Well, I ignored it for “About Time”, didn’t want to be too
predictable. I finished that review and went back to the movies. Like always, I
didn’t check what showtimes were available and decided to see the closest showing
of whatever movie I hadn’t seen before. Fate brought our paths together that
day and lo and behold, it looks like its day in court has come. This time the
Man without a Plan takes a look at “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”.
Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson)
return as victors of the 74th Hunger Games, a competition held by
Panem’s elite where the children of the lower districts are chosen to fight to
the death as the districts’ punishment for a rebellion against the government.
A boy and a girl are chosen from each of the 12 districts, and the children
kill each other till one is left standing. At least, it was so before Katniss
and Peeta. Their refusal to kill each other along with Katniss’ compassion and
bravery has inspired people in the districts to talk of revolution, leaving the
leader, President Snow (Donald Sutherland), to target her, Peeta, and all
previous victors in a new kind of Hunger Games to qualm the struggle before war
breaks out.
With this sequel, I feel I should describe what I think of
the original and the series as a whole. (Disclaimer: I haven’t read the books.)
I think the premise is fascinating. The idea of children being offered as
sacrifice for the entertainment of the victors of war is horrifying, yet
fascinating. It gives an opportunity to show how the media affects society and
how easy it can be to forget about the ramifications of war when one is far
away from its reality. For a generation of kids born in a post-9/11 society,
whose darkest exposures were the latter Harry Potter books, this series takes
risks and trusts its audience to be mature. However, the filmmakers understand
kids will watch this movie and doesn’t scare them without purpose. The images
are violent and hard to watch, but in the end, Katniss’ bravery and compassion
pulled us through. My main problem with the first movie is that I don’t have
that big of an understanding of the world of Panem. I understand this takes
place in America after a war, but save for a few blurbs, I don’t know much
about this war, the major players, why it happened and why the post-war society
places so much emphasis on makeup, fashion, and entertainment. I feel the first
“Hunger Games” sets up the questions ok, but if I didn’t know there was going
to be a sequel, I’d feel lost, confused, and a bit annoyed. Too much action,
not enough story.
I entered into the sequel with quite a bit of hype and
expectation. I hoped this movie would expand on Panem, show more of its
history. I wanted to see more psychology, wanted to see the story progress,
grow grander and heavier. The sequel has good ideas…but ultimately disappointed
me. From what I’ve heard and read from fans online, they appreciate “Catching
Fire” for sticking very close to the book, as any fan would want from its
adaptation. For me, “Catching Fire” retreads familiar ground, losing its
initial intensity. The movie drags and overall, it bored me.
The decision to put Katniss and Peeta back in the Hunger
Games is the weakest aspect of the film. Save for some creative new obstacles
(the birds and fog come to mind), the intensity is dialed down. The movie tries
to add in chase after chase and danger after danger, but I’ve seen this all
before. The Hunger Games worked in the first film because it threw us into the
world without any mercy, similarly to how the Capitol broke the innocence of
the children, forcing them to face real danger and trouble when they were
clearly unable to. It set up the horror, giving Katniss a vantage point that
would help her understand fully what she’s fighting for. However, instead of
exploring the Games’ effect on her mind and the ramifications of her effect in
this revolution, the movie puts her back in the same situation. She isn’t
allowed to progress as far as she could in the first one and it feels like a
step backwards.
I wouldn’t be as disappointed to have Katniss put back in
the Hunger Games if the movie didn’t ignore the secondary cast yet again. We
get nuggets of their thought progress: Katniss’ best friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth)
gets more active in the revolution, her sister Prim (Willow Shields) lives with
the weight of increased army presence, inheriting Katniss’ no-nonsense
personality without sacrificing hope for better days, and President Snow
focuses his efforts in squashing any thoughts of rebellion and any symbol of
hope. The problem is these characters aren’t as looked into as they should be
and while they should be intriguing, the movie doesn’t give them a chance.
However, the award for biggest character disappointment goes
to the king of Terabithia. Peeta is downright useless in this movie. I know
Katniss is supposed to be empowering and a good role model for girls, and she
is. But with Peeta, we just swap gender roles in the damsel-in-distress
scenario. Was it really this hard to give Peeta the ability to carry his own
weight? It feels like all he does in this movie is fall on his face and get
saved by Katniss and the rest of their crew. I wouldn’t mind it once or twice,
but it got to the point where I was in the theater, laughing at how inept this
guy is. It’s not like the first movie treated him the same way, it established
Peeta’s skills as a master of disguise and showed off his physical strength. He
has the ability to stand for himself but the ways in which he gets in trouble
don’t fit the character. It grates on my nerves.
Ok, I don’t want to bash this film and make it seem
unwatchable, because there are aspects to admire. The design is refined from
the first movie: the presentation of the city and its extravagant elements
blows me away. There’s a scene where Katniss and Peeta attend a party before
the Games and the color scheme just pops. Backgrounds dazzle in their subtle
way and the symmetry strengthens the foundation of the overall look. The first
movie looked duller: all we saw externally of the Capitol was the muted silver buildings,
which while pristine and modern in its architecture, didn’t stand out from any
other futuristic movie. Here, the camera shows off a little more; it looks
better this time around.
I’m going to blame culture shock for my lack of appreciation
for the costumes and makeup in the first movie. The emphasis on it felt more
like a distraction than anything, and while I still don’t quite understand it,
this time around I expected it, and could turn off my brain to fathom how much
work and effort went into these elements. For a new character, Johanna, she
wears a dress resembling her forest home. The top's pattern looks like a tree
and the texture looks eerily real; I feel if I touched it, the dress would be
feel like bark. The attention to detail is exquisite. For Effie Trinket
(Elizabeth Banks), Katniss' publicist, her style starts out enveloped in the
Capitol's fashions. Big hair, bold colors, lots of layers. It begs for
attention. But as her character develops, her wardrobe develops with it. The
color scheme gets warmer and the layers are less emphasized. Katniss' outfits
definitely fit in the Capitol's fashions: angular dresses and a lot of volume,
but they don't get too extravagant, fitting her down-to-earth personality. The
costumes can be overlooked by many in movies, but here, they play an important
part in showing off the characters and they look great.
It’s really a shame this movie isn’t as great as it could
have been. The secondary cast is tossed to the side when they could’ve been
looked at more, Katniss and Peeta go through the same motions when the movie
could’ve explored the extent of their celebrity and how media can distort and
mess with people. Katniss shows a little bit of how the Hunger Games affected
her mind and her habits; she has ethical dilemmas, but the movie only tosses
hints of how she deals with it. The movie looks great, and some of the new
characters (primarily Johanna) are nice introductions to the series, but in the
end, it feels like a weaker re-telling of the original. The ending is
satisfying; I want to see how the series ends, but it was an ordeal getting
there. If you’re a big fan of the first movie or the book series, you’ll
probably like it, but if you’re casual to the series, I’d read the plot summary
and wait for “Mockingjay: Part 1” to come out next year. As always, thank you
all for reading. I’m the Man Without a Plan, signing off.
"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keT5CRhhy84
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