Movie review: Catching Fire (no spoilers)
I'm really getting stoked about this series. There's a lot of things I've been stoked about recently - Game of Thrones, Sherlock, The Hobbit, MBU, Mind/Body Health, and so on, but the Hunger Games series can be added to that list. I liked the first movie a lot, but aside from being an adventure movie with a female protagonist (way cool!), I wasn't entirely taken in by it. Then I saw there was a second movie and I really started to think about the world, the characters, and the overall plot. I'd heard that Katniss was supposedly the center of a rebellion against the corrupt government. You can't tell that from the first movie, but you can in the second. The ball gets rolling. It's awesome.
Another thing about the first movie I wasn't sure about - the uneasy love triangle between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale. I left the first movie being unsure of Katniss' feelings for Peeta (or Gale). I couldn't tell if she wanted it both ways (and actually, that was my opinion, that she ought to marry both of them and live happily ever after), if she couldn't make up her mind, or if she was swearing off relationships entirely and just didn't have the heart to tell the guys. Catching Fire clarifies. It elaborates. It explains. I love it!
Since I titled this 'no spoilers', I won't go into any detail beyond that.
I've bought the book series because my son said he'd be willing to read it. He's progressing glacially through it and anyway, my official book-reading time at work (aka lunch) is going to remain consumed by Mind/Body Health for a while longer. So in the meantime, I'm going to see if I can download it as an audiobook and make it my next listen after Game of Thrones.
But back to the movie - it's gorgeous, same awesome characters, just as brilliantly acted. I was thrilled to see some development on a few of the shallower characters from last time (Effie gets a lot of depth) and as I think I've already alluded to, it was exactly what I wanted to see the other districts and how they were responding to the oppression of the Capital.
I loved it. Wouldn't mind seeing it again. It was great.
Another thing about the first movie I wasn't sure about - the uneasy love triangle between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale. I left the first movie being unsure of Katniss' feelings for Peeta (or Gale). I couldn't tell if she wanted it both ways (and actually, that was my opinion, that she ought to marry both of them and live happily ever after), if she couldn't make up her mind, or if she was swearing off relationships entirely and just didn't have the heart to tell the guys. Catching Fire clarifies. It elaborates. It explains. I love it!
Since I titled this 'no spoilers', I won't go into any detail beyond that.
I've bought the book series because my son said he'd be willing to read it. He's progressing glacially through it and anyway, my official book-reading time at work (aka lunch) is going to remain consumed by Mind/Body Health for a while longer. So in the meantime, I'm going to see if I can download it as an audiobook and make it my next listen after Game of Thrones.
But back to the movie - it's gorgeous, same awesome characters, just as brilliantly acted. I was thrilled to see some development on a few of the shallower characters from last time (Effie gets a lot of depth) and as I think I've already alluded to, it was exactly what I wanted to see the other districts and how they were responding to the oppression of the Capital.
I loved it. Wouldn't mind seeing it again. It was great.