Finally, I have finally seen it. I have been excited all year since the first teaser trailer was released months ago and it is bad enough that I had to wait five days from its initial UK cinema release (sad I know) but I have finally seen Catching Fire. Five days may not sound like a long time, but I have heard great things and I was really looking forward to see how they translated this book into film, as I felt that the first one could have been better. But then, there are always points in the film that aren’t in the book and vice versa, however, I knew that the colour and cinematography had so much more chance to be totally flaunted in this second film of the trilogy.
Heads up, Jennifer Lawrence is brilliant, just like she is in everything else. Josh Hutchinson gives a decent effort in playing the useless Peeta, it is a shame he is so useless, he has a heart of gold but that really is all he has to offer. Still, I am one of those few that always want the heroine to end up with someone she probably isn’t going to. So in Twilight for example (totally not comparing the two films), I am ‘Team Jacob’. Admittedly, a sad effort but still, in the Hunger Games I am rooting for Peeta the whole time when deep down we all know ‘the other Hemsworth’ has her heart. I feel bad calling Liam ‘the other Hemsworth’ but seeing as the order of my reviewing went as such he has just fallen second to his big brother Thor.
“Remember who the real enemy is”, that phrase is the epitome of Catching Fire; the film reeks with the search for justice, unity and solidarity. Seeing as adolescent literature film adaptations are usually looked at as rather hit or miss, Catching Fire really has something spectacular to it. Although, it does take a good hour or so before we even get to the games in this film, we do however get to explore and are exposed to more of the Capitol. I thought this was an important thing that wasn’t exploited enough visually in the first film, whereas in Catching Fire we get a much more distinct ‘us’ and ‘them’. The costumes in the film are somewhat crazy but that is after all what they are meant to be like. So, overall I found the film a lot more visually engaging.
Sequels of films in the past have been shot down massively (of course there are those few that survive) but in general they are not looked upon with great expectation. Catching Fire has a brilliant way of developing the narrative, there is a lot of character development and simply through the progression of the story, it was a great film to watch and I think will capture the hearts of a rather large audience.
Overall, the film was pretty much awesome, in fact, the only issue I have with it is that someone chose a Coldplay song for the ending credits (I was disappointed) but that is a whole other argument.
You can catch The Hunger Games playing in cinemas across the UK now!
Written by Sophie Cohen
I loved this film as well, and it was a pleasant surprise for me because I thought the first one was awful. Really badly made. But Catching Fire has a different director and it really shows, it’s so good! All the way through reading the books I wanted Katniss to choose Peeta. In the books he’s my favourite character but in this film I think Johanna was the winning legend!