Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The success of Catching Fire is proof that when a film adaptation of a book is followed according to how the story was written many will be pleased. I may not have read the book, but my friends did and they loved the movie as much as I did. Not only was it a good adaptation, it was also a good movie. After leaving the theatre I wanted to run back and watch it the second time if only we weren’t so hungry since we skipped lunch for the 1pm screening. Prior to the meeting I received a text asking me if the movie date was a go. I immediately replied, “Yes, let’s meet an hour earlier so we can watch the movie ASAP. Watching the movie is an urgent matter.” That is because most of my friends watched the premier and so we were missing out as the hours ticked by. And in the words of my friend’s justification towards our fasting, “Dahil Hunger games panunorin natin kelangan hungry din tayong manunuod.” Because the movie was 1pm and we were there by 12nn and wanted nothing else but watch, we ended up eating lunch at 4pm in Brickfire which by the way served terrible steaks but satisfied my jalapeno stick craving.

I suppose what got me so much into the movie was that it reminded me of Final Fantasy VIII with the whole armies and artillery and military vibes and marching beats and costumes and the train—oh yes the train…just like Timber. They transported me into a world that I really liked staring at visually but dread to be a part of. It is because of this movie that I became a Jennifer Lawrence fan…and ended up watching hours of her interviews on YouTube. Now I know why Hollywood is in such buzz stalking her all over. She may talk a lot but she’s darn funny. You may get annoyed with her constant jabber but then she says sorry and then you’re back to loving her again. This is the first time I saw a Jennifer Lawrence movie wherein I watched it from start to end since I didn’t watch X-Men First Class, watched Hunger Games only on its last 30-mins, and chose to skip Silver Linings Playbook. After Catching Fire I scrambled to watch the movies and all her interviews. Now, I’ve watched two out of three and find nothing but admiration for the actress who seem to space out and include a gross topic in every show—she even talks about her uneven breasts! If Johnny Depp fits the role of Jack Sparrow like a glove, then J.Law fits the role of Katniss Everdeen like a pantyhose. Plus this is actually one of the few occasions that I am fangirling about the whole Peniss (Peeta-Katniss) romance because of Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson’s undeniable chemistry onscreen. If Bella had chosen Jason over Edward I’d probably just roll my eyes thinking, “that bitch!” But the thought of Katniss ending up with Gale would cause me to cry out, “injustice!” I used to find Josh irritating as he often lands the role of a whiney little brat and use his voice to annoy me, now we’re okay because I can watch him act and not roll my eyes. Liam…well…I’ve always found his big brother the hotter hunk so I won’t talk about him. Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth were awesome as Haymitch and Effie. Jena Malone made for a cool Johanna. Francis Lawrence…thank you! And the soundtrack was also spot-on.

I suppose I finally got the idea that the trilogy is a violent romantic tragedy destined to have a bittersweet ending as the plot of the bigger story is being laid out in this movie. I want to narrate the movie in the best way possible because I liked it so much but I don’t know how because I didn’t read the book and I was so engrossed in the film that I just want to watch it over and over again because I now have a girl crush on Jennifer Lawrence because of her performance…so here I go:

Catching Fire is the continuation of Hunger Games, although this movie had gotten so much better and the though I am keeping myself together because Mockingjay Part 1 is still 300+ days from now—and since Catching Fire had such an abrupt ending I will too—The End.

The anticipation of the next two instalments is making me want to scream Katniss-style (when she found out she will be a tribute the second time.) It was such a terrible cliff-hanger that I actually thought about reading Mockingjay…but of course I don’t read novels so I ended up reading wikia instead. The only thing missing now is to watch the narrative on the big screen since I trust the team can do the book justice this time. I shall end this with a suggestion from Josh Hutcherson on what to do while waiting for the next instalment, “Improve upon yourself, become a better person.”

*photos were from Hunger Game's Facebook page