3 out of 5

Director: Francis Lawrence

‘Catching Fire’ is a movie of grand gestures that don’t ever fully arrive… but thanks to believably grounded performances by the leads and a commitment to not pander the storytelling in the sequel to a new audience, the film holds on to its bearing and remains competent and interesting, even at a 2+ hr runtime.  In fact, the film could probably have used more time and added to its effectiveness; in taking almost 2/3rd of the movie to build up to Katniss’ and Peeta’s (Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson) re-entry into the Hunger Games, the film finds its most satisfactory and rich moments, fleshing out the politics of Panem and the difficult emotional waters our leads must tread in being ‘victors’ of something with which they do not agree.  Francis Lawrence excels at shooting the super-real, cold and rundown districts through which last year’s Games winners tour; the director’s vision of Panem is, certainly, sets, but the slight remove is helpful in selling this world, since it’s slightly removed from traditional dystopias by being a teen tale.  However, this sensibility fails when we have to look beyond the relative intimacy of the poor districts and head to President Snow’s lavish mansion for an excessive party: the excess never really hits home, just one more set in a sequence, regardless of the intended larger scale.  This also factors into the bourgeois outfits and the fake-smile TV show that 1984’s the victors into celebrities – I get that the juxtaposition over neon hair to lower classes in rags is supposed to seem odd and ridiculous and that the forced nature of Stanley Tucci’s over-the-top TV host is intentional, but it feels like an act beyond the movie itself, a little too ‘safe’ in a way to ever frighten or sadden like the oddity of, say, Brazil.  Regardless, Francis Lawrence and Fire’s scripters Simon Beaufoy and Michael deBruyn overall handle the building dread of living this life, Katniss’ inability to not encourage revolt (Jennifer Lawrence nails the right ‘readable’ blend of faltering emotions), and the step-by-step plotting of President Snow and new ‘games master’ Philip Seymour-Hoffman in concocting (or revealing) the ‘Third Quarter Quell’ variant of the games, during which participants are drawn from previous victors.  Which aren’t many, and thus, womp womp, Katniss’ presence is guaranteed.

When we’re finally dropped onto the island, the welcome change to more organic environments is nice – and the main set-piece in the middle of a partitioned lake is pretty nifty – but this is where the movie feels mostly traditional – some comedy elements introducing the gamers, some smoking gun placement of things we’ll need to know later, some chases starting from point A just to get us to point B, and some holdings on for dear life when letting go seems to work out okay.  It’s shot well (Lawrence has rarely been guilty of shaky cam) and a wise nighttime filter is used when the CGI goes up so nothing looks too out of place, but though this is the ‘action’ portion of the flick, it lacks life compared to the start.

While the concept of rebellion isn’t tied just to the teen genre, I appreciate the Hunger Games series for wrapping the concepts around some darker territory that’s not strict wish fulfillment like Harry Potter.  ‘Catching Fire’ does translate these themes fairly successfully in its first two thirds, but some visual inconsistencies and fallback into action movie templates prevent it from becoming a fully realized concept at any given point and functioning as more than just entertainment.  Though as entertainment, it does a fine job.