In this film, Katniss has definitely evolved as a character. We see what she goes through after the traumatic wreck she has been through when she first participated in the Hunger Games. She starts having breakdowns, hallucinations, and a lot of pressure is put on her between the Capitol and the other districts because both are forcing her to choose sides. The Capitol wants her to represent the ideals and policies they enforce while the districts seeks for her to be their leader. This is a lot of good drama and emotional stress to put in our main character and it makes perfect sense to put her through this kind of trouble after the events of the first film. This is exactly or maybe more than I asked for when I expected to see how this film carries off from the first. That and Jennifer Lawrence continues to prove herself not only as a rising star, but an already well established as well as greatly respected actress in the industry. If you read my review of the first film, you know that I was not a big fan of Peeta. But surprisingly this time around, he actually evolves and becomes more likable and wiser. I just saw him as a naive male damsel in distress in the first one, but here he knows situations are not just child's play anymore, he is contributing, he is wiser, and for the most part very supportive. Hutcherson who I think has decent acting skills but his characters never did anything for me, succeeds making a character he played before that I was not a fan of suddenly making more pleasing to me. Woody Harrelson returns as Haymitch and he is just as enjoyable as he was in the first film and like many of the other characters, his character too does get evolved and he has more depth to him. We see his relationship built with Katniss and Peeta evolve from mentor to actual friend. Elizabeth Banks returns as Effie Trinket, and again she is enjoyable to watch, and like the rest she too has evolved. You can really tell that the character does truly care for our main leads. Lenny Kravitz returns as Cena, the wardrobe designer for Katniss and Peeta, and even though there is no big change that occurs in him like the others, he still manages to be likable. We get more of Donald Sutherland as President Snow, than we did in the first film. He turns out to be a menacing villain, shares actually really good chemistry with Katniss when they are together, and he has that element that a lot of good villains should have where they can get you emotionally where you actually start hating them, not because the character is written poorly, but because they can get to your emotions, which is a really good thing. We have new tributes in the Hunger Games, but now appearing as adults since they are past winners, and they are A LOT more interesting and entertaining than the tributes in the last film. We do not get to experience all of them, but the ones the story chooses to focus on have very interesting back stories, they are fleshed out, and they are given a good amount of screen time for us to enjoy them and sympathize with them too. Stanley Tucci returns as the ever so enjoyable talk show host Caesar. GOOD GOD, does he kill me! He is even more hilarious in this film. I feel like director Francis Lawrence just told Tucci to just do whatever the hell he wants, and somehow that turned into very enjoyable performance. His deliveries and expressions are classic! The only character I did not fully enjoy in this film, who ironically I really liked in the first film and whom I veven liked better than Peeta is Gale (Liam Hemsworth). Nothing on Hemsworth's fault but the character seems a lot more dumbed down. He is not horrible, just downgraded. He suddenly starts whining and complaining about his problems and his complicated relationship with Katniss. He suddenly turns into Mary Jane Watson from the Spider-Man films! Which is sad because I really wanted to see this character evolve because I enjoyed him in the first film. But at least a lot of the other key, side, and even new characters appear to be fully developed, entertaining, and three-dimensional characters!
The story this time has a lot of good twists, surprises, and creativity in it adding on to the very good character development and sub-plots. It truly has advanced since the first film. Every surprise is unexpected and comes at you like a masterfully thrown curveball, well to those who have not read the book anyway. But even so as a film on its own it is pretty impressive and even those who have read the books have to admit that the twists were decently placed and built up. A lot of creativity has been put into this new Hunger Games event. So many good, new and creative changes have been made, it does even feel like they are just doing the first film again. I wish a lot of this creativity could have been put in the first film. For example, there is a scene where they have to escape a poisonous acid fog. That alone sounds like a serious threat. There is also another scene where they have to endure a swarm of jabberjays that cry in the agonizing and paining voices of the tributes' loved ones. That is some deep stuff to go through. What creative set up and story writing! When the big reveal came for what the Hunger Games arena really was, I was speechless. I did not see it coming! Plus what creative sense it makes! The story also has majority of the tributes work with Katniss and Peeta for a common cause, which again helps the story differentiate itself more from the first film. The directing this time around is FAR better. Gary Ross, who directed the first film, had a lot of shaky cam and blury cam. 89% of the time, the film would not hold still and breathe. I know there were probably some good and creative intentions, but it was jarring. Here, Francis Lawrence allows the scenery, the action, and the dialogue to breathe. We allow to the enjoy the visuals and the world of this film so much better. It feels a lot more comfortable. With better story, better character development, better set-ups, more creative scenes, and better direction, it is no wonder this film triumphs its predecessor!
Overall, I know I said more than it was necessary, but The Hunger Games: Catching Fire proves to be a blazing success to its predecessor. Even some "plot holes" I kept thinking of suddenly started to add up the more I thought about them, so this is one of those almost perfect films I hardly have any problems with. This film joins The Dark Knight, Kung Fu Panda 2, Return of the King, Toy Story 2 and 3, and The Empire Strikes Back as one of the great sequels! I immensely enjoyed the characters, story, creativity, plot development, and you can be sure I am anticipating for more!
GRADE: AE
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