Review: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Directed By: Francis Lawrence

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Woody Harrelson

When I first heard about The Hunger Games I was enraged and swore I wouldn’t watch it because it was a cheesy, teenage girl remake of the Japanese film Battle Royale. I ended being dragged there with a couple of co-workers and found myself secretly enjoying it, although I was too stubborn to admit it at first. I requested my grandma to purchase the book series for me and I began to read.  After reading “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” I knew I wanted to see the film. The new style of game arena was interesting and I was kept wondering what was coming next.

I went to see The Hunger Games: Catching Fire as soon as I could and was as giddy as a schoolgirl to see how they adapted the book into film. As with the first film the beginning was slow going, bleak and went on far longer than needed. This film was a little over two and a half hours and only about an hour of it was spent in the arena itself. Each deadly gambit was touched on only briefly; characters that died did so far earlier in the film, everything in the arena just seemed rushed.

As for the acting it was mediocre at best, but that was expected from this film. The film was also lacking in explanation and portrayals of various things. Finnick was not the suave flirtatious character he was portrayed as in the book and his only love Annie, though mentioned was not explained well enough to understand why her voice was featured in the Jabberjays. Another point that wasn’t explained well was the selection of the Quarter Quell. My husband was confused how there were enough victors from each district to partake in this every 25 years, not understanding that each Quarter Quell is different.

Taking into account the unnecessary long beginning, the lack of clarifications at points in the movie and the poor character portrayals I ended up giving this film 3 out of 5 stars.