With high expectations for the film, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire surpasses each one. Set again in Panem after the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are left to deal with the aftermath of their experiences while going on the Victory Tour through the rest of the districts, pretty much thanking the families of the district’s fallen for their dead children, like rubbing salt into the wound. On top of that, Katniss must use the Victory Tour in order to quell the unrest in the districts after her and Peeta’s rebellious stunt at the end of last year’s Hunger Games. And worst of all, they are forced back into the arena along with other past victors for the 75th Hunger Games, the third Quarter Quell.
The past victors, played by Jena Malone, Lynn Cohen, Jeffery Wright, and Sam Claflin among others, join the returning cast of Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Wood Harrelson, and Lenny Kravitz to make an incredible, all-star group of actors that do their characters justice. Jennifer Lawrence’s portrayal of the reluctant but strong heroine Katniss Everdeen is the best in the film. Her acting is one of the very best things about the entire movie, from the flawless way she brings the character’s emotions from the book to the big screen, to the perfect representation of Katniss’s post-traumatic stress disorder, to the way she executes the little bits of humor thrown into the dark and intense plot. The fact that Catching Fire is a movie adaptation of a young adult book should not lessen the recognition Lawrence should get for her phenomenal acting (yes, I’m talking to you, Academy Awards).
On top of the amazing acting of the whole cast, Catching Fire stays very true to the book, something that will make the fans of the original book series happy and that ensures that the movie has plenty of action, suspense, humor, and tragedy- and it sure doesn’t fall short on the love triangle element either.
The film also scored with a legendary director, Francis Lawrence, who brought the book to life in such a flawless way that we cannot wait for the following films in the series that he will direct: Mockingjay parts 1&2, set to hit theaters in 2014 and 2015.
The odds were definitely in this film’s favor. In its opening weekend, the movie earned $161.1 million, breaking the November record. It also earned an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes with 94% of people liking it. In short, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has everything someone would want in a movie, easily surpassing the first film in the series.