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| No that's not a scene from Black Swan. It's the latest Hunger Games. Notice the guy in the corner with the purple hair? |
The film picks up with Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) back in
district 12, living in the Victor’s Village alongside drunken mentor Haymitch
(Woody Harrelson) and fellow tribute Peeta (Josh Hutcherson). She’s dealing
with post-traumatic stress disorder and she barely even looks Peeta’s way
following the events of the first film, but things are mostly going OK
– her mom and sister are safe and living in luxury with her, and she’s getting
pretty cozy with long-time friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth).
But, her defiant gestures from her time in the arena have
bred hope of uprising within many of the districts. President Snow (Donald
Sutherland) isn’t happy with her, and now she has to go on her victor’s tour during which she’ll have to confront the emotional fallout of her time in the arena with
Peeta. Even worse, Snow threatens the lives of Katniss’s loved ones, implying
he’ll do some pretty nasty things unless she sells the love story rouse believably
enough to discredits herself as an instigator and symbol of rebellion.
Needless to say, that doesn’t go over well, causing
President Snow to be all “I’m going to kill this chick.” But “Hey, not so
fast,” says Plutarch Heavensbee (Phillip Seymour Hoffman, brining the same icy
calm and confidence he displayed in Mission
Impossible 3), the man who took over as Gamesmaker after the last one was killed
for getting Snow into this predicament in the first place. Heavensbee argues
killing her outright would only make Katniss a martyr; instead, he suggests a
plot that would have her return to the arena in a sort of Hunger Games: All-Stars
Edition, pitting her against 23 former winners. He promises her death in a way
that will invalidate her as symbol, while also offering the added bonus of
eliminating 22 other victors, all of whom now pose a threat due to the hope
they instill within the districts of Panem.
There’s plenty of interesting metaphorical subtext in all of
this, particularly related to the way our society disenfranchises the lower
class while placating them with false hopes and trivial preoccupations. I get that it’s easy to label all sorts of movies as allegories
for the Occupy Movement, especially those with dystopian futures (Elysium, In
Time, etc.) but there’s something that feels almost fresh about the way
this series focuses specifically on “hope” as a weapon used for both oppression
and revolution.
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| Katniss's defiance has inspired revolt throughout the other districts. |
As with Harry Potter’s
Christopher Columbus before him, writer-director Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit) has been unfairly maligned for his stewardship of the
franchise’s first film, with most detractors focusing on the negatives (most
specifically, his decision to go all shaky cam). But, it’s worth noting that
launching a franchise like this is nearly impossible. Occasionally a bad one succeeds
(Twilight) or a promising one fails (The Golden Compass), but young adult literature adaptations usually tend to be gross miscalculations along the
lines of Eragon, I Am Number Four and The Mortal
Instruments: City of Bones.
The fact that Ross delivered a hit, clearly established the
world in an accessible manner and nailed the tone and casting is a pretty
spectacular feat, and accomplishing all of that did a great deal of the heavy
lifting for this second outing. For my Phillies fans out there, he’s basically what
Ed Wade was to the 2008 championship – hamstrung by budgetary concerns and
remembered for his miscues, despite planting the seeds for greater achievement.
But just as Pat Gillick deserves a great deal of credit for
bringing a World Series trophy to Philadelphia, Francis Lawrence (Constantine, I am Legend) deserves his fair share for Catching Fire. A singular success along the lines of the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch,
and the Wardrobe is rare enough, but even rarer is a franchise like Harry Potter – one that not only
maintains a level of quality but continues to improve. Regardless of what you
think of his previous output overall, Lawrence is experienced with the genre
and a far more established visual stylist than Ross, and I think that makes a
world of difference. He wisely abandons the shaky cam, opting instead for
longer takes that make geographical sense of what’s happening while also
allowing the camera to linger on actor reactions and the improved aesthetic of
Panem.
Having most of the exposition out of the way is, as
predicted, a major boon for the film. With the world established, screen time
can instead be devoted to defining character moments. By necessity, the first
film is laser-focused on establishing Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and the rules
of the Games. The rest of cast did nice work, but all in support of
establishing the lead. Here, they are far more prominent.
To be clear, Katniss is still the undisputed focus of the
picture, and, Jennifer Lawrence remains the greatest asset this franchise has
going. As Katniss, she manages to be difficult, uncompromising and closed-off,
while still coming across as relatable, likable and desirable. It’s a great
role and an even more impressive performance, and at this point in her career,
Jennifer Lawrence is Hollywood’s Girl On Fire.
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| The bond between Katniss and Peeta is way better realized this time out. |
However, Hutcherson is probably the greatest beneficiary amongst the supporting cast. Dude’s practically playing a saint in these films, and that could become awfully annoying, but the script invests great effort into Peeta, and Hutcherson sells the character’s inherent decency and wealth of emotions. As opposed to the first film, which botched the presentation of the bond between Peeta and Katniss, this one gets it right by highlighting several moments that emphasize why this woman might fall for the meek, unassuming baker’s boy when she has a big, brooding coal miner/hunter waiting at home for her.
Twilight has shown this “Who will the girl choose?” crap can
be the worst, but this is a very thoughtful take on love triangles, one in
which obligation, affection and empathy take the
place of sneering and petty possessiveness. Peeta’s not the type a movie of this magnitude would normally pair with its heroine (as The
Onion hilariously explored and NPR
thoughtfully analyzed), but he has the capacity to comfort and understand
her, and, perhaps more importantly, to surprise her. One particular moment of
inspiration – having Katniss (and thus the viewer) actually see the picture Peeta
painted of Rue, and not just hear about it later on as she did in the novel.
As far as other changes between the book and the film, I’d
say the filmmakers make a lot of smart decisions here. It’s a shame to lose out
on the stuff related to Haymitch’s victory in the 50th Hunger Games
and the early scenes with Twill and Bonnie, two runaways that hint at District
13 still existing as a place of refuge, but neither was all that necessary.
Just like in the first film, the biggest alteration involves
repeated cutaways to Snow and his Gamemaker. Adding a granddaughter for Snow is a simple way to humanize the guy and further establish the fragile system
he operates, but more important are the scenes showing Heavensbee convincing
Snow to keep Katniss alive until the time is right to kill her.
One of my biggest problems with the book was the
hard-to-shake feeling that Snow’s plan seemed a little over complicated, that a
guy like him would probably just kill her, or, at the very least, her family.
This is especially true given the way he treats others in Panem and the way
Haymitch’s loved ones were dispatched with after his victory in the Games. These scenes
do a nice job offering explanation for this decision, while also providing a
bit more insight into the twist involving the rebellion’s daring plan to
extract Katniss from the arena unbeknownst to her (another thing that annoyed me in the book, but that makes sense here).
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| Donald Sutherland and Phillip Seymour Hoffman are both so good at acting. |
In the film, Heavensbee is shown to be a master puppet
master, pulling strings from the very beginning with designs to embarrass Snow
on live television and thus further spark rebellion. He’s the one who comes up
with the idea of doing a Hunger Games with past victors, and although you could
argue he only does that to buy Katniss time, I think there’s a lot more to it
than that (after all, the rebels could’ve just picked her up earlier in the
film if they were worried Snow would kill her).
Part of me likes this aspect – it implies that even the good
guys are ruthless in pursuit of their goals since they are willing to put
previous victors in harm’s way to galvanize the public – but part of me hates
it because of how densely elaborate the con turns out to be. It’s hard
to believe anyone could ever convince Snow to do all these things in this way, at least not if we're supposed to believe Snow is a cunning and worthy adversary.
Additionally, I imagine nonreaders were very confused by the
way the end is handled, specifically related to what the plan actually
involved. Obviously confusion is part of the point during the events within the
arena, but I think more work could’ve been put into explaining what exactly
happened once the film transitions to its denouement. A full on, Ocean’s 11
style reveal isn't necessary, but a few throwaway lines when
Katniss busts in on Heavensbee, Finnick and Haymitch would’ve gone a long way
toward providing clarification for the uninitiated.
