So the director and the star have the same last name, hmmm. How conveeeeenient. Yeah, I don’t see this ‘Jennifer Lawrence’ making it on her own, do you?
“Remember who the real enemy is.” Oooohh, is it Peeta? Haymitch? Ummmm, Vin Diesel? Garden gnomes? The critics? That enigmatic bit of Yoda-constructed language is the key theme in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Without it, we would surely be aware this film is nothing but a sequel.
Sourpuss Katniss (Lawrence) gets back from hunting/smooching with Gale (Liam Hemsworth – yes, he’s Thor’s brother) to find the President is in her living room. Even in a society as sparsely populated as Panem, finding a President in your house is still kind of a big deal. President Snow (Donald Sutherland) doesn’t do friendly. He has people executed. Wonder if he’s still pissed about the last Hunger Games? Um … 
that’s a big 10-4. Kinda hard to play that one, I imagine. “Hey, President Snow, uh, how’s it going? So … that time we defied the Capitol and failed to die in the Games designed to kill children … um, we good?” In a fictional dystopia, even the smallest act of defiance can lead to uprising and Snow sees the danger. He responds to the unasked sentiment above with, “You fought very hard in the Games, Miss Everdeen. But they were games. Would you like to be in a real war?” Does that statement strike anybody else as a tad condescending? Oh? You mean there’s something worse than making a televised spectacle of making children fight to the death? There is, of course – the death of everybody Katniss knows. District 12 is rathole, sure, but it’s her rathole.
Catching Fire does a fantastic job in placing the focus where it ought to be –as a conflict with oppressive government. It is all too easy to lose that in the minutiae of the horror. In the first film, we saw mostly minutiae. Katniss was so busy trying to save her own skin, we forget why she has to kill teenagers. Then we threw in a subplot “love story” with everybody’s favorite carb, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson). To open Catching Fire, Snow gives Katniss an obligation to play Capitol toadie. Let’s face it – Katniss don’t roll that way. Exactly one train ride later, we know the Mockingjay has to return to the Games.
One could argue everything in this film is a statement condemning oppressive societies or ones that veer in that direction. And yet, it’s the smaller inclusions that make the film. At a certain point we’re introduced to several of the past Hunger Games champions. I wanted to stop the film at point. I want to know more about their victories. I want to know if any of them suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. How can they not? Call me morbid, but I think this is a ton more interesting than another chapter from Wolverine’s youth. I was also 
happier with Katniss’ boy toy fun in this film. Yes, she loves Gale, but it isn’t clear until now that Peeta is better for her. I tend to identify with Gale, hence, I didn’t really expect that.
Catching Fire is two-and-a-half hours long, but never feels slow. If you’ve been following along, there’s always something on screen to catch your attention. It’s a sci-fi, so of course there are things that bother me – Katniss’ endless quiver for one. The mathematician in me can’t get around the selection portion. Asked to choose a full gender representative set from every district comprised entire among previous champions, how are you gonna get a full complement of 24? There are 75 previous champions. Even assuming equal district likelihood of victory, equal sex likelihood of victory, all previous victors are still alive and capable of participation (none of which are good assumptions, btw), the odds of full representation? Not in your favor.
♪I’m riding in her [chariot] car
Through a stadium glow
I’m trying to get close
She just says no
I say I don’t care
But you know I’m a liar
cause when she spins
ooooooo fire♫
Rated PG-13, 146 Minutes
D: Francis Lawrence
W: Simon Beaufoy, Michael Arndt
Genre: Fighting THE MAN
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Adolescent archery fanatics
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: THE MAN
♪Parody inspired by “Fire”
