The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – review

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is the follow up to The Hunger Games. Based on the book of the same name, the story is about rebellion and the effect the media has on people.  The acting is very good with a story that is pretty gripping.  For a sequel it well written with likable characters.

After surviving the 74^th Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, is told to go on tour with Peeta Mellark, played by Josh Hutcherson, to the other districts.  There they find that their actions from the previous hunger games are causing revolutions to spring up.  In order to make an example of the victors the President decides that the 75^th annual Hunger Games should be between the winners of the past years. Katniss and Peeta must once again fight in the Hunger Games, this time against other victors.

The acting in this movie is pretty good. Jennifer Lawrence is very good and always seems to try to make a character that is believable and likable.  Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks seem to be having a great time with their roles as well; both are over the top in a good way.  The cameos are great and seeing Jeffrey Wright in a role like this after his work in Boardwalk Empire is a fun change of pace. 

The story has a lot of action and is fairly well paced.  The groups of victors form allegiances that make a really interesting friendship dynamic that was missing in the last film. The thing that I found a bit annoying was that Peeta was in constant need of rescue. It gets a little silly how many times he needs to get helped by other people.  It also seems strange that if the President has no problem wiping out an entire district as a metaphoric middle finger to Katniss, you’d think the people would have run him out of town a long time ago.

As a whole, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is a good movie.  I would certainly recommend seeing the first movie before this one though.  It’s got a decent story, fun setting, and likable characters.  If you are in the mood for something different in the sci-fi department I recommend seeing this movie.