afraid to go deep and be controversial. Also, now there is more politics-driven ideas, it is starting to get a bit more heated with only two more films to go. Even though the ideas are extremely similar to Battle Royale, which in my opinion is a far superior film to this, I would still recommend it and would happily watch Catching Fire again. Lawrence is a joy to watch and I am excited to see her next big screen appearance in January to see potential Oscar-favorite 'American Hustle'. Hoffman was a great addition to the cast and his reputation continues to grow, as he never has a bad film. Everyone contributed nicely and the ending got the perfect reaction from me to get pumped up for part one of the final installment next year, Mockingjay. The odds are definitely in their favor.
Rating: 8/10
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