Last night Rosie and I went to see the second installment of The Hunger Games series. I read all 3 books and watched the first film almost 2 years ago and was very impressed with the series, however was slightly let down with the first film. It lacked the suspense of the novel, missed out key plot points and felt watered down. Nonetheless, I was hoping that Catching Fire, personally my favourite book, was going to be better and so made Rosie watch the first earlier on in the week.
Catching Fire is one of, if not the best book to film adaptation I've ever seen. It includes almost every aspect of the book, uses original quotes and really captures the suspense of the novels which the first one failed to do. Casting was brilliant, especially Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss and Donald Sutherland as President Snow. There was also brilliant character development of characters we didn't see as much of in the original film, such as Effie and Gale.
The story, if you're thinking is just another rip off of the original, involves Katniss and Peeta becoming faces of a rebellion within the districts of Panem and becoming targets of the Capitol in an attempt to stop the rebels. And as the Hunger Games reaches its 75th Year, a Quarter Quell, a special twist is revealed - that the tributes for the 75th Games will be reaped from the existing pool of victors.
While constantly entertaining, even at its run time of 2 hours and 30 minutes, the film touches upon important topics and is far more than just a teenage action film. Catching Fire is a bold and brilliant drama film that other directors need to look at and learn from.
Overall rating: 10/10
(Original film: 7/10)
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