Movie Review | The Girl on Fire Back in Catching Fire

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire 

Last night, two and a half hour just slipped out of my notice when I watched the second installment of The Hunger Games Trilogy: Catching Fire. The cliffhanger ending of the movie, which according to critics resemble the spirit of The Empire Strikes Back, makes me ‘hungry’ for more. I demanded that the third and the fourth movie be released right away! Yes, the third installment of the trilogy novel, Mockingjay, is going to be made into twomovies, following the trend set by Harry Potter and Twilight series.

Winning Oscar does not make Jennifer Lawrence reluctant to embrace her character as Katniss Everdeen. Instead, as usual, Lawrence gives all her best acting to portray Katniss who in this movie starts to be the beacon of hope for people of Panem.

In Catching Fire, Katniss is caught in a dilemma. Her heartbreaking and breathtaking fictive romance with Peeta Mellark, played by Josh Hutcherson, in the 74^th Hunger Games has stirred uprisings in Panem. People of Panem see Katniss as a symbol who wants to resist the authoritarian regime of President Snow. They start to fight back.

In a bid to comfort the flourishing uneasiness, the President asks Katniss, who will embark on a 12 day journey to visit 12 Districts in the country, to display her loyalty to Snow and Panem. Snow warns that failure to do so will bring severe consequences to her. Katniss is caught in a tug of war between her rebellious side and her desire to protect the ones she loves. The dilemma sets the mood for the first half of the movie.

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, the Mockingjay

The movie intensifies as President Snow announces the third Quarter Quell: The 75^th Hunger Games. Every 25 years, Panem’sgovernment holds a Quarter Quell, which is designed to make populace of Panem remember the defeat of the districts to Capitol. Each quell is designed with special celebration, which according to Snow, is formulated by the founding fathers of the Hunger Games. The 75^th Hunger Games is special because it will change the lives of not only Katniss but also Panem as a whole.

As the game is on, I was intertwined to the tributes’ emotions. My eyes were transfixed to the screen. Probably, I only covered my eyes once or two when some brutal scenes were displayed. The movie is overall far beyond gory movies. FYI, I am not a fan of gory or sadistic movie.

Despite its long running, the Hunger Games: Catching Fire is not boring. Even, as I mentioned earlier, I did not realize that I have sit in the movie theater for almost 190 minutes. Even I will voluntarily sit longer if the movie is followed directly by the third and the fourth movie. I am hungry for more hunger games movies! Catching Fire’s well crafted storyline has bound me to watch it till the end. Not once did I yawn during the whole movie!

As someone who has read the book, I will definitely say that this movie is not disappointing. Unlike the adaption of Harry Potter and theHalf-Blood Prince, which I personally resent so much, the adaptation of Catching Fire is really well done. It is not faithful (I have for so long neglected the idea that a movie adaptation should be faithful to its raw material) but I really like some alterations that are made for the movie. The movie director is able to smartly choose details from the raw material that need to be inserted in the movie. Well done Francis Lawrence.

R to L: Finnick Odair, Gale Howthorne and Peeta Mellark 

And the last thing that I like about the movie is because it features Jennifer Lawrence. The lady always gives all of her best when it comes to acting: be it as a widow, as a shape shifting mutant or as an extremely skilledarcher. I always love Jennifer Lawrence because I cannot think of anyone else that could have portrayed Katniss Everdeen. Jennifer Larence is Katniss Everdeen. Her emotion, fear, dilemma, relentlessness, uneasiness and anger equals to Katniss’ that I perceive in the novel. She is really into it. In consequence, her acting definitely overshadows most of her male co-stars: Josh Hutcherson, LiamHemsworth (as Gale Howthorne) and Sam Claflin (as Finnick Odair). Lawrence indeed is in an entirely different league than them.

So, if you have not watched it, you better be sorry because you will probably miss one of the best action-fantasy movies of the year. Yes, by far, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is the best action-fantasy movie I watched in 2013.

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Score: 8/10