Catching Fire Movie Thoughts

[penfold_x]

Is it just me, or was that a really quick two hours and twenty minutes? The pacing felt incredibly fast. One of the reviews warned that the pre-Capitol portion of the book was given a very slim treatment, so I was expecting things to slow down once we got to the parade, but for me, they didn't. Victor-family being my favorite part of the second and third books, I was hoping to spend more time with the victors in prep, but we got just enough so we'd be able to recognize the characters who play significant roles in the super-alliance. Even the arena felt rushed--the pauses between action were short (though the writers managed to wedge in some important character moments). I really hope there's a lot of deleted scenes to enjoy in the DVD.

Overall, I very much liked the film. Most of the elements that were disappointing were things I expected and so have been girding myself for, so I was able to focus on appreciating the parts that I found pleasing, including:

* Jennifer Lawrence: genuinely talented, she didn't take a moment to rest in this film. Every motion, expression, intonation was infused with purpose. From her faking having difficulty acting as if she is in love with Peeta during the tour kick-off, to that last shot of her working through shock, grief and fiery anger, she was outstanding.

* Haymitch, Haymitch, Haymitch: The scene in the attic of D11's Justice Building is even better than it comes across in the book; keeping it brief, collapsing the several "wake up Kat and Peeta, life as a victor is going to be terrible" moments into one really lets the emotion fly. Capping it off with Haymitch physically comforting Katniss at the end was sweet, sweet icing on the cake. I pretty much adored all the moments where Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta are playing off each other--in Haymitch's house, during the reaping, on the tour, at the training center. They make a fantastic team.

* Making Plutarch less clown-y and more sinister: Plutarch comes across a bit ridiculous to me in the books--the fur collar robe, the mockingjay time piece, the fatuous, sometimes inane prattle. One of things I've enjoyed about both films is the chance to get out of Katniss's (necessarily) limited point of view. Spending time with Plutarch as he plots with Snow, the choice to give him rather more serious lines, and well, probably some of Philip Seymour Hoffman's acting choices, make Plutarch a much more interesting character.

* Johanna: She's never been among my favorite victors, but the screenwriters, director and actor turned Johanna into the most compelling of the non-Twelve victors. We only get the briefest hints of what's happened to her after her victory, but it was plenty to go on. Malone's delivery was note-perfect, whether the moment was low-key (such as the backstage encounter) or cranked to eleven (when I get the DVD, I'm going to watch her interview segment over and over and over). Judging from the reaction of the audience I was with, I'm not the only one who loved her.

* The moment when Katniss flashes back to shooting Marvel: Shocking, and brought so much across in just a few seconds. I didn't need any more indicators of Katniss's PTSD; that incident said it all.

* The D11 speeches: I expected to start tearing up the moment Mags sacrifices herself and pretty much bawl through Wiress's death, but Peeta and Katniss's D11 speeches were so moving and well-delivered, I needed to bust out the tissues before we even got to the arena. The giant images of Thresh and Rue were a perfect and perfectly awful addition.

* Mag's sacrifice: just as I imagined it. I enjoyed all of what we saw of Mags, but that moment was just as powerful as ever.

* Every interaction between Beetee and Wiress, but especially the clasp of hands before Beetee goes to his individual evaluation. Their moments were fleeting, but you could see how much they cared for each other.

* Seeing Chaff, if ever so briefly.

* The cinematography and effects: Both are important for a sci-fi/action flick, and they were integrated seamlessly. I was especially impressed with the destruction of the arena, which was a beautiful, moving moment. Katniss's training exercise was also fantastically rendered. And I left the theatre with a strong urge to book a Hawaiian vacation.

* Everything Effie wore.


I was less happy with:

* Sam Clafin: I don't like him as Finnick; he's just not what I pictured. I know Finn is supposed to start Catching Fire appearing a bit of a sleeze, but something about Clafin's delivery felt off to me. There were times I saw the dual layer of his character, but the rest of the delivery felt either overly scuzzy or too hard. No accounting for taste, I guess, but he didn't do anything for me, even in the moments when Finnick's at his most sympathetic.

* The briefness of the Capitol scenes: The Twelve victors had a number of lines about how close the victors are to each other, and how warped they are from their experiences, but I didn't think we spent long enough on that portion of the story to actually see it. Apart from brief moments between Mags and Finnick and Beetee and Wiress, I didn't get the sense that they were particularly close to each other (and thus, why it was urgent for Katniss and Peeta to try to make allies, or that Katniss was ambivalent about having to kill them). This is where I most want some extra footage, particularly something showing the victors socializing with each other and Peeta getting to know the morphlings.

* Playing up the love triangle: in the books, I felt like Katniss was mostly oblivious to/unwilling to think about Gale's advances, so the amount of time dedicated to the romantic elements of the story seemed disproportionate to me.

* The virtual absence of D2: I knew it would be that way, but I felt as though we hardly saw them at all. D1 seemed to take up all the 'career' screentime. Perhaps this makes sense, since Gloss and Cashmere die on-screen (as opposed to poor Brutus who was rescued from the arena but somehow Suzanne Collins forgot to put that in Mockingjay), but Enobaria will appear again in Mockingjay so... Yeah, I'm don't think I would have made that choice.

Still, I very much enjoyed Catching Fire. Now that I know what to expect, I look forward to going back to have a closer look/listen at my favorite moments, and perhaps absorbing a bit more of everything that's happening.

Comments

[lorata.livejournal.com]

HAVEN'T SEEN HAS NOT HIT JAPAN CRAPPY CAM VERSION HAS NOT HIT INTERNETS NOT READING POST NO SPOILERS BUT HELLLLLLP

EVERYONE IS TELLING ME I'M GOING TO CRY MY EYES OUT

WHY IS IT NOT ONLINE

COME ON PEOPLE BRAVE INTERPOL OR WHATEVER FOR ME I CAN'T SEE IT FOR ANOTHER MOOOOOOOOOOOONTH

[penfold-x.livejournal.com]

IM SO SORRY I CANT HELP YOU IN YOUR TIME OF GREAT NEED ): ): ):

YEEEES WHEN TIME COMES BRING ALL THE HANKIES

[lorata.livejournal.com]

I ACTUALLY HAVE A PORTUGUESE-LANGUAGE DUB CAM RIP I AM CONSIDERING WATCHING

THIS IS HOW DESPERATE I AM

[penfold-x.livejournal.com]

AW NOOOOOO

*MANY MANY HUGS*

[lorata.livejournal.com]

IT. WAS. SO. SHORT.

[penfold-x.livejournal.com]

YES MUCH TOO SHORT. THIS IS THE BOOK THAT NEEDED TO BE TWO FILMS.

[lorata.livejournal.com]

also you know with all the talk Bruno Gunn was doing in interviews how during one scene he was thinking about how Brutus would be feeling and he started to cry and was like omg what am I doing Brutus doesn't cry and then realized oh wait I guess he does and he let it happen I just assumed

that they would include that scene in the film

[goldiebug.livejournal.com]

And that is exactly why I only ever watch the short teaser trailers of movies I am really really anticipating; I don't watch any long trailers (I actually close my eyes if I'm trapped in a theater when they play; I've done that half a dozen times now for The Hobbit2) and certainly don't watch any interviews pre-screening. I HATE it when they show scenes that are later cut!

[penfold-x.livejournal.com]

): ): ): I am trying to manage my expectations of the DVD, but... they spent so much money on the Hawaii shoot, it would make sense for them to have shot a lot of stuff that they knew propbably would only appear on the DVD. Right? Right? /:

[goldiebug.livejournal.com]

Nice review! Just saw it yesterday and I agree with everything you said. Although I didn't have any problems with Finnick. I haven't read the book recently (and probably not nearly as many times as you clearly have! :-) so I didn't notice any omissions. I just was aware of how much more I enjoyed the directing in this one. No stupid "shaky cam" like in the first one, where it was totally overdone. I loved all the acting, and I too was surprised to be tearing up already at the D11 scene! Happened a few times. Great film.

[penfold-x.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm glad you also enjoyed it (and I'm not the only crybaby). Good point about the shakes cam; I really dislike it, so it was nice that F. Lawrence minimized its usage in this film.

[trovia.livejournal.com]

My impressions seem to be the opposite of everybody's. Johanna didn't do it for me (although the elevator scene was awesome). Finnick worked for me perfectly although I had expected Sam Claflin to suck. Agreed on Plutarch though; he just hit all my casual competence kinks with the way he just went about his way with quirked lips doing the rebellious thing where nobody could see.

I'd expected more Brutus too, after that interview given by the actor. I'm not sure he even had lines.

[penfold-x.livejournal.com]

Given how much you love Mr. Odair, I'm very glad the characterization words for you, and that Clafin didn't let you down.

he just hit all my casual competence kinks with the way he just went about his way with quirked lips doing the rebellious thing where nobody could see.

Yeeees, that is exactly it. Those last moments where he leaves Snow in that control room? Priceless.

I'd expected more Brutus too, after that interview given by the actor. I'm not sure he even had lines.

I don't believe he did, which is sad, given how thoughtful the actor was about the part.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Fantastic review! I'm so glad you brought up Katniss's flashback at the very beginning. You're so right: that said it all. The film did that over and over again, I thought. It offered succinct but powerful visual images that conveyed a great deal. (The glimpses of the graffiti from the train are another example.)

Speaking of Johanna, the audience in my theater broke into spontaneous applause at her bleeped-out response to Caesar Flickerman's questions. :D Very effective.

I'm glad you noted Mags and relationship between Beetee and Wiress, too. So, so good!

[penfold-x.livejournal.com]

Speaking of Johanna, the audience in my theater broke into spontaneous applause at her bleeped-out response to Caesar Flickerman's questions. :D Very effective.

Ha! Mine, too! Her other big lines also got a lot of laughs. Overall, she was very well received.

[deathmallow.livejournal.com]

Agreed on almost all of this.

I'm not as down on Finnick as you, but I was kind of really underwhelmed by him. I felt like he was on the right side of adequate, but I wasn't blown away by him like I was by Jena Malone (who was an absolutely perfect Johanna, taken straight from the books) and Phillip Seymour Hoffman's new twists on Plutarch.

I loved the "wake up and smell the shit" speech from Haymitch (especially his "Who protects them?" about everyone who isn't a victor...). But I wasn't a big fan of the Haymitch/Katniss hug in the Eleven Justice Building. I know it was meant to show Haymitch's affection and protectiveness, but at this point in their relationship, it just didn't feel earned. Those two are too prickly with each other. I also think it undercuts the power of that hug in MJ?

[penfold-x.livejournal.com]

I felt like he was on the right side of adequate, but I wasn't blown away by him like I was by Jena Malone (who was an absolutely perfect Johanna, taken straight from the books) and Phillip Seymour Hoffman's new twists on Plutarch.

Maybe that's part of why I was underwhelmed? The other new actors were, on the whole, crazy-amazing (Malone, Hoffman, Wright and Plummer are basically very experienced character actors who are almost slumming it by taking a part in a mass market pic based on YA novels, whereas I think Clafin is at a different point in his career), so even doing a pretty good job might look pale in comparison.

I know it was meant to show Haymitch's affection and protectiveness, but at this point in their relationship, it just didn't feel earned. Those two are too prickly with each other. I also think it undercuts the power of that hug in MJ?

I haven't spent anything like as much time as you have thinking about the arc of Haymitch and Katniss's relationship, so I wouldn't try to disagree about that, but, given the whole arc they travel together (how emotionally intense it is) and how little time I expect the MJ films to spend on Haymitch's part, I am really happy that they are given a couple of opportunities to be affectionate/comforting with each other. Gift horse, basically.