(The usual Buster Monday post is being saved for later in the week; we have another 100 Years of Buster Keaton anniversary coming up!)
Even
though it certainly still has its flaws, watching Catching Fire was like a sigh of relief for me after The Hunger Games. As I said in my Hunger Games review, it’s improved for me on rewatch, but I still
find Catching Fire a much more
exciting, watchable film that, for me, is a lot more successful at what it sets
out to do (premise spoilers for this film, as well as some from The Hunger Games.)
After the
events of The Hunger Games, Katniss
is back home struggling with how to move forward. Her bold move in the Arena is fanning sparks
of rebellion in a number of districts, and on the eve of her shared “victory
tour” with Peeta – with whom she has to continue the ruse to the Capitol that
they’re madly in love – the president personally lets her know that the lives
of everyone she loves will be on the line if she can’t do her job as Capitol
puppet and pacify the masses. Amid the
rumblings of dissent across the country, the important 75th Hunger
Games is announced with a very distinctive hook. All the tributes will be reaped from each
district’s surviving victors, and District 12 doesn’t have victors to
spare: Katniss (and either Peeta or
Haymitch) will be sent back in.
A lot of
the nuts-and-bolts problems I have with The
Hunger Games are smoothed over here.
Francis Lawrence’s direction feels a lot tighter and more suspenseful to
me, and both the score and the costumes are used to better effect. Serious stuff goes down in this movie, and
the film definitely knows that, an impression I don’t always get in The Hunger Games. And overall, I’m fairly pleased with the
screenplay. This book covers a lot of
ground, and while there are of course wonderful lines, gems of scenes, and
perfect character moments that didn’t make the cut (there always are,) I think
the film mostly does a good job hitting what’s important in a way that doesn’t
feel choppy or rushed. If I’m going to
find nits to pick, I’ll single out the foreshadowing on District 13, which is
too skimpy for me. It also would’ve been
nice to work in at least a little bit about Haymitch’s Games, and I’d have
liked a bit more with Finnick, just ‘cause I love him as a character.
The new
cast members, for my money, all hold their own pretty well. I especially like Jeffrey Wright, who’s
pitch-perfect as Beetee, Lynn Cohen in her understated but affecting role as
Mags, and Jena Malone’s fierce turn as Johanna.
Additionally, Amanda Plummer hits the right offbeat notes as Wiress, and
while Sam Claflin doesn’t completely
sell me on Finnick as a shallow Capitol playboy, he handles Finnick’s greater
complexities in the Arena really nicely.
And I know she was in the previous film, too, but Elizabeth Banks’s
performance as Effie in this movie made me realize what a gem the franchise has
in her. This is a series that has a lot
of great actors all-around, but I think Banks’s Effie might be their secret
MVP.
Warnings
Lots of
violence, thematic elements, brief implied nudity, alcohol, and language.
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