THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE – Francis Lawrence

Now that the big summer blockbusters are behind us, we have the holiday season to look forward to. Along with that comes your Family films, Holiday-themed, Oscar contenders, and a few more box office blockbusters to wrap up the year with. One of those is the first of the season, The Hunger games: catching fire. This is the sequel to the mega-box office hit, The Hunger games which came out in 2012 and based on the World-Wide Best-Selling book trilogy of the same name.

The Hunger games: catching fire takes place soon after the events of the first film, The Hunger games. Now that Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and her Games partner Peeta (Josh Hutchenson), are big celebrities now, they are required to go on a Victor’s Tour which takes them to all of the different Districts. It is on this tour they must not only promote their win, but also themselves. In particular, their love for each other. This, of course is all a lie because Katniss’s heart is for another and that she and Peeta only did what they had to do to survive the Hunger Games. However, President Snow is not convinced by their “false love” and believes that it has caused an uprising..a rebellion on the horizon in the Districts of Panem. After having a meeting with Katniss, Snow decides for the 75th Hunger Games he is having a “Quarter Quell”. This means every 25 years he can change the Games up a bit and this year he has all past winners of the Hunger Games come together for one big showdown. This causes the stakes to rise and put’s the fear in both Katniss and Peeta. However, their trainer, Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), is a past Games winner as well. Katniss makes Haymitch promise that no matter what, he must keep Peeta alive and at any cost.

As the new “Quarter Quell Edition” of the Hunger Games begin, the Victor’s find themselves in a whole new arena full of jungles, water, monkey’s, and other obstacles to overcome besides trying to survive against each other. Haymitch advises them that the only way to survive is to make allies and to remember who the real enemy is. However, in the arena, not everyone is on the same side or have the same belief’s as Katniss and her rebellion. It’s not a matter of, Who survive’s till the end this time around, but how the game plays out and the actions that may or may not take place that will set up the possible downfall of President Snow and his Hunger Games. To find out how all this plays out, I highly recommend The Hunger games: catching fire.

With the Harry Potter series and Twilight series over with, the box office and movie goers needed a new book adapted series to follow that was just as exciting, action-packed, and romantic as the previous series and that is what they’ve received with The Hunger Games. I enjoyed the first film last year very much and I enjoyed this one just as much. It is very hard to do a sequel to a box office hit and be equal to or better than it’s predecessor, but in this case it was. All the original cast has returned including Woody Harrelson, Lenny Kravitz, Elizabeth Banks, Donald Sutherland, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci, and Toby Jones along with some new comers to the series. The story is solid, the acting very dramatic, bigger set’s, exotic locations, and better F/X as well. This is an edge-of-your-seat film that leaves you wanting more. And you will get more next year with the third film in the series, The Hunger games: Mockingjay is released in 2014. So, take a break from holiday shopping and enjoy this equally enjoyable sequel and “may the odds always be in your favor”.