Approx. Runtime: 146 minutes (2 hours, 26 minutes)
Language Watched: English
Type of Movie: Drama, Action, Game-like
Overall Impression: This was better than the first movie -- a must-see!
SPOILER ALERT WARNING!!
This
review will contain some spoilers -- or rather, there will be a
"Spoilers" section at the end of the review to go into further detail
about certain things. There may still be slight spoilers throughout the
review, but I've tried my best to keep them at a minimum.
PERSONAL STANDING (Pre-exposures, thoughts, etc.)
I will keep this section brief. I watched The Hunger Games last year. I read the books. I enjoyed the series. Now I'm with it to the bloody end.
JUST A NOTE: If you haven't watched the first Hunger Games movie, you might want to before reading this review.
JUST A NOTE: If you haven't watched the first Hunger Games movie, you might want to before reading this review.
STORY
I'm going to pull much of this from my Hunger Games trilogy book review, since I think I summed things up nicely there:
Katniss is now living in the Victor's Village (reserved for Hunger Games victors) in District 12 with her family. About a week before the Victory Tour through the Districts (something that Hunger Games victors have to go through), Katniss gets a visit from President Snow (ruler of the Capitol). He brings up that when Katniss brought out the poison berries (nightlock) during last The Hunger Games, some of the Districts interpreted the gesture as a form of rebellion instead of a desperate act from somebody hopelessly in love. He threatens that unless she successfully conveys herself as Peeta's lover during the Victory Tour (to diminish the growing desire to rebel), then her loved ones will die.
Then comes the Quarter Quell, a special Hunger Games that happens every 25 years with a different set of rules.
Katniss is now living in the Victor's Village (reserved for Hunger Games victors) in District 12 with her family. About a week before the Victory Tour through the Districts (something that Hunger Games victors have to go through), Katniss gets a visit from President Snow (ruler of the Capitol). He brings up that when Katniss brought out the poison berries (nightlock) during last The Hunger Games, some of the Districts interpreted the gesture as a form of rebellion instead of a desperate act from somebody hopelessly in love. He threatens that unless she successfully conveys herself as Peeta's lover during the Victory Tour (to diminish the growing desire to rebel), then her loved ones will die.
Then comes the Quarter Quell, a special Hunger Games that happens every 25 years with a different set of rules.
PACING
Just like in the first movie, the pacing here is good, but you do feel like you've been sitting in the theatre for a good chunk of time. With so much happening, I don't think anybody's mind could think this is a short movie. The beginning of the movie did feel a little slow for me, but I expected that, having read the novel.
CATCHING FIRE MOVIE VS. CATCHING FIRE NOVEL
The movie and the novel are very similar, which is good. But like every movie adaptation, some moments from the novel were lost while some moments were added to the movie. I'll mention some moments / scenes that I was hoping to see and the additions I liked in the "Spoilers" section.
ACTING/CHARACTERS
Again, the acting was very well done. No complaints here.
Other characters I like (still) are Haymitch and Cinna.
After watching the movie, I re-read bits of Catching Fire and Mockingjay to re-experience the exchanges between him and Katniss. It makes me feel all warm and giddy. *sigh* I am such a geek...
CHARACTERS
Catching Fire introduced a lot of new characters during the Quarter Quell. Some of them were introduced a little too quickly and were never re-introduced, so I don't remember all of their names. From the ones I remembered, I like Finnick (though I pictured Finnick differently when I read the novel), Beetee, and Mags. Joanna is cool, but a bit too blunt and fiesty.Other characters I like (still) are Haymitch and Cinna.
PEETA MALLARK
Of course, I can't forget about Peeta -- ahhh, my dream guy. I love his character so much! I love the way he loves Katniss. I love the way he thinks. And loving him so much, I enjoy it whenever I see Katniss reciprocating Peeta's affections.After watching the movie, I re-read bits of Catching Fire and Mockingjay to re-experience the exchanges between him and Katniss. It makes me feel all warm and giddy. *sigh* I am such a geek...
MUSIC
The music is atmospheric and nice. It fits really well with the movie.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
If you have watched The Hunger Games or have read the books and enjoyed it / them, go watch Catching Fire. It is good!
Mockingjay, the movie to the last book, will be split into two parts (what is up with that these days?). I'll give my prediction on where Mockingjay - Part 1 would end off in the "Spoilers" section. If you haven't read Mockingjay, DON'T read that prediction. It will contain spoilers!
Right now, I am just itching to re-watch Catching Fire -- just to see those moments between Katniss and Peeta (Ahhhh...). :)
Thanks for reading! If you want some more input about something I didn't cover, feel free to ask. :)
Now I'll do the scrolly thing so you don't see the "Spoilers" section right away. Then I'll add some more scrolly things after the "Spoilers" section in case anybody wants to comment, but not see the spoilers.
Mockingjay, the movie to the last book, will be split into two parts (what is up with that these days?). I'll give my prediction on where Mockingjay - Part 1 would end off in the "Spoilers" section. If you haven't read Mockingjay, DON'T read that prediction. It will contain spoilers!
Right now, I am just itching to re-watch Catching Fire -- just to see those moments between Katniss and Peeta (Ahhhh...). :)
Thanks for reading! If you want some more input about something I didn't cover, feel free to ask. :)
Now I'll do the scrolly thing so you don't see the "Spoilers" section right away. Then I'll add some more scrolly things after the "Spoilers" section in case anybody wants to comment, but not see the spoilers.
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SPOILERS
"I'll mention some moments / scenes that I was hoping to see
and the additions I liked"
and the additions I liked"
Now, I'm sure that I'm going to miss something, but here were some moments / scenes from the novel that I was looking forward to in the movie. I'll add more when I think of more. Some moments are really, really specific, but whatever.
- Katniss meeting the two wandering characters who were set on finding District 13. Their line of thought and evidence of District 13's existence was neat.
- When Peeta shows Katniss his paintings on the train.
- When Peeta says to Katniss: "My nightmares are usually about losing you. I'm okay once I realize you're here." Goodness, he's so sweet and romantic. If this happened in the movie, I completely missed it.
- Getting confirmation from Beetee that the voices from the Jabberjays could be rigged / altered. With that said, also the moment when Peeta is comforting Katniss about the Jabberjay and that Prim is really not in danger.
- All the sponsor bread that came from the various districts. I wanted to see the designs. Why hasn't anybody marketed and created "District-inspired bread"? I want to eat some!
- When Katniss kisses Peeta after saying that she needs him. That did happen in the movie, but I liked the scene a bit more as it was laid out in the novel.
- The revelation that Haymitch did choose to keep Katniss alive in last The Hunger Games.
- I'm not sure, but I'm so certain that this happened in Catching Fire and not in the other novels: Katniss was either lying on a field of grass or on Peeta's lap. Peeta was playing with Katniss' braid. Then Peeta said something along these lines, "I could stay like this forever." After a while, Katniss said, "Okay." I'll probably have to scour the book to find this scene (I think it's only 5-6 lines of text). Once I do, I'll fix up this dialogue. I don't know why. That's a scene that really stuck with me. It felt so peaceful and nice.
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"I'll mention some moments / scenes that I was hoping to see
and the additions I liked"
and the additions I liked"
There was only one addition that I noticed I liked, and it's really minor (I will add more if I remember more):
Katniss hugging Peeta as seen by
the viewers in the Capitol and the Districts. So sweet.
- When Peeta comes back to life from getting shocked from the force field, Katniss hugs him so tightly. That wasn't in the novel, and I really liked that moment. I could feel Katniss' relief, fear, worry, sincerity. It was really nice.
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"I'll give my prediction on where Mockingjay - Part 1 would end off"
Since this is a spoiler, but is not related to Catching Fire, I'll add a few scrolly things just in case. If you haven't read Mockingjay, don't read the spoiler below! And thanks for reading my review! :)
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I predict Mockingjay - Part 1 will end with Katniss reuniting with Peeta -- and Peeta putting his hands around her neck, about to strangle her. If that's not a cliffhanger that would drive you to buy the book and read the rest, I don't know what is!
If you read my spoilers, thank for reading! Now to finish with more scrolly things. If you disagree with anything or just want to say something, feel free to comment :D
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