Even to those of
us who were unfamiliar with Suzanne Collins’ source material, 2012’s original The Hunger Games was a mostly
suspense-free affair. It was entertaining enough, and it skillfully introduced
audiences to the world of Panem, but the plot itself was predictable and the
action sequences were both overly sanitized and often incoherent. It was the
cinematic equivalent of a television pilot, consisting of a whole lot of
introduction and not much else. Now, with the second installment Catching Fire, the larger pieces of the
story’s puzzle are officially set in motion, and the result is a surprisingly
bleak and gripping film that shows the first steps of a seemingly impossible
revolution. The games themselves remain the least interesting part of the
universe, but the stakes are now much higher.
After the events
of the first film, co-victors Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh
Hutcherson) are forced to go on a tour of the 12 districts of Panem and deliver
pre-written speeches praising the government and the games. However, their
actions in the previous games seem to have inspired a rebellion among
a large percentage of the populace, and chaos breaks out at almost every stop of the tour. In an effort
to break the rebellion, President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and his new
gamemaker Plutarch (Philip Seymour Hoffman) decide that participants in the 75th
Hunger Games shall be chosen from the surviving victors. This forces Katniss
and Peeta into the arena once more, where every move they make can impact the
will of the growing rebellion.
Luckily, these
new games do not begin until well into the film. The best parts in Catching Fire come in the first half, as new
director Francis Lawrence takes on a tour through a society that's on the verge of imploding. As the wealthy in the Capitol eat so well that they force themselves to throw up in
order to keep eating, those in the distant, run-down districts are lucky to get
their hands on a solid meal. Whether she likes it or not, Katniss has become a
symbol to those on both sides of the fight. To the government, she is a threat.
To the rebellion, she is a beacon of hope that has sparked something not seen
in 75 years. In these new games, she is not just fighting for her life, but the
lives of those willing to stand up against the government’s oppression.
Where the first
film often felt afraid to explore the dark side of the universe, Lawrence is much more comfortable engaging with the brutality. The material is certainly
darker—the whole saga seems to be structured like the original Star Wars trilogy, with this being the
equivalent of The Empire Strikes Back—but
Lawrence also deals with the morality of the games in a much more direct
fashion. The film is still hurt by the need for a PG-13 rating, but where The Hunger Games’ Gary Ross chose to
sanitize and/or blur the violence, Lawrence is able to work around it much more
skillfully. Everything in the original film felt predetermined. While Catching Fire depicts the start of a
revolution, the whole undertaking has a palpable feeling of futility. Everyone in Panem
wants to believe it is possible, but Lawrence doesn’t provide much to suggest
that it is. All who choose to stand up to the powers that be are immediately
shot or tortured for all to see.
That’s not
something you see often in PG-13 films based on young adult literature, and
Lawrence’s ability to put all this despair onscreen is really quite impressive.
The film sags a bit once the games get rolling, and it is hurt by the same
problem that made the original games a bit boring: everyone in the audience
knows that Katniss will be getting out of this one way or another. However, that changes with the
climax, which will certainly catch all non-book fans by surprise and leave
them anxious to see where it goes next. Unfortunately,
Lionsgate has made the infuriating decision to split the final book Mockingjay into two films, a decision
blatantly made just because they saw Harry
Potter and Twilight do it, so why
not? Money’s money.
As impressive as
Lawrence’s work is here, most the emotional beats work because of the
increasingly impressive ensemble that has been put together. The most important
actor here is, of course, the female
Lawrence, and with each performance she more than justifies her newfound movie
stardom. Her male counterparts aren’t quite as impressive, though Hutcherson
leaves a greater impression here than in the original. The only charisma
problem comes in the form of Liam Hemsworth, who may be getting undeserved
flak just because the screenwriters haven’t quite found a way to make his
character interesting. Maybe his character just isn’t interesting, but he’s definitely not doing very much to
elevate it. Based on where Catching Fire
leaves him, it seems as though he’ll have much more to do next time around.
It may end
with a sort of cliffhanger, but where The
Hunger Games felt like an appetizer, this feels much more like the start of
a main event. That film depicted the status quo, and now that is starting to be
challenged from all sides. If there’s one thing that Catching Fire makes clear, it’s that changes in Panem are not going
to come without consequence. The blood has already has begun to flow, and now
the rebellion must work to ensure that it wasn’t all for nothing.
Grade: B+
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