Brandon Noyes
The movie Catching Fire takes place one year after Katniss Everdeen’s victory in the 74th annual Hunger Games, and she is faced with a difficult task: convincing the districts that her final act in the last hunger games was an act of love, not one of defiance.
First, some background. In the book The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (John Hutcherson) are sent to compete, but in an act of either defiance or love, they both survive.
In the movie Catching Fire, Katniss is sent into the games again, as part of a “Quarter Quell”, a special variant of the Hunger Games that happens every 25 years. This Quarter Quell happens to be sending former victors to the Hunger Games.
For those of you who read the book, the movie is a surprisingly accurate representation of the book. Only a few minor details used for foreshadowing in the book were left out, and some explanations from the book are left out.
The CGI and acting overall was better in Catching Fire than in The Hunger Games, brining each character and scene to life perfectly. The issue of Katniss looking older than she is in the book still stands, however because the rest of the tributes are supposed to be older, everyone else looks age-appropriate.
Furthermore, the movie assumes you have either watched or read The Hunger Games, so without the background knowledge that story provides, the movie will most likely confuse you to no ends.
Despite allof the criticisms, Catching Fire still remains a thrilling movie with top-notch acting and special effects, guaranteed to entertain throughout its entire 2 hour 26 minute runtime.
