Review: Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

This week I finally got the chance to sit down and watch The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. I’d missed it the theaters and so I had to wait for the DVD release and the wait was mostly worth it. I enjoyed this one more than the first, but at times it felt way too much like they were merely mimicking the format that made the first so popular. In the end, I was left feeling just a little bit disappointed.

We begin some time after the original flick. Katniss and Peeta have settled down in the (mostly) abandoned winner’s village. They live out their lives and run around on a media circuit trying to convince the world that they’re madly in love. The show they put on is for the benefit of President Snow, a man that would see them dead if they can’t bring some sort of governmental benefit out of their dual winning during the previous Hunger Games.

But none of this seems to matter, as the people have become restless. Katniss has become some sort of icon for the revolution, a fact that Snow finds rather unpleasant. After a series of efforts to capitalize on Katniss’ fame, he finally decides to kill her off via a new Hunger Games. So he makes up some BS about a special quarterly Hunger Games event being the perfect chance to pit all the former winners against each other.

Then off they go, into the same routine as the first film. They make their presence known, try to impress sponsors, meet other contestants, and eventually enter the arena. It’s all a bit downplayed this time around and the contestants are anything but thrilled to be forced into the games again, but it’s an echo of the first film.

Where the similarities really begin is when the Hunger Games start up. This time around there are groups of allies, so it’s more of a team effort. But they still have to face the various obstacles that the Gamesmaster puts upon them. This time we get poison fog, crazy angry monkeys and tidal waves. But in the end, the contestants aren’t there to merely kill each other. Some are members of the revolution and their job is to keep Katniss alive and get her to freedom.

Let me start by saying that I really love the atmosphere and world-building behind Hunger Games. I’m more interested in all the stuff that goes on in the “real” world rather than the games themselves. So this second installment of the franchise felt a little wooden once they all started fighting. I wanted to see more of the revolution and of the various developments going on as Snow tried to combat Katniss’ rising popularity. But the name of the series is Hunger Games, after all. So audiences wanted more games.

Unfortunatel the team that works on the action sequences in these movies is not very good at their job. The monkey attacks were ridiculous (sorry folks, but even a few baboons would have ripped every one of them to shreds). The poison fog was overkill. And the giant, spinning central hub was kinda silly. This stuff might have worked better in the books, but translated to screen it really brought down the quality of the production.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked the movie. It’s just that most of my affections fall upon the first two-thirds of the flick, before the games start up. I’m really hoping that the next two films will be more about the social aspects of the series rather than more “fight to the death” gimmicks. The folks at Rotten Tomatoes give Catching Fire a generous 89/91%. I’d say yes for the first part and a bit lower for the latter bits. Still, definitely worth a watch.

Photo Credits -           

Catching Fire courtesy of myhungergames.com