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The Hunger Games The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
4.5/5 MUST must see SEE
dir Francis Lawrence
scr Simon Beaufoy, Michael deBruyn
prd Nina Jacobson, Jon Kilik
with Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Sam Claflin, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, Jeffrey Wright, Jena Malone, Amanda Plummer, Lynn Cohen, Willow Shields, Toby Jones
release UK 21.Nov.13, US 22.Nov.13
13/US Lionsgate 2h26
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The game is rigged: Hutcherson, Banks and Lawrence

hemsworth claflin harrelson

See also:
The Hunger Games (2012) Mockingjay Part 1 (2014)


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The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Dramatically ratcheting up both the dramatic stakes and the filmmaking scale, this second of four films (based on three novels) is a thunderous epic. It's also a superb adaptation of a complex book, retaining the story's central trick while propelling the overall saga inexorably forward. And the actors are excellent.

Katniss and Peeta (Lawrence and Hutcherson) won the Hunger Games by challenging the authority of President Snow (Sutherland), and now they are paraded around the districts to soothe the spark of rebellion. But they only make things worse, so Snow instructs new Gamesmaker Plutarch (Hoffman) to kill these meddlesome kids in the next games, a Quarter Quell that has several evil twists. Through all of this, Katniss only wants to protect the good-hearted Peeta with the help of their mentor Haymitch (Harrelson). And this means that she forgets to notice what's really going on.

Much more than the first film, this episode captures novelist Suzanne Collins' narrative style, seeing everything through Katniss' flawed perspective. We still get the occasional cutaway to Snow and Plutarch plotting their next brutal move, but the main field of action is cleverly shown through limited, distracted eyes that catch all the details but don't quite connect the dots. It's a remarkable achievement for screenwriters Beaufoy and deBruyn (aka Oscar-winner Michael Arndt).

Meanwhile, the the character relationships are even more subtly complicated, giving the actors plenty to work with. Katniss still refuses to choose between her public partner Peeta and her private friend Gale (Hemsworth), and the scenes between them tellingly reflect her indecision and the strong connection she has with both. Her interaction with Haymitch, Snow, her sister Prim (Shields) and her designer Cinna (Kravitz) also evolve significantly. As do her shifting connections with competitors Finnick (Claflin), Johanna (Malone), Beetee and Wiress (Wright and Plummer).

In other words, this is a rare blockbuster packed with subtext and provocative themes. Even when things get extremely brutal, we are gripped by the constantly unnerving action and character detail. It's also packed with exhilarating set-pieces, including the final sequence, which reveals the saga's true trajectory. And what gets deeply under our skin is that way director Lawrence puts us into Katniss' shoes, forcing us to think about issues of loyalty and justice in ways movies rarely do.

cert 12 themes, violence 8.Nov.13

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© 2013 by Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
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