Review: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Possibly the most anticipated young adult film of the fall, does "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" live up to the anticipation? Or does this fall into the category of terrible tween movies? 

Director: Francis Lawrence

Writer(s): Simon Beaufoy, & Michael Arndt

Staring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Sam Claffin, and Elizabeth Banks

Plot: Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a "Victor's Tour" of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) - a competition that could change Panem forever.

RATING: 6 1/2 out of 10

Going into The Hunger Games: Catching Fire I was somewhat excited and somewhat nervous. I was a bit excited because I thought the first film was decent and enjoyed watching kids kill each other (is that bad?). I was nervous for two reasons, 1) I had a feeling I would be the oldest person in the theater, luckily I was not and 2) I hate tween bop films. Through this film I kept thinking to myself "did I really just spend $12 for a ticket to this?" It's not that I absolutely hated this film, I just really hated the writing. What is it about films like this, Twilight, and The Host? It's almost like the studios try to compete on who can get the worst written film and who can add the most irritating romance scenes in the entire world. I have not read the Hunger Games book, but from what I have heard, these films are quite different from the "young adult" novels they are taken from. There were I guess some sort of positives to this film, but from me, I saw mostly negatives. 

The few things I enjoyed in this film were really only parts in the film that lasted about 2-3 minutes. One thing I actually really enjoyed was the brutality that came from the "peace keepers." The peace keepers were probably my favorite part of this film mostly because they're just bad asses. They remind me very much of the Storm Troopers from the original Star Wars films, just a tad bit more brutal. The only other thing I can say I actually enjoyed were the events that happened inside of the game dome/game board during the actual Hunger Games (I'll get into this more in the spoiler section). The directing in this film was just decent. I thought a few of the choices they made when it came to picking the shots were kind of weird and awkward, while some of the shot choices they picked were actually pretty cool and un conventional. So the directing side of things gets a score of average from me. The editing was decent as well, very similar style to the first Hunger Games film which is a good thing to keep while working within a series, but was also irritating because based off of the shots used and the way the film was edited together, I could basically predict everything that was going to happen next. With that being said, there are unfortunately a lot more issues I had with this film then things I enjoyed.

Some  of the MAJOR issues I had with this film, as I said before, are with the writing. While watching the film I actually thought it had potential to do a lot more than it did, but was ultimately ruined by cheesy dialogue, boring character development and a lot of stupid wannabe "intense" moments. The biggest downfall of this film was the stupid cheesy, bull shit romance between Katness, Peeta, and Gale. I went into this film wanting to see blood, people killing each other, and really awesome choreographed fight scenes. Instead I ended up seeing a bunch of stupid characters whine and cry about not being together, or someone not wanting to be with someone else. If the Hunger Games wants to really become something that everyone will enjoy, and not just teenage to young adult people, they need to drop the intense romance. Though some romance in a film is acceptable, and makes the characters somewhat relatable, too much of it can destroy a film and that is what happened in this movie. The other really big problem I had with this film is the same major issue I had with the first Hunger Games. During the games, you know the time where everyone needs to be killing everyone, it feels like we are just watching Katness run around in circles with her tail between her legs, getting saved by everyone else. Either she's injured, or running away from something. For a character in the movie that is supposed to be "empowering," she sure does cower away from things a lot. The acting in Catching Fire was just decent. Nothing was really believable from the actors and it felt like they were either over acting or under acting. One actor I felt like needed to tone it down just a little bit was Jenna Malone, who played the character Johanna Mason, and the one actor I felt needed to turn it up a little bit was Josh Hutchenson, who played the character Peeta Mellark. There was also one actor who impressed me a lot in this film just like in the first one, and that is Lenny Kravitz. I really can't give a reason why, but I just love the way that he plays his character! 

Thanks for reading this review! If you've seen The Hunger Games: Catching Fire or just don't care, please, continue on and read the spoiler section! What did you think of this film? Does it fall into the tween bop book for you as well? Or do you think I am completely wrong in my opinion, tel me why below! Thanks for reading! NOW! Onto the spoilers!

*WARNING* SPOILER SECTION

Alright, so this spoiler section isn't going to be too long because this film is based on a novel so I guess it's already been spoiled? Anyway, I am actually going to talk about the part of the film I really liked and that was the mocking jay attack on Katness and Finnick during the games. I felt like this scene was so chaotic and crazy that it actually made my heart rate go up a little bit. I also thought it was really dark, and really demented, which is something I love in films! The only other spoiler I'm really going to touch is the ending. Honestly this film will forever be in my book of "worst endings ever." I understand cliff hangers, but come on! This cliff hanger was complete and utter shit. It just cut off randomly in the middle of the final scene and almost felt like the director and crew just said "all right guys! That's a wrap! We don't need to finish this last scene!" I guess this could also fall into the terrible writing, so either way, screw the director and screw the writer for choosing and filming a terrible and stupid ending! Well that does it for the spoiler section, and for this review! Please sound off in the comment section below about what you thought of, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire!

PROS: Not much. Decent directing, decent pacing, and Lenny Kravitz kicked ass

Cons: TERRIBLE writing, absolutely stupid ending, below average acting, pointless romance, too much romance, not enough blood/killing, and pretty weak plot

RATING: 6 1/2 out of 10. If you like films like Twilight and The Host, you will like this.

article by Matt Skajem