'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' Review

By Kartik Chainani 

            It’s not often that a sequel film has the ability to trump its predecessor, but with a much larger budget, a new director and a talent as unique as Jennifer Lawrence, it would seem “the odds were ever in their favor”. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire released only two weeks ago and has already shattered box office records. Not only soaring farther than the first installment of the series, Catching Fire set huge box office records over Thanksgiving weekend ($74.5 million Fri-Sun, $110.2 million Wed-Sun), even surpassing its 12-year previous record holder for this specific weekend, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Though not my favorite book of The Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire is without a doubt my favorite film of the series thus far. In this second installment, we’re transported back into the dystopian “future” world known as Panem to see what happens next in the story of Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence). By the end of the first film, we had witnessed Peeta and Katniss dominate the 74^th annual Hunger Games and fool the capitol (and somewhat themselves) into believing their love story. Their love story was of such popularity in the capitol that it forced the tyrant President Snow to allow two victors of the games for the first time in history.

President Snow (Don Sutherland) seemed to be the only one in the capitol not fooled by their love story, and his grudge on Katniss’ open defiance against him carries on in this film. He worries that this act of defiance against him and the capitol will spark an uprising among the districts and lead to a rebellion. Because of this, he warns Katniss to show her allegiance to the capitol in order to contain this fire. However, without giving out any spoilers, suffice to say things don’t go over as smoothly as he would hope.

The transformation that this film undergoes occurs in more ways than one. This film is bigger, sexier, funnier and much more action-packed than its forerunner.  With a new team of Oscar-winning writers, a well-reputed director, and a cast full of talented actors, Catching Fire delivers in full and is sure to be one of the best movies of the year.