Today’s Lesson: Fired Up – The Hunger
Games: Catching Fire succeeds on
many more levels then its predecessor, The
Hunger Games. Standing as a sequel that is better than the original,
Catching Fire is endlessly entertaining, socially and societally relevant and thought provoking, and an emotionally pitch-perfect film. The second book of the series is easily my favorite and this film nails the adaptation. Of course it leaves a few things out, but that’s all a part of transferring a book to the screen; you have to make choices. Another thing working in the favor of Catching Fire is the fact that they chose to down play the love triangle between Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), and Gale (Liam Hemsworth), it’s exists but it’s a sub plot.
New
director Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend, Constantine)
understands that a crucial element of this film is the action sequences and
we need to understand what’s happening in them to follow the story; unlike the
first Hunger Games film which should holds the world record for most inconsequential
and confusing use of shaky camera in a single film. Francis Lawrence delivers
one of the best blockbusters of the year, blending the worlds of the District
12 and The Capital together seamlessly, getting fantastic performances from the
entire cast (minus Hutcherson, who tries really, really hard but can’t find a
way to be the least bit interesting), and excels by adding thought and depth to
everyone and everything on the screen. This is a major improvement over the
first film and a perfect example of how to properly adapt a book to film. Speaking of new people joining the series who go above and beyond, Jenna Malone joins the cast as Joanna and is amazing while on screen and the best new character to the series. Also joining cast members J. Lawrence, Hutcherson, Hemsowrth, and Malone are Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanly Tucci, Phillip Seymore Hoffman, Lenny Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Lynn Cohen, Sam Claflin, and Donald Sutherland round out this crazy good cast.
Jennifer Lawrence again proves why she is one of the greatest young actresses in Hollywood and is destined to be a true screen icon. She lights up the screen, steals every scene she’s in, and finds depth and layers to Katniess that could easily be lost in lesser hands; she plays the part with the same conviction that she would any smaller part and gives an amazing performance. If this year turns out to be a weaker year for Best Actress contenders don’t be surprised to the see Jennifer Lawrence making a run at back to back Best Actress Awards, she’s that good. Bottom line Catching Fire is an engrossing film, which had me completely lost in its well-told story emotionally engaged story from start to finish. Catch this amazing film in theaters if you can and don’t miss it.
Need to watch the first film to catch up? Find out where you can watch it below!
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