|
With the "Harry Potter" and "Twilight" franchises having run their respective
courses, Suzanne Collins' dystopian "The Hunger Games" trilogy (planned as four
films by distributor Lionsgate solely to double their profits on the final
chapter, "Mockingjay," a 'la 2010's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part
1," 2011's "Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2".) has become the latest cinematic
sensation within devoted YA circles. The politically charged source material is
altogether stronger than Stephenie Meyer's anti-feminist Harlequin vampire tale,
but, so far, 2012's "The
Hunger Games" and follow-up "Catching Fire" have not quite done full justice
to the novels they are based upon. Performances are inspiring and impassioned
and the narrative setups are suitably provocative, but the pictures'
action-oriented second halves have left more than a little to be desired.
Functional but problematically shot, both films have ultimately not been able to
live up to the breadth of emotion or vision one expects from them.
17-year-olds Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh
Hutcherson) have outsmarted the dictatorial President Snow (Donald Sutherland)
and become the first dual victors in Hunger Games history. Although they have
returned safely to District 12 and found themselves the recipients of more money
than they know what to do with, they soon must
shove off on a tour of the other districts, leading to a lavish bash in the
Capitol. Even as they mug for the cameras and put up a romantic façade that may
or may not be false, President Snow is unassuaged. He sees Katniss as a threat,
capable of causing an uprising across Panem. As the 75th Annual Hunger
Games—called the Quarter Quell—nears, Katniss and Peeta are thrown a devastating
curveball when it is announced that the chosen tributes of the next competition
will consist entirely of previous victors. Incorrectly believed to be safe, they
find themselves once again thrust into a fight-to-the-death struggle. This time,
however, Snow and newly appointed head game-maker Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip
Seymour Hoffman) have a few additional tricks up their sleeves, and a personal
vendetta against Katniss. No matter what happens, they want her dead.
Having grossed $691-million worldwide, the $80-million-budgeted "The
Hunger Games" has gotten a hefty raise and extra vote of confidence for its
sequel, the $140-million "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire." The transition from
one film to the next is relatively seamless, but the scope has increased while
visual effects have more soundly improved (a baboon attack here is infinitely
more convincing than the cheesy mutated dogs in its precursor). As for new
director Francis Lawrence (2011's "Water for Elephants"), taking over for Gary
Ross, there is not a noticeable shift. Lawrence, like Ross, has a keen eye for
human interaction and the overall construction of a fictional futuristic world,
but falls into a similar trap when it comes to shooting action. The reliance on
shaky, frequently too dimly lit camerawork courtesy of cinematographer Jo
Willems (2011's "Limitless") puts the viewer at a distance, calling far too much
attention to itself. Instead of allowing sequences to play out with airtight
choreography, fluid editing and a propensity for awe-inspiring grandeur, the
film's last hour set on a booby-trapped tropical island is missing the necessary
layer of threatening beauty and suspense found in Suzanne Collins' novel.
Director Francis Lawrence and screenwriters Simon Beaufoy (2012's "Salmon
Fishing in the Yemen") and Michael DeBruyn (2013's "Oblivion")
hit most of the highlights of the book, to be sure, but they seem to be going
through the paces. When characters die, there should be a sense of loss. This
never occurs, the script pushing forward without taking the time to consider the
true cost of life. Set-pieces involving electricity-fueled invisible walls,
vicious primates, toxic fog and a manufactured tsunami are underwhelming, never
matching their clear potential. The finale, while concluding on a note of
simmering, subjectively loaded umbrage, strikes as anticlimactic. As is often
the case with middle parts of trilogies (or quadrilogies), there is no proper
beginning or ending, stripping the story of a satisfying payoff. That, alas,
will have to wait.
If there are plenty of issues to be had with certain directorial choices in the
story, the opening eighty or ninety minutes are pretty terrific, propelled by
Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence's (2012's "The Silver Linings Playbook") fiercely
complex reprisal as Katniss. Lawrence gives the entire film wholehearted life.
The bland third side of the romantic triangle falls to Liam Hemsworth (2012's
"The Expendables 2"), whose Gale is an afterthought in the scheme of things. He
simply doesn't have much of interest to do. In effective supporting roles,
Donald Sutherland (2011's "Horrible Bosses") is exceptionally enraging as the
frightened, power-hungry President Snow; a memorable Jena Malone (2011's "Sucker
Punch") is energetically defiant as District 7 contestant Johanna Mason, and
Elizabeth Banks (2012's "Pitch Perfect") takes advantage of the chance to better
explore Effie Trinket, Katniss and Peeta's extravagantly made-up District 12
chaperone. "You both deserved so much better!" Effie tearfully tells her
tributes in one poignant scene, genuinely concerned for their well-being and
starting to realize just how ethically wrong the Hunger Games are.
As a fantasy-adventure saga, "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" is merely
adequate, a motion picture of uneven sides and watered-down PG-13 violence to
appease the MPAA ratings board. Its momentum is lacking and rushed and its
expected eye candy in the third act disappoints, Francis Lawrence choosing to
portray the nightmare island with commonplace grime and grit over what should
have been malevolent lushness. Where the film succeeds is in its blazingly
compelling depiction of a country manipulated by its crooked political figures
and strangled by the hands of outrageously hypocritical tyranny and fascism.
Watching the plot unfold, the viewer gets every bit as riled up and outraged as
Katniss does, and it helps that someone of Jennifer Lawrence's exceptional
caliber is carrying the torch. "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" has far more on
its mind than ornate costumes and CGI effects, and this is what finally lifts
the movie above its more mundane trappings.
|
