Last
year, movie goers alike were given the new film from Gary Ross, “The Hunger
Games.” It told the story of Katniss Everdeen, a girl who volunteers to
participate in the annual Hunger Games, which is a survival tournament, in
which two members from each of the twelve districts are forced to fight each
other to the death, and whoever survives last, that district wins. It was a
huge hit at the box office, and many critics and fans of the novel were
overjoyed by it. However, most people who didn’t like it gave out the same
reason for it: it was just a tamed down version of “Battle Royal,” a film with
the same setting only it was a much more grizzly film. I can understand both
praise and hate the same way, and I do have to agree, “Battle Royal” is the superior
film by a long shot. Despite that, I actually enjoyed “The Hunger Games” mostly
for its satiric take on reality TV and the performances from Jennifer Lawrence
and Josh Hutcherson, down to Woody Harrelson and Donald Sutherland.
Now
when word of the sequel being in the works, I was actually not too pleased from
what I heard. For starters, Gary Ross had stepped down from director, leaving
the chair to be occupied by Francis Lawrence, who is mostly known for directing
“Constantine,” “I Am Legend,” and a whole bunch of Brittany Spears music
videos. Not only that, but both Ross AND the author of the books, Suzanne
Collins, stepped down as the writers of the screenplay. At first, I felt at
ease when they announced that Michael Arndt (or Michael DeBruyn) was brought up
for the job, but then expectations went down when they also brought up Simon
Beaufoy as well. For those who don’t know, Beaufoy is the man who had won the
Oscar for his screenplay on “Slumdog Millionaire,” a film that was
uncomfortable, lacking in character development, full of coincidences that add
up to nothing, a story with more flaws than a malfunctioning Virtual Boy, dialogue
that is hard to listen to, and is nothing but a cruel, sick, trainwreck; to
this day, I consider that film not only the most overrated film ever made, but
the worst film to have ever been associated with an Oscar, let alone win eight
of them, including Best Picture; yes, worse than “Crash.”
My
point is I thought this film was dead from the start. However, as I started to
read up more about it, I was at least open-minded enough to give this film a
chance, despite the low expectations. So after it’s been out for a week, some of
my friends and I tagged along to see it. How’d it turn out? Well, let’s find
out.
During
the victory tour, Katniss and Peeta have taken time off from surviving the
Hunger Games, and try to relive their previous lives. However, Katniss feels
that things have changed, as she is trying to find a balance with her
relationship with Peeta and Gale. When it comes to the time of the next Hunger
Games, she and many of the previous victors from past games must fight for
survival once again, only with her family, Gale, and district hanging in the
balance. As a continuation, this film really does move on with the story, as it
adds more tension and build up for what it has going. That isn’t to say it’s
with its share of flaws.
First
off, there are those parts that bring up certain plot points, but they don’t
seem to go through with them. For example, they bring up in the beginning that
Katniss is suffering traumatic stress, as she hallucinates about killing people
outside of the competition. I thought that would be really inventive, but they
don’t really explore more on that. Now some may argue that it kind of comes
into play during the games, but I didn’t see it. I also wasn’t as invested in
the relationship between Katniss and Gale, since they barely touch up on that.
I don’t know if it’s delved more into in the book, but here it isn’t done as
much. Not only has that, but Plutarch Heavensbee, played by Philip Seymour
Hoffman, had his plan a little too lucky with how it turns out. That would go
into spoilers, so I won’t really delve into that, but I thought that was too
lucky.
Aside
from that, everything else was pretty damn good. The cast returning really ups
their performances from the last film, as more is at stake throughout the film.
Jennifer Lawrence has really evolved as an actress since “Winter’s Bone,” as
she’s able to really captivate the image of a celebrity that doesn’t want to do
things to please the superiors, but doesn’t want to get herself killed. That
scene where she’s reading the requested dialogue off those cards has her
showing at least 14 emotions in one setting. Josh Hutcherson is given much more
to work with as well, as someone who knows how to please a crowd in a way that
works. Hutcherson and Lawrence have really become two of my favorite young
actors, managing to live up to many greats who are also in the film. Donald
Sutherland has much more involvement, delivering a very chilling performance
just from his first appearance alone. The way he speaks and the dialogue he
delivers is simply brilliant. Even Phil Hoffman manages to be pretty good, even
with the complaints I had. Elizabeth Banks as well was very well done, as she’s
much stricter than she was in the last film, which adds to more for the satire
on celebrity life. And let’s not forget Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, one of the
victors that got off scott-free. He still brings a great performance and
presence to the character, which is the typical Woody Harrelson performance. With
that said, I still want my “Zombieland 2” damn it! Many of the other characters
like Lynn Cohen as Mags, Sam Claflin as Finnick, Jeffery Wright as Beetee, and pretty
much everyone else did great.
Now as
the first film felt like an Americanized version of “Battle Royale,” does THIS
film feel like an Americanized version of “Battle Royale 2?” Well no, because
unlike that film, “Catching Fire” is actually good. Sure, when comparing the
two first films, “Battle Royale” is superior because it has much more character
and conflict to it, but this time around it’s “Hunger Games” that came out on
top with a superior sequel. I think the reason it managed to be superior was
probably due to the expectations that were made from both. “Battle Royale” was
a film that managed to be both fresh, original, and don’t right tense, so a
sequel would get you pumped for more, only to lead to a huge amount of
disappointment. And like I said, I wasn’t looking forward to “Catching Fire,”
so when I saw it, I was genuinely surprised by how much I DID like it.
Meaning……Francis Lawrence and Simon Beaufoy actually made a good movie, and a
DAMN good one at that.
What
was a unique thing was this should have been just a rehash of the first film,
and from what I heard it was what the book was as well, but this film really
did manage to actually take that habit and make it work. For one, the Hunger
Games doesn’t start until halfway through the movie, there are more twists and
turns brought to the table, and it manages to show how harsh this world is.
Only thing was I wish it could have been a little darker, seeing how the books
are much more graphic than what these movies make them out to be. I mean, I
actually heard there was some kind of hinted sex scene in there, and I’m asking
this: “The MPAA had no problem with giving “Twilight” the pass, but not this?”
And don’t give me that bullshit saying, “Oh, but Twilight’s an adult story,
where Hunger Games is for kids.” That excuse is completely backwards, because a
story where children are murdered in a sporting event is a much darker take,
than a story about an emotionless dumb broad who falls for a bland whiney emo
vampire, and then toy with the emotions of another guy who later on decides to
fuck the broad’s infant.
Face
it; “Twilight” was nothing more than an insult to women, monsters, horror,
literature, romance, and people in general, as this felt like it was written
for children BY children, being just as intelligence insulting as “The
Oogieloves.” “Hunger Games” actually has character, dilemma, development,
story, and above all, EFFORT.
Overall,
“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” is a big improvement from the first film, and
with what Lawrence and Beaufoy did with this film…I’m hoping they keep it that
way for the last two films.
Rating: 9/10
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