THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (6 out of 10) – Directed by Francis Lawrence; starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Donald Sutherland; rated PG-13 (intense sequences of violence and action, some frightening images, thematic elements, a suggestive situation and language); in general release; running time: 146 minutes.
Regardless of whether it was a blockbuster hit or not, there seems to be a consensus on one thing: The first of the “Hunger Games” movies actually got less interesting as the film went on.
To a certain degree, that movie’s first half brought up and discussed such weighty subjects as the current worldwide, socio-economic strife, the responsibility of community, the allure and downfalls of celebrity and the debate of what constitutes actual self-defense, among other things. Then it morphed into an orgy of (badly) digitally rendered action sequences directed into maximum incomprehensibility by a competent-enough filmmaker (Gary Ross, of “Pleasantville” and “Seabiscuit” fame) whose milieu was clearly not action movies.
Its follow-up, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” has a similar problem. Except this time around, things gets more interesting as it goes along. Admittedly, that’s not difficult, as the angsty, talky first hour of this best-selling, young-adult fiction adaptation nearly collapses under the sheer weight of some “Twilight”-lite romantic nonsense and clunky expositional “plot advancement.”
Much of that can be laid at the feet of the two credited screenwriters, Simon Beaufoy (“127 Hours,” “Slumdog Millionaire”) and Michael deBruyn (aka Michael Arndt, responsible for “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Oblivion”), who simply try to cram too much of Suzanne Collins’ book into the movie. They are bailed out to a degree by the cast and a filmmaker, Francis Lawrence, who has an established track record of making gold — or at least Pyrite — out of faulty film projects (“Constantine,” “I am Legend,” “Water for Elephants”) that probably shouldn’t be as good as they are.
Thanks to his assured direction and the still-intriguing premise at work, there are just enough requisite thrills and twists to please fans of the book and the first movie. That’s particularly true of the second half, which is where the futuristic adventure/action-thriller “Catching Fire” (excuse the pun) finally ignites.
Jennifer Lawrence (no relation to the director … that we know of) reprises her role as Katniss Everdeen, one of the lucky survivors/”victors” of the Hunger Games, a Battle Royale/Most Dangerous Game-style competition that is designed to quell rebellions in the poorer districts of Panem, as well as feed into the more voyeuristic “entertainment” tastes of Panem’s wealthy.
To ensure the well-being of her family, Katniss has been forced to participate in a Panem-wide “Victor’s Tour of the various districts. She’s also been forced to continue the ruse of her media-created “romance” with fellow Hunger Games survivor Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson).
While she’d rather run off with her childhood sweetheart, Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth, the boring Hemsworth), Panem President Snow (Donald Sutherland) has made not-too-subtle threats to get her to play along, though he’s secretly plotting to have her killed. His agent in this is Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a new “game designer.”
Plutarch has been brought in to plan something special for Games’ 75th anniversary, one in which past winners will be pitted against each other. Not too surprisingly, Katniss and Peeta have been selected to represent their district, and Plutarch promises these games will be more lethal for our heroes, particularly Katniss, who’s become a folk hero in some of the more rebellious “districts.”
Francis Lawrence excels in the Games portion of the film. Despite some dodgy CGI, the threats to the safety and lives of the main characters seem more real and more palpable. And he and his camera crews keep the whole thing in focus, so it doesn’t look as much like a “shaky-cam” video games as the first film’s action scenes did.
Since this is the middle “chapter” of this story, there is an air of inevitability to the whole thing, and the movie does ends in a “To Be Continued” manner that is a little unsatisfying and bothersome, especially when the movie runs a too-long, 2½ hours . And strangely, the usually dependable Lawrence (“X-Men: First Class”) is one of the least interesting things in the movie, at least at the onset. Again, you can blame the script, which reduces her character to whining, pining and sulking until the Games begin (she seems far more at home with the action than the dramatic parts).
The still-bland Hutcherson even seems a little annoyed by her, though that’s the weakness of material they’re given early on. So it’s no wonder that it’s much more enjoyable to watch their co-stars. Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks and newcomer Hoffman all seem to be having a good time, as do Jeffrey Wright, Jena Malone, Amanda Plummer and Sam Claflin, who play other, earlier games “winners” also forced into this new competition.
And, as he did in the first movie, character actor Stanley Tucci steals every scene he’s in, as a fake-tanned, ridiculously toupeed and tooth-whitened celebrity interviewer. (He’s clearly aping and spoofing the vacuous Ryan Seacrest and other reality-television program hosts.)
Jerk-bot, better known in human form as Jeff Michael Vice, can be heard reviewing films, television programs, comics, books, music and other things as part of The Geek Show Podcast (www.thegeekshowpodcast.com), as well as be seen reviewing films as part of Xfinity’s Big Movie Mouth-Off (www.facebook.com/BigMovieMouthOff).