Catching Fire|Film Review

Title: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Genre: Dystopia

My Star Rating: ★★★★★

About five minutes ago I finished watching Catching Fire for the second time and once again I was blown away by how amazingly well it had been made. After the success of the first film Catching Fire had been given a much bigger budget than The Hunger Games and it really showed. The CGI was better and the editing was much less shaky. The detail put into the film was astonishing and I'm glad they kept it so faithful to the books.
Although at points it was very serious there were also some hilarious moments, particularly those involving Haymitch or Effie. His problem with alcohol was made clear in the books and Effie had some great moments. I loved the reaping scene when Effie reached into the bowl to pick out a name and they made a really big deal of showing us there was only one name. I have to congratulate the actress on her brilliant acting in that scene it was perfect, with Effie wearing her plastered smile but at the same time you could see a deep sadness showing through.
I was disappointed that at the party scene in though capitol when Katniss was speaking with Plutarch that he didn't flash her his watch as many people felt that was an important scene in the book.
Johanna Mason was portrayed perfectly, the scene in the lift when she strips off was done so well. Jennifer's face when she started taking off her clothes was absolute quality. Johanna showed really aggression and anger towards the capitol and wasn't afraid of letting the world know how she felt.
I remember when I went to see the film with my friends when it first came out, it was such a great experience, we would gasp at the intense moments we'd only ever seen written down and laughed together at moments when Katniss would do something so clever to defy the capitol.
The scene were Katniss and Peeta went out on the cart together in the opening ceremony was the bit we had all been waiting for. I can remember crossing my fingers hoping beyond hope that they had improved the crappy fire CGI that had been in the previous film and of course they delivered. Although it was still unrealistic it looked a million times more impressive. I loved the way it was all over their clothes and not just trailing behind them and the it went right up to the camera lenses looked magnificent!
I think it's amazing that as such a huge fan of the book I can only think of two tiny things I would have changed about this film and they are such small things that would barley make a difference. It is difficult to get over quite how good this film was and if you haven't already seen it would suggest picking up a DVD as soon as possible.
Love Always,
Freya