When Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) return home as victors of the 74th Hunger Games, the authorities of Panem send them on a country-wide tour. They hope that the champions will distract from the popular unrest that constantly flares up in one district or another. However, the visits of Katniss and Peeta, who imposed their will on the government during the competition, only inflame the residents of Panem. Unwillingly, the young people become symbols of resistance to the regime. When President Snow (Donald Sutherland) realizes this, he orders Katniss and Peeta to be returned to the arena and eliminated at all costs. True, according to the rules of the Games, the victors can only participate in battles as volunteers. But the 75th Games are the third “Quarter Quell,” and its organizers have the right to change the rules as they see fit.
Besides Sam Claflin, Taylor Kitsch (“John Carter”), Armie Hammer (“The Lone Ranger”), and Garrett Hedlund (“Tron: Legacy”) were considered for the role of Finnick Odair.
Every cycle based on a single plot idea has its own internal dynamics. “The Lord of the Rings” became more dramatic and grandiose from series to series, “Twilight” noticeably “lost weight” after the first episode, and the first “Star Wars” trilogy peaked in the fifth episode. As for “The Hunger Games,” the second book is the weakest. The first “Games” are dedicated to survival in the arena, the third “Games” are dedicated to Katniss’s participation in the revolution, and “Catching Fire” sends the main character to the periphery of the plot connecting these two novels. Somewhere far away, in other districts, people inspired by Katniss organize uprisings, fight, and die, and the girl only helplessly watches what is happening from the windows of the train in which she is transported around the country.
The Periphery of Revolution
While Jennifer Lawrence received $500,000 for starring in the first “Games” series, the second film brought the star $10 million.
In essence, “Catching Fire” tells the story of a fire that is flaring up from the point of view of a match that has been put back in the box. This is an interesting plot in its own way, because Katniss must decide whether she will support the protesters or, on the contrary, appease people to prevent further bloodshed. But since the girl is not a pawn in a global game, but at least a rook, her detachment from the uprising seems like a deception of readers (and viewers). The main character should be at the center of events, as she was in the first film and as she will be in the third film.
Fortunately, writer Suzanne Collins made “Catching Fire” engaging enough that its adaptation doesn’t seem like a waste of time. Although this is primarily a conversational story, in a totalitarian state, political intrigues can be more dangerous and dramatic than shootouts, and Francis Lawrence (“I Am Legend”), the new director for the cycle, masterfully uses this. Although the film lasts two and a half hours, you only start looking at your watch at the end - oddly enough, when the Quarter Quell flares up.
Action or Ethics?
The fact is that if in the first “Games” the tributes fought each other, then in the sequel Katniss, Peeta, and their allies mainly deal with natural threats such as poisonous fog or evil mandrills. There is an artistic meaning in this - if the picture is directed against senseless bloodshed, it should not savor it, and the first film was rightly criticized for simultaneously horrified and admired what the heroes did in the arena. But when the trailer promises an epic massacre, you want to see a real war of “good” and “bad” champions (the Quell involves not newcomers, but winners of past years), and not the shooting of monkeys with rare glimpses of human violence. To hell with ideology - this is a fantastic thriller, not an ethical treatise!
The Lawrences, however, are not to blame. They worked with an imperfect book and did everything they could without redoing the original. Francis Lawrence perfectly adapted the book (this is not “Harry Potter”, which sometimes looked like a cut of fragments, and not like a whole movie), Jennifer Lawrence played Katniss stronger and more convincingly than in the first film, and all their colleagues also showed themselves worthy. Even the producers’ overestimation of Josh Hutcherson looks better than in the first “Games.” What can we say about the magnificent Sutherland and Elizabeth Banks, who in the sequel endowed her previously caricatured heroine with a human soul! There are no complaints about the new actors in the cycle either. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Claflin, Gina Malone - they all fit perfectly into the narrative, and one can only regret that they do not have so much screen time. Finally, let’s note the decorators and creators of special effects. If the first “Games” felt their medium budget, then the sequel is a full-fledged blockbuster with a rich and effective picture. Which emphasizes the screen passions, and does not distract attention from them.