The other DrC and I saw the second Hunger Games film last night, subtitled Catching Fire. We've listened to the three Hunger Games books on CD, and enjoyed the first film so we saw the second film in a theater.
No question the film is a Jennifer Lawrence tour de force; critics have panned Josh Hutcherson for not making more of his Peeta character in this film - I think they are wrong. His part in this film simply isn't written as big as hers - the film is about Katniss after all - but Josh does Peeta very well.
The supporting actors have much of the fun in Catching Fire. Without engaging in spoilers, know that Stanley Tucci is even more smarmy in his reprise of the Caesar Flickerman role. Donald Sutherland invests the President Snow character with a world of quiet menace and malice. This time out Elizabeth Banks makes the Effie Trinket role more human, less brittle than in the first film - but every bit as gaudy.
There were at least two places in Catching Fire that gave me a chill. One was a dramatic piece of action, another was pure symbolism, and no, I won't describe them here.
If I have a criticism of Catching Fire, it is that the film suggests a budding romance between Katniss and Gale much more so than the books ever did. I guess that's just Hollywood.
The film shares with the Harry Potter films a feeling that, if you've not read the books before seeing the film, a number of subtle allusions made on-screen will pass by unremarked, unnoticed. Think of these, I suppose, as shorthand communications between the director and fan viewers.
