Hunger Games Catching Fire Review

Many people can agree that book to movie transitions don’t always quite hit the mark (even the harry potter movies). But unlike the first in its trilogy, Catching fire has become one of my favorite movies I’ve seen for awhile, as it retained a large amount of info from the book without taking too much out, all while staying action packed for the most of it.

                The first movie in the series I thought was quite poor, with the movie never capturing the sense of danger or fear in the arena like the book did, as I never quite thought that katniss was in much trouble throughout the movie. But unlike the its predecessor, Catching fire set the tone perfectly from start to finish. You could tell that our hero’s are in for a bad year this time, as the darker sadder atmosphere implied. The grittier images this time around reinforce this perfectly, and really set the tone that the first film never really got down. I also think another reason why this film did so well was that it was simply a darker and grittier tale this time around, with multiple riots breaking out in the districts really adding to the the film in a positive way, as I always thought the hunger games books really fit well with the “All hell is breaking loose” sort of thing that works perfectly.

                I also think another factor that attributed to the films improvement was the actors. Now it was the same actors that played Katniss and Peeta in the original movie, but they seem to have found their place and really have become the characters this time.  You can see Katniss and Peeta’s strained love, and Haymitch this time has really filled in on his role as the drunken mentor that has to send his two victors back into the ring really fight with emotions, something that the first film never really got down so well. The new characters introduced in this movie are solid in their roles, with the sexy and charming Finnick and the lovable but insane Johanna helping our hero’s in the arena this time, both of which play their characters perfectly.      

                With a solid story this time around that only left out one plot point, great actors that perfectly accentuated their characters, and a great theme of dread and war, Catching fire is a mass improvement over The Hunger Games. I really hope they follow this path, as I can already feel that the next in the franchise is going to be better than the last.