The first Hunger Game movie was just above an average affair for me so I went into Catching Fire with high expectations - hey this time the budget is bigger, the story is going to be grander and characters are set so the story should have more engagement than the setting up of ideas and world.
Half way through, when people were cleansing themselves in their own Jordan River like a certain biblical character did of leprosy, I knew, this ain't going to end well for me. How I wish I was wrong.
Let's start with what works in the movie. Donald Sutherland as the slimy President Snow is so far the best villain of 2013 - followed closely by Kick Ass’s Mother***** .
He's both an enigma and a chilling force in the film. I love how the film plays to show his big daddy at home vs. his nefarious political self, concerned with hegemony and holding onto power by whatever means.
He's actually one of the few characters/villains that the audience are allowed to understand their rationale but with the rest it's touch and go. Jennifer Lawrence continues to embody Katniss well and, I daresay, looks prettier and prettier with every movie. She pulls off the action star with a heart easily and has become very good with that bow of hers.
The wardrobe department must have had a field day designing all the fancy clothes and costumes for the folks at the Capitol. There are some very cool costumes that are dished out in this film, especially worn by Katniss.
I normally don’t care much for stuff like costume but some of the frocks and make-up - especially on Katniss - are worth a mention. Or maybe that’s 'cause the whole plot and character choices are rather so “simple” that the costumes were more interesting than the story.
One of my gripes with the previous Hunger Games film is that you really don’t get to know all these guys who are killed but somehow you are meant to care. Hunger Games continues to only focus on Katniss and those around her and the rest are merely monster fodder. If this was a monster movie, they would exist only to be eaten by the monster.
In this case, they exist to die whilst we watch Katniss and Co walking around in circles. Very intriguing stuff …
not. Unlike Snow, Katniss' rivals are made to be one dimensional beings who just pop up to kill whilst her alliance members are given a little screen time to vent angst and not just die.
Then there are character choices that are so infantile I was infuriated by how they defy logic. I know this is not an R-rated movie but how long is Hollywood going to dumb down movies for teens and not expect kids to feel patronized?
Most of the scenes in this movie are just insulting to the audiences’ intelligence; from the physics of it, story progression and just the messaging of them. It does not help that the movie actually replicates 80% of the plot points from the first one with the same problematic issues … I guess one should just be happy we were not forced to watch this in 3D.
The idea of The Hunger Game has been explored in other films like Battle Royal without losing out on character, story and emotional engagement within a group of characters who are in the death match together.
Here it feels that Hollywood is just trying to milk the teen market by giving them a half-baked story, with pretty clothes and pretty people who never truly get dirty or hurt and who love sucking face for the sake of sucking face (with added saliva for effect).
I just hope the third is the last and final movie … oh yes, there’s still more to come. May the odds be forever in our favour that it will be the last 'cause Catching Fire could have played for 30 minutes - that’s how thin the story is. It could be quickly followed by the next instalment all in one movie. I guess the odds were not in my favour in this one.