The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Okay, so I did something stupid, or so I believe.  Wait back up, let's say I did two things stupid, just to cover my buns.  For starters, I had this grand notion in mind that I could simply walk into a movie theater one weekend, sit down, and understand what it is I'm seeing on the screen; I was wrong.  I am a statistic: people who have not read Hunger Games the book.  I am another statistic as well: people who watched Hunger Games 2 and didn't understand the relevance or significance of the story line.  There, I said it.  Worst of all is the fact that I did this the weekend before a big holiday, thus giving us stupid mistake numero dos (that means number 2), not giving myself enough time to write this earlier.  What follows is my own experience with hunger and a deadly game.

There is one thing for sure about Catching Fire, it was very well put together.  Not knowing the characters from the written word, I can only assume that the cast from the films (Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutchinson, Donald Sutherland, etc) were excellently placed.  After all, they were excellent in portraying characters of which I have little knowledge.  Call me what you'd like, but I can be easily pulled into an empathetic state while watching solid acting.  This film did not skimp in that category one iota.  What my lack of book knowledge gave me was not a negative opinion against the acting, rather the story line, which to me was very confusing.

Within this wasteland of a world, these people get chosen or volunteer to fight to the death...why???  What's even more bizarre is that apparently every 25 years they have a special hunger games, one which consists of the past hunger games victors.  So these people have to uproot themselves from whatever pitiful business they are responsible for, and have to battle against other victors, last man standing wins.  I have seen some weird plot lines before, but I don't get the purpose of the games, I'm sure this was explained at some point, but to then have to battle again every 25 years?  Please.  In the average game winners lifetime, they could potentially have to play the game 3 times, who wouldn't just shoot themselves in the foot and call it a day?  To make the story line problem worse, we got a very confusing plot twist revolving around a revolution against the government.  This is something I will not be touching on today boys and girls.

Adorable.

Now, as can be expected these days, Hunger Games is one of those C.G.I. heavyweights you've heard (read) me talking about.  This did both bad and good to the overall film.  For starters, the film world is way too elaborate and unreal for it to be able to avoid the overabundance of computer generated images.  On the flip flop, it didn't help because it makes things too unreal.  This only bothers me (I doubt it) a little but the fact is undeniably there.  Watch these C.G.I. hotshots and take a look at the movements and actions of people.  Sometimes you see things which don't add up, this is because of course when the actors arrive to the giant sound stage with little to no physical world to supplement the giant green wall behind them,  they will have difficulties syncing up their movements to what will be added in later.  Most of the time it gets cleaned up, but every once in a while you will see eye-lines off, or hands grabbing something which is too big or small for the grasp, etc.

 It appears as though Katniss had a conflict of interest.

So needless to say at this point, that I was a little put off by a lot of this film.  By no means am I saying this film was garbage, what I am saying is that in conjunction with the C.G.I. overload, the odd plot twists got to me.  I left the theater only able to say one thing, "Okay....."  Honestly, I had no clue what to think when the credits hit the screen.  Not to mention the fact that the film sort of just ended.  In the final scene of the film we were given some huge plot bomb, something which kind of wraps up the entirety of the film into one nice neat little understandable package, then BOOM black screen, role credits.

 Oh, were you expecting more?

Clearly this film was meant as a lead-in to the final book/movie.  I personally hate when this happens.  It's like the second Pirate's of the Caribbean film.  The first of this franchise's films could have been stand alone, worst case scenario.  They gave enough information and answered enough plot questions/concerns; wrapped things up in a nice little bow.  However, in the second installment, we were given more questions or twists and less helpful info, leaving the story in flux.  Clearly by the second film they knew there would be a full trilogy.

Now I'm sure the people at Lionsgate knew that the Hunger Games franchise would succeed as the full trilogy...ahem, I mean quadrilogy (the final book will be split into two films, jerks).  Having said this, I can't shake the feeling that the first Hunger Games film seemed more complete then its more recent sequel.  I don't know, maybe I'm losing my mind...doubt it.   Whatever the score may be, Catching Fire left me searching for more answers than I remember having upon the credits of the first film.

One thing is for sure though, I did hear from numerous people, friends and strangers, that these films have been relatively true to the books, this makes me have to applaud Lionsgate and the various people attached to the project.  More often than not when there is a film adaptation of a book, we usually find ourselves seeing things that the film maker's have added themselves.  I am not a fan of that.  Case in point: Jurassic Park, enough said.

 Oh, who am I kidding, I love you both!

Final Words: Large Popcorn
I'm going out on a limb here giving this score.  In my opinion it's a bit generous, however, having heard all I've heard regarding authenticity, I must give the film more credit.  After all, Catching Fire isn't the number 1 movie worldwide right now by accident.  If you have read the books and love the story, or just want to see something unique, check this one out, the bigger the screen the better.

Until next time, happy viewing!

Review Rating based on popcorn sizes: small, medium, large, extra-large; 

films worth skipping get snore...zzzzz