Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) is still recovering from the
74th Hunger Games when she and Peeta (Mark Hutcherson) go on tour of the 12
Districts of Panem. She is visited by President Snow (Donald Sutherland)
at the Victors Village
in District 12 and he urges her to play up the romance between her and Peeta or
her family (and loved ones) will be killed. The tour of the Districts
shows people rising up against the Capitol as they see Katniss as a
symbol of hope and rebellion. Soon Katniss and Peeta are thrown into
the third Quarter Quell for the 75th Hunger Games as President Snow is looking
for a way to rid Panem of what the Victors stand for.
CATCHING FIRE is a worthy follow up to THE HUNGER GAMES as
Francis Lawrence puts his own mark on the sequel as a director (he will be back
to direct Part 1 and 2 of MOCKINGJAY). The story is expanded as it
explores the emotional side of the characters and the politics of
Panem. Jennifer Lawrence is great as Katniss again while Josh Hutcherson
is a little better as Peeta this time while Liam Hemsworth gets the short shaft
again for his character Gale, but they do feature Prim's cat a little
bit more this time. Also Jena Malone is fantastic as Johanna Mason for
the screen time the character has in CATCHING FIRE and she impresses
me more than Sam Claflin as Finnick Odair (who I am more impressed with in the
book than the movie). I would definitely want to see CATCHING FIRE again
and revisit THE HUNGER GAMES on Blu-ray.
CATCHING FIRE is one of the better adaptations of a book and
I hope they keep it up as they adapt MOCKINGJAY into two movies (and not flat
in some places like when Summit
split BREAKING DAWN into two movies). The adaptation of CATCHING FIRE
hits the right beats in the story even though they again rush the first part of
the story like they did with the adaptation of THE HUNGER GAMES. This sequel is
on fire as one of the best book to film adaptations I have ever seen.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Audio commentary with director Francis Lawrence and producer
Nina Jacobson
SURVIVING THE GAME: MAKING THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE
(2:24:00)- an extensive making-of documentary (exclusive to the blu-ray disc)
that feature interviews with cast and crew with loads of behind-the-scenes
footage, clips from the first two movies, and animatics. Director Francis
Lawrence wanted to shoot as
much practical elements as he could and use the visual effects to enhance the
world.
A NEW KIND OF HUNGER: CONTINUING THE SAGA- getting a new
director to carry on the saga after the director of the first HUNGER GAMES decides
not to return
VISUAL VOCABULARY: BUILDING A WORLD- a look at the
production design of CATCHING FIRE
STIRRING THINGS UP: THE CAST- all about the cast old
and
new. Jennifer Lawrence remarks how she
likes having a girl to hang with (Jenna Malone) and how she is glad her
co-stars have new actors to work with in addition to much love for Phillip
Seymour Hoffman.
FASHION FORWARD: COSTUME, MAKE-UP & HAIR- a look at the
costumes of CATCHING FIRE as done by the same costume designer involved in the
David Fincher adaptation of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO in addition to a
look at the hair and make-up (with make-up headed up by Ve Neill who features
in some interviews during this segment)
LET IT FLY: PRODUCTION IN ATLANTA- behind-the-scenes
of the
production in Atlanta as they transform Atlanta to look like the Capitol and
deal with train noise and creating a circular pool in a water park (which had
cold water and the actors didn’t love being in that water).
MOVE AND COUNTERMOVES: STUNTS & WEAPONS- a behind-the-scenes
look at the stunts and weapons. They
digitally created the arrows and had Jennifer Lawrence practice shooting
without an imaginary arrow
TICK TOCK: PRODUCTION IN HAWAII- behind-the-scenes in Hawaii
THREADING THE NEEDLE: POST-PRODUCTION- a detailed look at
the post-production process from editing to sound effects to the music score
from James Newton Howard
THE REVOLUTION LIVES: REFLECTIONS & LOOKING FORWARD-
cast and crew reflect on CATCHING FIRE and look towards working on MOCKINGJAY.
Five deleted scenes cut for pacing, but
the scene with talk
of the Jabberjays is interesting.
The Divergent Sneak
Peak is a six minute promo
featurette with clips, behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with cast,
crew, and author Veronica Roth. A
trailer for DIVERGENT is marked as mandatory viewing the disc starts
playing. The only things missing from
the blu-ray and DVD discs are the theatrical trailers and TV spots.
The movie is also included on DVD in standard definition
with all extras except the making-of documentary. A code for an ultraviolet
HD copy of the
film is also included for streaming and download.
Exclusive to Target stores is a three disc edition with a
bonus disc that includes three featurettes:
THE ALLIANCE:
RETURNING CAST (14:27)- interviews
with the cast returning from the first movie
FRIEND OR FOE: NEW CAST (18:24)-
interviews with the various new cast in CATCHING FIRE
ONE VISION: FAITHFUL ADAPTATION (12:37)-
discussion on how to make CATCHING FIRE be
faithful to the books in addition to discussion of the first two movies
FINAL ANALYSIS:
CATCHING FIRE blu-ray has great picture and sound for a sequel that is
even better than the first film. The
making-of documentary is the best extra on the blu-ray and the Target disc
featurettes are of better caliber than the bonus featurettes for the first
bonus disc that came with THE HUNGER GAMES.
I hope they finally include the trailers and TV spots with future
releases in THE HUNGER GAMES series.
This review
is (c)11-24-2013
and 3-9-2014 David Blackwell
and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments and
questions to feedback@enterline-media.com
