Hit and Missed

The second movie, Hunger Games: Catching Fire was a hit and miss. I have a mixed feelings about this film adaptation.

 

It was a hit because it successfully depicted the spite between Katniss and Snow. It showed how they want to destroy each other. It is like tear each others throat kind of anger. But both of them can do nothing but to cast hateful glances because Panem is watching. Katniss being the darling of the Capitol and Snow being the president, they take their fight in the arena.

 

The movie also showed the defiance of the districts as riots escalates. Inspired by Katniss, they found courage to fight for freedom, even though it means a painful death. The uncontrollable unrest and verge of uprising gave the idea to President Snow and the new gamekeeper to bring back the victors to once again face their past demons and throw them back to the arena. The anguish of Katniss was captured in the movie, given that the last game still hunts her in her nightmares. It was just so wrong and unjust to put them again in the death match, and yet because of the evil that is the Capitol, they have no choice but to literally kill to survive, again.

 

Katniss has her sartorial moment too. Wearing her supposed wedding gown that turned into a mockingjay, she was truly divine that endeared her even more to the people of the Capitol. Probably until they see her broken body on TV, initially sad and sympathetic but will soon recover, move on with their narcissistic lives and eventually forget.

 

What the movie missed are the seering romance and the non-stop excitement on the book. Gale is still gorgeous, but calling Katniss “Katnip” in several scenes immediately became tiring. Peeta, on the other hand, only had limited scenes with Katniss that can show how deeply in love he is with her. And if there are, it was not used in the best possible light to see how devoted they are to each other.

 

The excitement in the game itself was unfortunately also lacking. As I read my blog entry about the book, I wrote that there was team work and careful planning on how they can destroy the arena. There was also a thrilling unfolding on how they discover its glitches. All that happened confusingly in the movie. Why did she tie the cord in the tree? How did it dawn to Katniss that all she needs to do is to tie the cord in the arrow and let it fly in the source of lightning? The continuity of the traps in the arena was also flawed. Mags just decided to commit suicide, the poisonous gas chase, the monkeys attacked them, the other tributes tried to murder them. It was just too cluttered and anti-climatic in the screen.

 

I daresay that the movie failed to complement the book and did not live up to its potential. But I will stick with the Hunger Games series until the end. I am convinced that the finale will bring back what the second installment had lost. The third book was not the best among the three, I hope that it will not be the same as the movie. The challenge is not just to be at par, but to exceed what the debut film and book had achieved, recover from the second and to have a finale as strong as what Katniss and the people of Panem had fought for.