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 In
different hands, how would chapter two of The Hunger Games trilogy
fare? The big hit of last year was initially compared to its
YA-adaptation predecessor, Twilight, but here was an unexpected
similarity as that series’ directors also changed from films one to two,
and in that case, all for the better. The primary Hunger Games entry
differed from Twilight in that it was actually good, so the director
switch was more precarious. Happily, and unlike the books on which they
are based, the second installment, Catching Fire, surpasses the first.
Celebrity has been an odd fit for Katniss Everdeen: It’s meant that she
and her family can move out of their District 12 hovel and live in the
security and relative comfort of Victors’ Village. The food, once so
scarce, is plentiful, and now Katniss mostly hunts to provide for others
and as a respite from her new status. However, despite her incredible
win at the 74th Hunger Games, all has not been glory and
roses. Katniss’ strategy to save the lives of both herself and her
District 12 counterpart, Peeta Mellark, has flown in the face of the
Panem government. Their dual victory was based on Peeta and Katniss
selling the story of a young couple madly in love who would rather die
together than be separated by the Games. Their survival has sown seeds
of rebellion across Panem that the Capitol has endeavoured to put down
with a heavy hand. That life-saving performance created tensions at
home; complicating Katniss’ relationships with both Peeta, who wanted
the act to become reality, and Gale, her District 12 hunting buddy and
presumed (yet ever-so-chaste) squeeze, while enraging Panem’s
President Snow by forcing him to change the rules. Snow makes an
impromptu visit to the Everdeen home, warning Katniss to play her little
heart out during her victory tour around the 12 Districts. She’d better
convince the entire country that it was true love that made it possible
for the pair to survive and not outplaying the government, because that
might show the Capitol’s weakness and create similar ideas in the minds
of the unhappy populace. Katniss and Peeta are reunited with their
caretakers, permanently soused former victor, Haymitch Abernathy, and
Panem’s fashion plate, Effie Trinket, for the tour. The alleged teenage
lovebirds, who have barely spoken since the Games, are expected to play
blissful bubbleheads grateful to the government for fostering their
romance. The trouble is Katniss isn’t that great of an actress. Their
stop in District 11, home of her Games friend and surrogate sister, Rue,
who was slaughtered before Katniss’ very eyes, causes her to momentarily
drop the besotted dingbat mask, inspiring a tiny gesture of rebellion
that is put down with Panem’s hammer; storm troopers, executions, the
works. It’s an action that reverberates in District 12, as well. The
tour has only made people angrier and upon the kids’ return home, Snow
rewards them with a town overrun with brutal Peacekeepers and public
floggings. There is also the advent of the Quarter Quell, a special
version of the Hunger Games, which will reunite previous champions for a
fight to the death with only one victor left standing. Before they can
even kiss their loved ones goodbye, Katniss and Peeta are whisked away
to the Capitol to once again fight for their lives, this time against
older warriors who all know what it is to walk over the bodies of others
to survive.
Picking up shortly after the previous film ends, Catching Fire grabs a
brisk pace and sticks to it, while feeling larger and more epic than the
last movie. The scope of the story; going through the different
settlements and the ominous threat about Districts that no longer exist,
ups the ante on how dangerous President Snow is and what he’s willing to
do to keep order. There is less concentration on the lovey-dovey
triangle between Katniss and her adoring men. That is just ducky
considering the life or death circumstances, which are much farther
reaching and more urgent here than in the first film. It isn’t just
Katniss or Peeta’s lives at stake, it’s their families, friends, their
entire town and any District unwise enough to look up to their
rebellion. The pin Katniss wore in the first Games has become a symbol
of the underground and Mockingjay graffiti turns up in railway tunnels.
The two kids fighting for their lives represent much more than they
know, and the extent of their influence is a key to this film. Katniss
and Peeta have friends where they couldn’t imagine, even in the arena,
where Haymitch’s old associations pay off big time. No one is pleased
about the blatant execution of champions, who were promised exclusion
from the Games for the rest of their lives; most especially the warriors
themselves, so it doesn’t take much to convince them to support the pair
of youths who have become a symbol of the resistance.
The
other players are brought to life excellently and it’s thrilling to
watch them tentatively bond to try to get out of the Games alive, or at
least give Panem’s government hell while dying. The ensemble this time
is really what makes Catching Fire a bigger success, taking the sole
focus off the still not-all-that-likable Katniss, who remains a taciturn
and stubborn creature that’s often slower on the uptake than necessary.
(It is still a miracle of both films that the movie Katniss is miles
more agreeable that the stroppy, foolish Mary Sue in the novels, for
which we continue to thank the screenwriters and Jennifer Lawrence’s
humanising portrayal.) Standouts in the strong cast of prior victors
include Jeffrey Wright and Amanda Plummer as the ultimate genius
tech-heads, Beetee and Wiress. The pair, incomprehensible to anyone but
each other in their scientific gibberish, just might hold the key to
escaping the Games alive. Sam Claflin plays Finnick Odair, a
charismatic champion with golden, movie-star looks and a tragic past.
Running around with a trident and jumping in and out of water as much as
he does here, it’s amazing there isn’t an Aquaman script with Clafin’s
name on it. Jena Malone plays the very angry victor, Johanna Mason.
The loose cannon is so unabashedly bitter about being called back, it’s
impossible to know what she’ll do, which puts the wary Katniss even more
on her guard and makes her less likely to go along with the victors’
plans.
A
special mention must be given to Elizabeth Banks, who comes into her own
as the Capitol’s main fashionista, Effie Trinket. This time, and wholly
appropriately, she’s given more hilarious, out-of-place, one-liners,
more fabulous over-the-top costumes and hair, and some unexpected
character development as the über-maquillaged caretaker really has come
to cherish her charges.
One of
the film’s two off notes would surprisingly be Stanley Tucci, not for
reprising the indigo-coiffed Caesar Flickerman, but for the amount of
on-screen time his Panem television host is given. Very long minutes
are settled upon his scenes waiting for Tucci to do something funny with
the already outrageous character and it drags the momentum badly. The
other oddity is the performance of Philip Seymour Hoffman as the new
Games creator, Plutarch Heavensbee. While everyone in the cast is made
up in some way to reflect their character; clothing, makeup, hair,
something - Katniss’ wedding dress/Mockingjay gown is a magnificent
symbol of rebellion, and this time the flamboyant designer, Cinna sports
a fetching headscarf to offset the fact that it’s still just Lenny
Kravitz with a little gold eyeshadow - Philip Seymour Hoffman just looks
like Philip Seymour Hoffman. In a perfectly ordinary blazer and chinos,
that actor looks more like he’s just walked in from casual Friday at
Mutual of Omaha than the fashion-forward future of The Capitol. What’s
even more jarring is that he doesn’t even attempt to act; he’s reading
lines and waiting for his paycheck, no effort at all. Thankfully, he’s
not on for terribly long.
Still
exciting despite not being as futuristically special effects-infused and
a bit lighter on the action set pieces than movie one; there’s a lot
more to hold the attention in Catching Fire by way of notable
performances and storyline. Things are heating up in the long view and
if the quality of the filmmaking continues into Mockingjay, I’ll be
thrilled to see how it ends.
~ The
Lady Miz Diva
Nov 22nd,
2013
Click
here for our review of 2012's The Hunger Games.
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