Director: Francis Lawrence
Running time: 2 hour and 26 minutes
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is the second installment of The Hunger Games movies. Katniss and Peeta are back after winning the 74th annual Hunger Games and about to leave for their victory tour. During the tour both, Katniss and Peeta, realize that a revolution is starting and Katniss is in the center of it all. But there are more in store for them. After they come back from the tour it is announced that in this year's annual Hunger Games the tributes will be selected from the existing pool of victors. So, once again, they are off to try and win in this deadly game.And this year President Snow has made sure there can only be one winner.
I LOVE this movie. I really loved the first one but it doesn't even compare to this one. First of all we get to learn more about the characters,especially Peeta and Gale,from whom we saw almost nothing in the first film.
Here we see a stronger,more determined but still funny, charming and kind Peeta. There was more personality to him while in the first one i felt he was just a clueless victim. He understands now that everything about the love affair between him and Katniss were for the cameras and he accepts it but he still tries to establish at least a friendship with her. He is now a protagonist of the movie along with Katniss while in the first hunger games that wasn't the case.
We, also, get to know a little bit about Gale and get to see his relationship with Katniss. We see that he cares for her and that she cares for him too but we experience him beyond that. We learn more about his thoughts on the Capitol and the revolution, which he mentioned in the first movie but only briefly, and see him taking action against the authorities in order to save others.
Katniss is tough, caring and a survivor. We got to know quite a bit of her in the first movie but here she shows how much she cares about people and we understand why everyone sees a leader in her since she is caring but has, also, the strength to fight for those who can't.
One thing i really enjoyed was how clear it is that Katniss has feelings for Peeta. In the first Hunger Games movie you get the impression that she starts to feel something for him but it is obvious that for the most part she is lying in order to survive. In the second Hunger Games movie there is a bond that forms between them during their time together that is very strong due to fact that they experienced a lot with each other while trying to survive their first time in the games but, also, because they know that they will have to go through that again and this time only one of them will survive.
Moreover, i really liked watching Woody Harrelson as Haymitch. We got a lot more of him this time around and i really enjoyed it. I am very happy that we will see even more from him in the third movie in a different way because of the information we got from the second movie. The same goes for Effie (Elizabeth Banks) i had fun watching her and she showed us a more sensitive side to her and i can't wait to see how she will be incorporated in the third Hunger Games movie.
And finally, one of the biggest things that bothered me (i really hate it) was the fact that have the movie was shot in a very-shaky-camera way. But thankfully that was not the case for the second movie. The camera work was pretty steady for the most part and that allowed the audience to really focus on what was happening rather than getting distracted every five minutes.
There were a couple of things that i didn't like about The Hunger Games. The first one was that even though Peeta was portrayed as a kind but strong person in general during the games he was shown as a very weak competitor. I feel that he would be a stronger contender based on the first movie. In the original Hunger Games we saw that he was very good at lifting heavy weights and camouflaging himself in order to blend into the background but in Catching Fire he doesn't take advantage of his strengths at all.
Furthermore, SPOILER ALERT!! the big reveal at the end was that Finnick and Johanna and some other tributes where part of a group hoping to start a revolution and they were trying to save Katniss so that she would be the leader. And that would be a great surprise and ending if it wasn't for some unnecessary comments made by Johanna, mostly, that made it obvious what was the plan. I saw the twist coming and it took all the fun out of the ending. I wish it was more unexpected.
In conclusion, i love The Hunger Games trilogy and this is my favourite so far. Worth more than just one watch. And to give a hint on how much a liked it i will say it was 2 and a half hours and i didn't want it to end.
Score: 95%
And remember, the odds are never in our favor.
m.
Courtesy
Lionsgate
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