Catching fire catches our attentionBY MERRITT ANDERSON ON DECEMBER 19, 2013
Welcome, Welcome to the second official movie of the Hunger Games series. “Catching Fire” was a movie that almost everyone was excited about. The gripping books have caught many a fan in their grasp, and with the success of the first movie it was no secret that the second would be just as successful as well. I received my copy of People Magazine’s special on “Catching Fire” two weeks before the premiere, and from that second on, I was brought back into the world of Panem, craving to put myself in every characters’ shoes. I was more excited than a kid on Christmas morning awaiting the premiere of this movie.
“The Hunger Games,” the first movie, was good but left out a few key details from the book. Though “Catching Fire” leaves out a few things, for the most part it sticks to the storyline and details of the book much better than the first movie did. The second movie has a new director which probably has a large part to do with the changes in this movie making it even more exhilarating. Everything about the second movie is just a better version of the first one. The outfits are better, the acting is better, the props are better, just everything. After the first movie, people became attached to the characters. The story makes you feel like you really know the characters, making you want everything to go well for them. With an evil president on Katniss’s back, it is hard for us to see the happy ending that we want for her. She has just lived through the 74th Hunger Games and brought out the “love of her life” with her. All she wanted to do was save Peeta, but that’s not how the rest of Panem sees it. By defying the Capitol and defeating the games in a way that she shouldn’t have, she’s not only put herself in danger, but her family and friends as well. The movie begins with Katniss and Gale hunting like they used to before Katniss’s life got turned upside down. Though they are both soon awakened from the familiar dream because it is time for the Victory Tour that each winner of the Hunger Games from the year before goes on. They must visit every district and finish up in the Capitol where they party pretending that the death of 23 other people is not the reason they are there. With the Victory Tour here, it means that Katniss and Peeta have to begin acting like they’re head over heels for each other once again. They’ve barely talked since their return from the games, and now they have to make everyone in the country believe that they’ve been wrapped up in each other since the day they got back. Some citizens of the country have already decided that Katniss is the symbol of an uprising, and uprise they do. President Snow cannot have Katniss coming off as such a powerful influence, so to show the country that even the strongest aren’t enough to take over the Capitol, he sends the past victors into the games once again. That’s not the deal. Once you win the games you’re supposed to never be called to go back. You’re supposed to be free for life, free from the all of the horrors and death it brings. This plot twist grabs the audience’s heart. The movie is so gripping and consuming that it makes you feel for the characters, and knowing that poor Katniss has to go back is a tear jerker to say the least. From that point on, the movie continues to make you feel so many different emotions. There are many twist and turn that keep you hoping for the best possible outcome, but never receiving it. Until the end...something happens that will change the course of the series and the country of Panem forever. You may be confused at the end, but just try to wrap your mind around it. I guarantee that anyone who goes to see this movie will leave feeling like they were in it themselves. The storyline, characters and realness of it all are more than enough to have you hooked if the first movie didn’t already. HTML Comment Box is loading comments...
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