The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Cinema Screening)

(Spoilers)

Welcome, welcome to my review of the annual 75th Hunger Games! Easily one of the most anticipated films of 2013, did Catching Fire live up to expectations? Yes, I think it did. Just as they are trying to get back to their normal lives Katniss and Peeta are thrown straight back into another arena and the viewer is thrown into another great story never even thinking about the 146 minute running time.

Personally I have read the first two books in this series and I thoroughly enjoyed both, however Catching Fire really was a brilliant book and from what I can remember the film has stuck almost identically to the events in the book.  There shouldn’t be too many complaints on this front however I can’t help thinking that I would have enjoyed the movie so much more if I hadn’t have known the plot, although that is no fault of the films just a simple observation.  Although it takes the film quite a lot of time to get to the arena this didn’t detract any interest and again helps the film remain loyal to the book, however once we got to the arena things seemed to happen very quickly.  I thought the events in the arena were fantastic but the scene that was superior to all the others in my eyes was the one involving the jabberjays. It was so well acted and you could really feel the sense of  desperation and despair.

The way in which the film was acted, produced and directed created an ease for conveying emotion and I thought this was one of the best things about the movie.  Naturally this book has a more interesting plot as the story unfolds in the series and is so much more than another Hunger Games, it explores characters more deeply and as the title suggests the whole thing really catches fire! Philip Seymour Hoffman portrayed the head game maker so well and he was the stand out character for me, he got this character spot on. Also Jeffrey Wright did a great job as Beetee!  You really develop a stronger dislike for the President in this installment of the story and I can’t help the feeling that this franchise is really building well to it’s climax.  As I haven’t read the final book I am excited to see how events will unfold and I think I will be more eager to find out what happens!

BIGGEST FLAW – Some dodgy looking effects in a few instances

BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT – Sticking so close to the book

Rating – 9/10