I actually dreamed, at least vague, about my expectations
for “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”. The tributes were to go through two
stages of initiation in the dream, with the second stage testing “worthiness”. It was a Spartan exercise, one of “taking one
for the team”. I had forgotten enough of
the first film to dismiss the idea that the tributes have to form temporary
alliances (or teams) to survive temporarily, only to turn on one another so
that there is only one last person standing.
My own setting, in one of my screenplay drafts, expresses the idea that
the “captive” gets to decide which of his “captors” are really angels and will
live forever. There can be more than
one.
That’s not Suzanne Collin’s premise, though. I thought that the film was somewhat a
retread of the furst one, with some more ideas.
The bullet train seems like the only transportation going, and it rather
resembles Dagney Taggart’s creation in “Atlas Shrugged”. With the districts ground down by so much fascism, there are few “roadside
attractions”. The 75th
anniversary games, celebrating the control of the state, pits all the previous
winners against one another. Only one can survive.
The film has some good ideas, borrowed from other
films. There is the “Dome”, which gets
blown open (I don’t know if that happens in Stephen King’s novel), and there
are “The Birds”. But all the monsters
(including the orangutans) and “will of the wisp”, and the boils they create –
all of these are holograms. Of, a bridal
gown translates into a “Black Swan” outfit. So are the fires that gladiators
wear on their armor. There are no burns,
no scarring.
In an early scene, President Snow (Donald Sutherland)
explains to Katriss (Jennifer Lawrence) how appearances of power and heroism
have to be maintained to manipulate the proletariat, lest it rebel. Katriss asks, doesn’t your fear of rebellion
show that you are weak? Authoritarian
leaders don’t see things that way.
There’s also a lot of talk about family members sacrificing
themselves, and of the candidates having to “protect” their families and
elders.
Josh Hutcherson, as Peeta, is likable and sincere as a “husband”,
but looks underwhelming for the role. Liam Hemsworth is more robust as Gale,
and Sam Clafkin is appropriately foppish as Odair. It’s a treat to see both Toby Jones and
Philip Seymour Hoffman in the same film (it’s easy to confuse them), and Woody
Harrelson, as Abernathy, comes right out of the world of Oliver Stone. Stanley
Tucci comes across as a caricature of Bert Parks.
The film was released in “4-D”, with odors and quakes, in a
few theaters. Does that include 3-D?
Directed by Francis Lawrence, this film is the second in
Lionsgate’s biggest franchise ever (or set of biggest films ever). Nobody calls this simply "The Hunger Games II" (except me).
The official site is here.
I saw this on a Monday night before a 2/3 full large
auditorium at the Angelika Mosaic in Merrifield VA. When I arrived the elevator
didn’t work and the escalator went the wrong way. It’s about thirty steps.
Yes, the pictures are mine (not from the film). Guess where I took them.
No comments:
Post a Comment