The fire is back, and it is hotter than ever. Based off the worldwide best selling series, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire returns the audience to the dystopian country of Panem, where Katniss Everdeen is dealing with the after affects of the 74th Hunger Games while preparing to go on the Victory Tour with Peeta Mellark, who after discovering Katniss was pretending to love him for the cameras has become distant.When President Snow alerts Katniss to the trouble she has caused the Capitol and issues a threat on the lives of her and Peeta's families, the stakes are higher for them to convince the world they are in love and silence the desire of revolution in the districts. Their chance to escape the Capitol's wrath is destroyed, however, when the announcement for the 75th Hunger Games, the Quarter Quell, is given; that the tributes will be reaped from the existing pool of victors. Facing the arena a second time, Katniss's perspectives shift and she must decide if she is going to focus on only saving her family, or if she will become Panem's Mockingjay.
Within the recent decade, it has become the norm to have most movies made to be based off books. It is a way for Hollywood to see what does and does not work for the audience. So when these popular stories make it the big screen it is a wonder why so many tank in theaters. The creators of Catching Fire appear to have discovered the problem that many fans of these books have known all along, which is that they must follow the source material. There is a reason why the books are world renown, so the fact that movie adaptations deviate from it will be problematic for the fans who attend these movies and who make up a good portion of the audience. Catching Fire is a brilliant example of an adaptation honoring the source, following so close to it that those who are very familiar with the book will notice that most of the script is directly pulled from it. And so far with the positive response, it appears that's how fans want it.
The parts that are added to the film do not distract a lot from the original story, and the things that were taken out for time were very wise choices. Possibly the greatest thing missing is Peeta and Katniss's attempt at being friends. For those who have not read the books, they are deprived from seeing the strong attempt these two make to forming a good relationship while on the Victory Tour, while those who are familiar with the books know how much time Peeta and Katniss spent together and how much their relationship did change. But considering that the movie is already two and a half hours long, they probably didn't have a choice to include it.
Catching Fire is a thrill to watch and lays a beautiful transition into the final films. Hopefully, other movie companies who will be doing book to screen adaptations will follow this movie's example, because this is how it is done.
Sincerely,
The Night Owl
Love this!
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