Movie Review: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
The first Hunger Games movie was a fairly promising start for the series. They got the casting right with the talented Jennifer Lawrence and a seasoned cast of veteran actors including Donald Sutherland, Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks, and Woody Harrelson. It seemed like the series had nowhere to go but up, with the addition of director Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend).
But this movie takes a step back. Where it primarily fails, I think, is the script. Things aren’t explained well, and I can’t tell you how many questions are stuck in my mind after watching it. Everyone acts so surprised that former champions are included in the Quarterquell or whatever, and I must say that I am confused as well. Was this sprung on people at the last minute? It’s clear it’s a plan by President Snow (Sutherland) to entrap Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) or whatever, but like, this isn’t really acknowledged.
On top of that, every district apparently has a couple of former champions to pull from for this competition, which becomes more than a little awkward when the out-of-shape Jeffrey Wright has to wear one of those skin-tight bodysuits.
But didn’t the last movie establish that a few of the districts basically dominated the competition? Hell, if this were to happen just a year ago, Katniss’s district wouldn’t have anybody. How does every district have multiple people?
Maybe this seems nitpicky, but it’s definitely not a good script. There’s a scene on a train in which Katniss figures out something fishy is going on by wandering around and finding an open door where bad guys are watching security footage. They close the door when they realize she was there, but why the hell was it even open? If there is a 0.00001% chance that Katniss Everdeen — the ultimate enemy of the state — could be wandering around, why wouldn’t you take every available precaution? Not to mention that they’re watching security footage and probably should have known that she had wandered out of her car.
Anyways, the movie ends on a cliffhanger that really doesn’t make me interested in seeing the next one. To date, I haven’t, even though I saw this movie in the theater back in 2013.
Rating: 5/10
