Sunday 8 December 2013

Film Review - Hunger Games: Catching Fire


                                Game On

Film: The Huger Games: Catching Fire
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Directed by: Francis Lawrence
Duration: 2hrs 25 mins
Rating: * * * 1 / 2

Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games lives upto its expectations – it slightly on the longer side in terms of its length, but the build up to the finale is solid. As it has been happening with trilogies or final parts lately, the last book Mockingjay will be split into two films scheduled for a 2014 and 2015 release respectively.
  
Catching Fire starts off where the previous film finished. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) the winner of the games along with Peeta (Josh Hutecherson) are quietly revolting against the system. The two are forced to make public appearances as heroes but she takes every opportunity to show her discontent. That makes President Snow (Donald Sutherland) very angry and he comes with an ingenious plan, forcing all the previous winners of the games to compete with each other. That is one easy way to quell the rebellion and ensure that all previous heroes die in the contest.

Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the game controller and designer while Woody Harrelson returns as the alcoholic mentor. An almost unrecognizable Elizabeth Banks also makes an appearance along with always impressive Stanley Tucci.

The story builds up steadily, till the mid point the groundwork is being laid but once the games start it gets engrossing. The structure of the story is as such that in the end, you are asking for more.

The cast has done a terrific job. Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland and Philip Seymour Hoffman are all seasoned actors and play their roles with conviction. The film is yet another triumph for actress Jennifer Lawrence who is clearly amongst the best on the scene today.   

Catching fire is eminently watchable, the next two films hopefully will be even better. 

Published in The Navhind Times on 8th Dec 2013

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