I’ve been a little short on movie-watching last year and I’m starting to catch up. First, it was The Hobbit and yesterday was time for another big sequel: The Hunger Games: Catching fire.
The premise of a Survivor style deathmatch where regular people have to fight to the death is very interesting. There’s so much potential for suspense, action, drama, betrayal, etc. And I was not disappointed in The Hunger Games: Catching fire. Sure, they left out a few moments from the book, but the visuals were fantastic and the cast was great with both old and new blood, including Woody Harrelson as Katniss and Peeta’s mentor, Sam Claflin as the charming Finnick Odair and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the imaginative new games master. Donald Sutherland returns as the villainous President Snow, his soft spoken exterior concealing his brutal nature.The weakest part for me is the attempted love triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale. It pales in comparison to the wider struggle of the story and is perhaps wisely downplayed. However, I enjoyed the arena and the new tributes immensely.
All in all, a great entertaining sequel. Can’t wait for the Mockingjay!
Manon's maze 
I really enjoyed these books, and even taught The Hunger Games in one of my classes. Your review is spot-on, and yes, the movie, Mockingjay, is likely to be very good! I will reread the book closer to its release in the theaters.
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Teaching modern literature sounds amazing! I’m planing on rereading the books too. I love to find new things in the works I’ve enjoyed.
P.S. Glad you liked my review 🙂
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Not seen it yet, looks good
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I liked it a lot. Please do share your thoughts if you get to watch it 🙂
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Will do 🙂
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Hunger Games is a definite in my top ten list of best movies, I must read the book now that am back in the book reading phase it must be breath taking!!!
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The book is better than the movie..as always..so enjoy the journey 🙂 And thanks for commenting!
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Great review. I wonder why ‘The Hobbit’ was such a let down though. Any thoughts on that?
Shakti
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I kind of liked “The Hobbit”. Sure, it exaggerates the true story, but it was lots of fun. And I missed Tolkien’s world, so maybe it was a guilty pleasure for me 🙂
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Saw both The Hobbit and Catching Fire over Christmas. The Hobbit was a letdown for me because it was the most obviously padded out from bits of Lord of The Rings and the appendices and Orlando Bloom was pretty unnecessary.
Catching Fire was brilliant and I’m going to say something as an English teacher that is damn near blasphemy: I think I liked the film better. Don’t get me wrong. The story was great and I was hooked on the books, but I was still very conscious of the fact that at points, it reminded me of a well-written student story, very descriptive, unsubtle, and a bit clunky. The film is none of these things.
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I enjoyed the Hobbit but that is because I knew what to expect as I saw it very recently.
As to Catching fire, I like your point f view. I read the trilogy all in one gulp and I enjoyed it immensely. However, If I take my time I have the feeling I’ll be on the same page with you.
Thanks for sharing your views 🙂
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Definitely a movie worth seeing.
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Couldn’t agree more 🙂
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