The Hunger Games: Catching Fire [Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD] - Action-Packed Dystopian Thriller for Movie Nights and Collector's Editions

It’s been awhile since I read The Hunger Games trilogy, but I think that my dislike for the finale clouded my opinions of Suzanne Collins’ popular series. “Catching Fire” the movie, did an excellent job of reminding me why I like the series and making me fall in love with it all over again.The story is simple; Katniss and Peeta’s bold plot at the end if the 74th Hunger Games made them the capitol’s sweetheart and the symbol of rebellion in the districts. The President wants to kill Katniss, the districts want her to lead them and Katniss just wants to live her life. Oh, wait did I say simple? Nope, just because these stories are written for the YA crowd doesn’t mean they are simple. A friend of mine who saw the film with me, but hasn’t read the books said it perfectly “that is one of the most intense films I have seen in awhile.” Intense is right.It starts and everything seems fine. Katniss is still out there hunting with Gale and her family is safe, but it is not fine. Katniss lives in Victor’s village with Peeta and Haymitch. This issue is that Peeta is still angry to discover that her love in the games was just an act and just because both his mentees survived hasn’t erased the memories or alcohol from Haymitch’s system. And to make matters worse, it’s beginning again. The 75th Hunger Games are looming closer and Katniss and Peeta must put on their smiles, hold hands and pretend that all is well.If they don’t the evil and way too involved President Snow will make them pay.As Katniss, Jennifer Lawrence is perfect. There is some touch and go in the beginning as she has no real chemistry with Liam Hemsworth’s Gale, but once Katniss blooms and decides to fight, the magic happens. She becomes the girl I fell in love with on the page. Part fierceness, part vulnerability and all around stubborn. The character is brilliant. A true hero in a world of Bella Swans, a girl with a bow and arrow. Katniss Everdeen the girl on fire is one of my favorite statements in the literary world. And Jennifer Lawrence makes that statement. She gives the kind of performance that makes you forget her public persona, forget the Oscar and the blond hair and simply see Katniss.I have always been a fan of Peeta Mellark. I shipped him with Katniss and Josh Hutcherson reminds me of that love in every scene he appears in. Peeta may be stronger than he looks, but he is no warrior. He hasn’t struggled to survive like Katniss and Gale did for all those years. He had a comfortable life, considering. He was the Bakers son and the differences between Katniss and Peeta makes them perfect compliments for each other. Peeta is great with people, with manipulating a crowd and making people love him. He’s aware that he’s going to die in the games and just like in the 74th games every move he makes is to ensure Katniss’ survival. Which, in my humble opinion, makes him the best possible romance hero of teen fiction in awhile.What’s great about “Catching Fire,” is that you see his change. He’s still Peeta, but he’s smarter, craftier and yes we even see ‘the boy with the bread’ kill. And that’s the heartbreaking thing about the games. They aren’t just the symbol that keeps the districts in line. They are also the killer of innocence. The reaping and the games changes everyone it touches. It takes children and makes them survivors and killers and then calls them victors. No one wins the hunger games, not even Prim who Katniss volunteered to save. In “Catching Fire,” Prim is older, less innocent and stronger. She takes duties her mom can’t handle and completes them without a flinch. Another causality, another child Katniss couldn’t save.Talking about save, surviving and victors, “Catching Fire” understands the essence and heart of the series and brings it to life. I found myself wiping tears from my eyes through out the film at the injustice, at the sadness and at the heart of these characters. There is an amazing scene where the victory tour lands in District 11 that had me in tears. Our victors walk on to the stage and there in living color is an image of youthful, beautiful and innocent Rue. It gets to Katniss. It gets to Peeta and it gets to us.Emotions aside, “Catching Fire” is an amazing work of cinema. I don’t think Suzanne Collins is a Pulitzer writer, but her story is definitely cinematic. The world she created is as theatrical as it is real. The director does an amazing job of always making us aware of the space we reside in while being intimate with the characters. Panem’s Capitol is different from District 12 and 12 is different from District 11. The Hunger Games series is an art directors dream with its ability to be visually scrumptious in one scene and heartbreakingly drab in the next. It’s powerful, the visuals in the film and it’s intelligently utilized by the filmmakers to give us everything possible to make the world we read about as real as possible.OH! And to anyone who is wondering…Sam Caflin and Jena Malone are AMAZING as Finnick and Johanna. Like electrifying. Caflin’s Finnick jumped off the screen at me ten times more powerfully than the character in the book. Watching this cocky, pretty and self-centered victor carry Mags on his back is just breathtaking and reveals so many amazing details about his character. I worried about how the filmmakers would portray Johanna, she can come off like a bitch, but Jena Malone got it. Johanna is angry. She is pissed off and a little crazy and the filmmakers go it right.I really enjoyed this film. It is filled with intense action, thrills and emotional scenes that reveal the humanity in each of the characters. There’s a bit of touch and go in the beginning, due to the awkward intro scenes with Gale and dialogue that serves simply as exposition. Still, fans of the series will love this film and I think that the people who still haven’t read it will run to their nearest bookstore and get it in hand. This is a series about so much more than love triangles or kids killing each other for sport. Armed with an incredible cast of supporting actors and more importantly, incredible characters, Katniss Everdeen incites a revolution.