Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
"Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark become targets of the Capitol after their victory in the 74th Hunger Games sparks a rebellion in the Districts of Panem."
- IMDB
Between the release of the Hunger Games & Catching Fire films, I ended up reading the whole trilogy within a few weeks. Catching Fire was my favorite book from the trilogy, and this would be one of the only adaptions I would see after reading the book. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.
First of all, this is when the love triangle comes into play. It's honestly the weakest story arc in the series. The only upside to it is it allows us to really psychoanalyze Katniss and how her trauma has effected her. Remember the whole "shared trauma" thing from Stranger Things? There's so many stories about this. This concept of shared trauma is the foundation of Katniss & Peeta's relationship; and even their relationship with Haymitch. Gale just can never understand because he only viewed the Games from the outside. He knows how horrible they are, but to be there is different. While Gale struggles to grasp this, Katniss grows closer to Peeta, abandoning her childhood sweetheart as they fully understand and rely on each other. This is the redeeming quality to this very cringe love "triangle."
Jumping into a few other characters. Johanna & Finnick are in my top 5 characters of the series. I could write an essay; I love those two so much. Johanna is a vibe. And Finnick... Whoever cast Sam Caflin is genius because that's literally exactly how I pictured him in my head. From his charming side to his emotional side, I love everything about him.
I also want to shout out Effie's character. I don't remember if this was a movie exclusive or if it was elaborated in the books, but it's very interesting to see Effie show a different side to her. Rather than glorify her tributes for the Quarter Quell, she genuinely seems sad and concerned to see her friends go through this experience. Considering her background, this was a nice brush of character development and made her character more interesting instead of just being fun.
Not that I have a backlog of every Hunger Games Arena ever as we don't know anything about them, but I'd still say the 75th Arena is my favorite. The concept is just super clever and it added a little mystery to the Games as the Tributes were figuring it out. It was honestly exciting. not to mention it was specifically deigned to throw Katniss out of her natural element, whereas her first Games were designed like home.
With my most recent viewing, some moments reminded me just how good Catching Fire is. Katniss stared down Snow with her edgy eye shadow during the Chariot scene. Not only did the Interviews portion give us one of Johanna's best scenes, but gave us a spine chilling moment when all the Tributes held hands as one against the Capitol; it was the last moment of unity before it all went downhill. Cinna... man, that one still hits. The Cornucopia spin was just another moment for me to fangirl about the Arena. The entire end sequence was intense and shocking with a little dash of poetic as the barrier is destroyed; Katniss is lifted up and away and finds out that Peeta is kidnapped; District 12 is destroyed and the only safe haven is District 13 (a district that was supposed to be nothing but rubble).
What a cliffhanger. And what a movie. As an adaption, it's one of the most accurate I've seen. A lot is always left out of the films for time, but this film made it work. Everything I love about the movie is everything I loved about the book. I have so much fun watching Catching Fire & I'm glad I still enjoy it as much as I do after all this time.
Check out my Mockingjay Review out now!
My Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★