Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone
Director: Francis Lawrence
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars
Reviewing one of the biggest films of the year always takes a bit of
planning, and so I knew going into Catching
Fire, the latest installment in the Adventure of Katniss Everdeen, that I
had to pay attention. For
starters, I needed to pay attention because, like Harry Potter and Twilight before
them, this film is brimming with ancillary characters that the film pays lip
service to and that I’m expected to remember from the previous film (you can’t
miss out on the chance to have a famous face play a character for twenty seconds,
after all). Secondly, unlike those
previous two films, I haven’t really finished this series-I read Catching Fire when it came out in
stores, but I’ll admit that it didn’t really bite me like the first book, which
was a delicious, cruel delight.
This book has always seemed like a pale, cheap imitation-too repetitive,
too focused on a love triangle (does every film series need one of these?), too
tunnel-visioned on one specific character (who, notably, suffers from some
intense tunnel vision). But I
wanted to see how they approached some of the characters and like all of
America, I like to see how sequels take things even if I didn’t 100% care for
the first installment. Film series
are my crack, and I indulged in an opening weekend hit.
(Spoilers Ahead) The film,
for the seven of you that have either never read the book or missed the movie
this weekend, picks up almost exactly where we had left off-Katniss (Lawrence),
after co-winning the Hunger Games with her new love interest Peeta (Hutcherson),
is still hunting, flashing back to her time in the games, and is moodily angry
at basically everyone. After a
showdown of sorts with President Snow (Sutherland), she is chosen to serve once
again with Peeta in a special version of the Hunger Games, where all of the
past winners are forced to compete against each other. Unlike other seasons of the games, this year's event riles up both the districts and the Capitol, who have come to love their
victors as the victors have been a part of their lives. Once inside the games, the victors start
their own plan, with Katniss, Peeta, and a cavalcade of former winners
(including Sam Claflin’s Finnick and Jena Malone’s Johanna, the biggest
highlights of the film), they manage to escape from the Hunger Games, most of
them relatively intact, with only Peeta stuck behind.
Perhaps it’s because I’ve gotten some distance from the bad role model
that Bella Swann was, but I spent most of this movie alternating between really
loving Jennifer Lawrence and really hating Katniss Everdeen, something I don’t
particularly remember from the books, though I will admit that I lost decided
interest part way through the second book (Confession Time: I have never
finished the third book, though I plan on doing so this weekend just so that I
don’t get spoilered before I inevitably latch onto the next two films). I think what bothered me so much about
Katniss is that she’s too impetuous and too stupid for her own good. Perhaps it’s because every guy around
her is planning every move, but for a film with a strong-willed female
character, there’s not much that she does except look pretty and shoot
arrows. Honestly-she’s not the
most skilled player in the games (Johanna and Finnick both could best
her on this front), she’s not the savviest person outside the games (both
Harrelson’s Haymitch and Hoffman’s Plutarch are the puppetmasters
here), and aside from occasional moments of faked charm, she’s not really our
hero, but just a figurehead. I
loved the moment when Peeta challenges her about her family and friends-there
are other people that she affects too, and the way that she constantly,
foolishly yells through the woods of the games, giving away her location-it
makes little to no sense. Even at
his moodiest Harry Potter was never this foolish, and Bella Swann’s actions
rarely impacted others-Katniss, though, she’s a girl that doesn’t care if
others catch on fire.
The film is really stunted by a couple of its casting decisions and
cast members. Lawrence’s Katniss
may not be a likeable or even a strong character, but Lawrence is too good of
an actress to not pull her off with solidity. I loved the lighter moments (Lawrence was born for screwball
comedy, despite that genre not really existing anymore)-the scene where Johanna
strips in the elevator was a triumph not just for Malone (who really is
terrific after floundering a bit on the road from child star to adult actress, sinking her teeth into the scenery-chewing like no other actor so far
in this series), but also for Lawrence’s reaction shots. When Lawrence is forced to opine for
Prim, Peeta, and Gael, she doesn’t sell her nearly as well-you can see the
anguish in her face, but perhaps because these other characters are so unknown
to us, we don’t really connect as an audience with them.
One of the key problems with the series, particularly when they decided
to make it a series, is that the books never really stop focusing on
Katniss. Rowling’s Harry Potter and to a lesser extent
Meyer’s Twilight (everyone else
compares them, why can’t I?) had a host of additional characters that got fleshed
out in some fashion throughout the books, but Collins only wants to know her
main character. While I have
admitted to not knowing what happens in the third book (again, I’ll fix it this
weekend), so far we’ve seen this flaw rather handily in the movies. Peeta, for example, is a complete blank
slate-all we know about him is essentially what the Capitol knows about
him. We know him as sweet, kind,
in love with Katniss, and willing to sacrifice himself at the drop of a
hat. That’s basically the image
that is being projected by the Capitol.
I’d say this was a massive inside joke on Collins/the director’s behalf
except it clearly isn’t-he just isn’t well-drawn. Hutcherson doesn’t help by taking advantage of his relaxed
moments like Lawrence does-he does what the script calls for, but doesn’t add
anything additional to what’s on the page, and his portrayal comes across as flat. He frequently
gains comparisons to a young Tom Hanks, but Hanks would have never disappeared
so fully into the background as Hutcherson does, and while he's a nice enough chap, I have yet to see much promise from him as an actor. This is the same for Liam Hemsworth’s Gael, but he doesn’t
get near the screentime that Hutcherson does, so he’s less at fault. Also, on the note of Team Gael/Team
Peeta-how is this a contest? I
mean, Peeta is sweet and Hutcherson is cute, but Hemsworth is a Greek god-it’s
not really a fair fight.
Aside from Johanna, the only other new character worth mentioning is
Sam Claflin’s Finnick. Unlike
Malone, who is clearly doing the biggest lifting with that character, Finnick
starts out so interesting (what are his motives, whose side is he on) that
Claflin gets a leg up on the fascinating front. I love the way that he plays him ambiguously, and since the
books always felt a bit like Finnick was bisexual, I wish the film had had the
guts to pull a ParaNorman and change
his Annie into an Andy. Just
saying, but unless you’re a hardcore shipper for that couple, you know I’m
right.
One last note before I leave-the costumes are all intriguing, but did
anyone else feel the film still had cinematography problems? This could have just been the theater I
was in, but I felt this way in the first film too-if they are trying to make
the film appear darker and grimmer, there are a lot better ways to shoot the
movie than in light-depleted shots.
I asked my friend Kate after this film, and she agreed (so it’s not a
sign I need to visit the optometrist)-why not do more light and do some
contrast with shadow? It would
have made the same impression without the eye strain.
Those are my thoughts, anyway-what are yours? Did you enjoy this installment better than the first (I’m
roughly equal)? Do you also have
an increasing annoyance with Katniss, or are you shouting the odds shouldn’t be
in my favor? And are you Team Gael
or Team Peeta? Share in the
comments!
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