The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

[Michael Gary Scott]

Every district as seen in the hunger games

[Plain Old Tele]

Since Panem is the US, I wonder what the rest of the world thinks. Do they just sit back and go, "oh those wacky Panemians!"

[cozmeesah]

By that token, though, what I wanted were direct reactions to what Katniss is doing. How do people in the Capitol react, when they see her aim her now at the sky? What do they feel, when the poison gas almost gets her? What about Gale and/or her mother and sister? For all th effort that's spent talking about how important the Games and Tributes are, there's very little connection at all, especially once the Games start.

I get that. But then, at the same time, that might seem as an unnecessary jump away from the focus to many people. You have some that would like to see that and some who wouldn't. Hard to tell what to do.

[rockNrollaDIM]

I get that. But then, at the same time, that might seem as an unnecessary jump away from the focus to many people. You have some that would like to see that and some who wouldn't. Hard to tell what to do.

Yeah this. Kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario. If you keep cutting out to Panem then you risk people losing interest in the Games. And then saying the film lacked focus.

[Plain Old Tele]

A couple of reaction shots is enough to lose focus? Not only do I disagree, I think it tightens everything up.

[cozmeesah]

But that's you. Not everyone would think that way.

[Robertron]

Loved it so much both times I've seen it.The part that stood out most to me:Possibly one of my favourite scenes I've EVER seen in a film is right at the end where Katniss shoots the arrow in to the force field and is pushed back and then seen lying on the ground. This next moment where the force field is falling down around her and when she is being lifted into the hovercraft is breathtaking and I've been in awe of that moment the two times I've seen it. It reminds me so much of the emotion I felt when the home tree is being destroyed in Avatar as well as so many scenes in DH2.It's an insanely massive step up from THG and I can't wait to see what MJ1&2 bring.

[Noctis]

I think it's a spectacular film. In the movie, the revolution is just starting to happen, and it doesn't go full out until MJ1/MJ2. What they did was effective in portraying that it was simmering with only a few outbursts here and there. 

 

Effie, IMO, was a significant portion of the film's heart. I honestly got emotional when she started crying and told Peeta/Katniss how much she cared for them and that they deserved so much better. It was an extremely touching scene.

[dashrendar44]

A couple of reaction shots is enough to lose focus? Not only do I disagree, I think it tightens everything up.

 

I don't get the "We can't shift focus on the outside of the arena, it's Katniss POV", then you got all those cutting scenes with Snow and Plutarch's POV. So I don't see how they could not insert the district's POV of the arena "show" reacting to Katniss being put under fire as Rebellion is catching fire in parallel.(See what I did there). Hell, that would have been more powerful to see an alternate editing of Katniss being lifted up to the sky after shooting the dome as we see a barricade fight in District 13 with Gale leading the rebels in the name of Katniss when people think she sacrificed herself to destroy the arena as a way to give them the ultimate signal to take over the Capitol (ROTK-like).

 

If you wanna focus on Katniss's POV, you just stay with her during the arena as she discovers all by herself the traps, you don't cut to Plutarch giving orders and scheming with Snow to sap all the suspense. But once you cut from Katniss subjective POV to the behind-the-scenes POV, you open Pandora's box for an omniscient POV. So there's nothing that forbid to cut in one of the District's POV, just show them watching what is happening inside at least (i.e. Katniss real lover and family which are tied to her emotionally more than Plutarch and Snow)

 

Especially when the point of the movie is to tell Katniss that it is not about herself only but the whole country of Panem is at stakes leading a battle in a much bigger arena, that would have been totally adequate to see how much poor people put faith in her during those games. Putting that completely off-screen diminish the connection and this Quarter Quell seems to be playing in a fish bowl totally disconnected from the world with only Snow and Plutarch as spectators that are also the schemers of all this. The arena sequence lacked a third person POV like Gale and Katniss's mum/sister reacting to the trials Katniss is enduring inside as they struggle to survive outside.

 

(It's just like in TDKR when the city was under siege, you didn't really see John Doe Gotham citizen react at all but just a bunch of cops in what seemed a cold empty city even if Nolan hit your head how much Batman wants to give the common people of Gotham hope and the fire to stand all by themselves).

Edited December 4, 2013 by dashrendar44

[JohnnyGossamer]

They didn't hide that stuff for the twist. They hid it because it's supposed to be only what Katniss knows/sees. Just like the books. It's her POV. The few asides they added (Snow/Plutarch, Gale) were only because they were still directly about Katniss.I'm sure the responses will be along the lines of "well they are allowed to stray from the books & should've." Which is all well and good, but I'm just explaining why they did it that way.

Your point's valid, but I'd have preferred they either went entirely from the POV of Katniss or more asides. Kind of didn't make much of a choice. And, I agree, when it ended, I'd kept wishing they'd shown me all of more interesting happenings. All of which, seemingly happened off screen. Which, in turn, made the scripted games even less engaging than I already thought they were... 

 

And, to Dash, felt exactly the same about Reloaded/Catching Fire. That said, I felt Reloaded was more up front about Neo being a pawn. I felt Reloaded, at least, delivered a harrowing action beat or two. I felt Reloaded was a more satisfying film aesthetically. And, with all that said, I didn't really enjoy Reloaded very much. But, at this juncture in the story, Katniss is an even more impotent pawn than Neo or, even say, Harry Potter. She's also has a less intriguing backstory (in the films at least). She's also less talented. And, such being, the film follows POV, by and large, of a less than compelling character. So... For my tastes, it's pretty boring.

[Sam]

Yeah, as much as I think Jennifer Lawrence did a wonderful job as Katniss, I've never thought of Katniss as a heroine figure in the veins of Ellen Ripley or Sarah Connor. That's not downplaying her, it's just the way her characteristics/personalities are written and portrayed. In the context of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, I think it mostly works.

 

But for me personally, in a sense, reading the series, I have never really considered Katniss a "hero". Least of all in Mockingjay, where she was pretty much turned into an empty, controlled symbol; a propaganda figure to be exact (probably the biggest reason why Mockingjay just doesn't work for me). I'm curious how they'll handle that particularly weak aspect of the book in the two movies coming up.

Edited December 5, 2013 by Sam

[jb007]

Completely disappointing. Pointless and joyless venture. 20 Minutes of story packed into two and half hours. Hated the first one. Watched  this only because my daughter wanted to watch it. As far as I am concerned THG 1 and 2 are the worst big movies I have seen since Spiderman 3.

 

 

D 

[K1stpierre]

Completely disappointing. Pointless and joyless venture. 20 Minutes of story packed into two and half hours. Hated the first one. Watched  this only because my daughter wanted to watch it. As far as I am concerned THG 1 and 2 are the worst big movies I have seen since Spiderman 3.

 

 

D 

 

 

 

 

[redfirebird2008]

Good movie, but not an all-time great. Solid B.

[friendofnarnia]

Box Office Forum Rotten Tomato Score: 94%

[Dark 33Legend of the Sith]

Awesome movie.

 

It went from a merely entertaining first movie to a franchise with style, emotion, and very high stakes.  I don't need to echo everything that has been said, But the ending was fantastic and I just LOVED the death stare Katniss gave Snow.

 

A-

[RobinHood26]

Box Office Forum Rotten Tomato Score: 94%

 

Looks like im spot on. 

[ChD]

The arena is very forgettable. Anything before the arena was extremely well handled. That's why I'm looking forward to MJ1 and 2.

 

There's no arena in those movies, or is there? 

[K1stpierre]

The arena is very forgettable. Anything before the arena was extremely well handled. That's why I'm looking forward to MJ1 and 2.

 

There's no arena in those movies, or is there? 

Nope, there is no more arena (for real this time!)

[ChD]

Nope, there is no more arena (for real this time!)

 

That calls for celebration.