‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ FFCC reviews
FFCC members review Catching Fire, the second film in Suzanne Collins’ popular The Hunger Games series.
Bill Gibron – Film Racket
“Managing the rare accomplishment of leaving you wanting more (and this after two and a half hours of overstuffed storytelling), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is the kind of experience you share with someone to explain away the franchise’s often unfathomable reputation. It offers up the best that Ms. Collins’ ideas have to offer without the young adult nonsense that stunted the first film. Yes, we still have to wade through the noxious love triangle between Katniss, Peeta, and District 12 hunky-meat Gale (Liam Hemsworth), but the script counteracts this adolescent attraction with the introduction of several new and intriguing characters as well as added depth to those individuals already established.”
Dan Hudak – Hudak On Hollywood (Review)
“While The Hunger Games (2012) was a decent start, its sequel, Catching Fire, is even better: Bigger and with more at stake, the film is a tense, emotional adventure that will leave fans clamoring for more.”
Jonathan Jacobs – Screen Spotlight
“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is on its own, non-comparatively, a movie that is exciting and emotionally-stirring. Comparatively speaking, it is nowhere near as entertaining as its predecessor and despite the avalanche of talent brought in to establish the gravitas of the whole Hunger Games premise, the movie feels like a thirteen year old girl’s dystopian wannabe dream-come-true.”
Steve Persall – Tampa Bay Times
“Not since Han Solo was encased in carbonite has the second stanza of a fantasy movie franchise left me cliff-hung like The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Never was that wild about Harry, Hobbits or Twihards, nor did I expect to be now. This is one sequel that doesn’t exist simply to bide time, or stretch profits and patience. Director Francis Lawrence’s movie feels like the natural momentum of hypernatural events, a coltish yarn maturing like its characters.”
Rene Rodriguez – The Miami Herald
“Catching Fire is a work of thoughtful, emotionally engaging sci-fi — everything that its predecessor The Hunger Games was not. Filmmaker Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend, Constantine), who took over the reins of the franchise from director Gary Ross, uses the same approach Alfonso Cuarón did when he elevated the Harry Potter series with The Prisoner of Azkaban. He doesn’t settle for just cutting and pasting Suzanne Collins’ novel onto film: Lawrence makes an actual movie, with characters who are much more than mirror reflections of the protagonists in the book.”
Ruben Rosario – Miami Sun Post
In a year filled with political noise about income inequality and the One Percent lashing out as what they might perceive as government overreach, it’s pretty heartening to see a piece of mainstream pop culture embracing imagery that strikes unmistakable parallels between Collins’ bruising make believe and the realities that many moviegoers who will be watching this film on opening weekend have to deal with outside the confines of the multiplex. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is far from perfect, but it ultimately confirms Mr. Lawrence as an efficient craftsman to finish telling the rest of Collins’ tale on the big screen.
