The only Hunger Games movie you need to watch
If you haven't guessed already, movies are kind of a big deal to me. I love them. Love them like a sea urchin. Sea urchins don't get much love.
Anyways, movies speak to me on a pretty profound level. A powerful film can call forth a depth of emotion usually reserved for things like the birth of a child or a really good piece of cheesecake. The first time I remember feeling this strongly about a film is when I saw The Lion King as a small, impressionable child. I cannot adequately describe the feeling that this film produced in me. Seriously - I just sat here trying to describe it, and I had nothing except a bad analogy about high school grad. See? You think it's bad and you didn't even READ it, because I deleted it. That's how bad it was - it wasn't even good enough for a fourth-rate blog in this backwater hick-town corner of the internet.
So you'll just have to imagine how The Lion King made me feel. This can be accomplished with three easy steps:
Step 1: Imagine you're me.
Step 2: Imagine you're me as an eight year-old.
Step 3: Imagine you're me as an eight year-old and you feel exactly how I do about The Lion King.
Now that that's out of the way, let me tell you about another movie that has recently (ie. in the last three or four years) had a huge impact on me:
OK, that is clearly a joke. But that DVD cover is fantastic (I assume this was a straight to DVD release, because... yeah) and I would like to see a sharp increase in the use of the word "croc-tastic" now. See examples below:
That root canal was croc-tastic! I want to go back for seconds!
I sure had a croc-tastic time at the canning workshop. Gertrude's peaches were 'off the hook'!
My mom has a croc-tastic recipe for corn chowder. It's dino-mite!
Getting back to the point now, the movie I'm ACTUALLY talking about is one that some of the four people reading this right now have possibly seen and probably at least heard of: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (for those of you who can't remember which one in the series this is, just remember it as "the good one").
Now, I realize that some people have issues with The Hunger Games series due to the violence and mature themes; I completely share these reservations and the kid-on-kid violence factor was a thing that made me avoid these films at first.* Other people may have issues with the fact that one of the main characters is named after flatbread.
Now, perhaps you're wondering why, out of a four-film series, I'm choosing this film, the "middle chapter," to single out. And yes, it's still the middle chapter because Mockingjay should have been ONE film, but thanks to the world we live in nowadays, most film studios' to-do lists can be summarized as this, and therefore, they take the last chapter of a trilogy and break it into two parts in order to better "develop the characters" and "do justice to the book" which basically means making two mediocre films instead of one good one.
Yes, Lord Elrond, I feel your pain.
For those who need help here, the Hunger Games films can basically be broken down into the following categories:
* What changed my mind was the way in which the directors almost never glorify the violence; it is instead supposed to be understood and experienced as something terrible, not something cool. The kills in these films are not usually graphic, but they are hard to watch because each one of them is steeped in a sense of injustice. This is in contrast to movies like Gladiator in which watching Maximus slice apart his foes is designed to get a cheer. Still, the violence in the Hunger Games will be a non-starter for some and that is totally OK.
**That is, until the release of part 5 - "The Hunger Games: Escape from the Peeta Pit"
Anyways, movies speak to me on a pretty profound level. A powerful film can call forth a depth of emotion usually reserved for things like the birth of a child or a really good piece of cheesecake. The first time I remember feeling this strongly about a film is when I saw The Lion King as a small, impressionable child. I cannot adequately describe the feeling that this film produced in me. Seriously - I just sat here trying to describe it, and I had nothing except a bad analogy about high school grad. See? You think it's bad and you didn't even READ it, because I deleted it. That's how bad it was - it wasn't even good enough for a fourth-rate blog in this backwater hick-town corner of the internet.
So you'll just have to imagine how The Lion King made me feel. This can be accomplished with three easy steps:
Step 1: Imagine you're me.
Step 2: Imagine you're me as an eight year-old.
Step 3: Imagine you're me as an eight year-old and you feel exactly how I do about The Lion King.
Now that that's out of the way, let me tell you about another movie that has recently (ie. in the last three or four years) had a huge impact on me:
OK, that is clearly a joke. But that DVD cover is fantastic (I assume this was a straight to DVD release, because... yeah) and I would like to see a sharp increase in the use of the word "croc-tastic" now. See examples below:
That root canal was croc-tastic! I want to go back for seconds!
I sure had a croc-tastic time at the canning workshop. Gertrude's peaches were 'off the hook'!
My mom has a croc-tastic recipe for corn chowder. It's dino-mite!
Getting back to the point now, the movie I'm ACTUALLY talking about is one that some of the four people reading this right now have possibly seen and probably at least heard of: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (for those of you who can't remember which one in the series this is, just remember it as "the good one").
Now, I realize that some people have issues with The Hunger Games series due to the violence and mature themes; I completely share these reservations and the kid-on-kid violence factor was a thing that made me avoid these films at first.* Other people may have issues with the fact that one of the main characters is named after flatbread.
Now, perhaps you're wondering why, out of a four-film series, I'm choosing this film, the "middle chapter," to single out. And yes, it's still the middle chapter because Mockingjay should have been ONE film, but thanks to the world we live in nowadays, most film studios' to-do lists can be summarized as this, and therefore, they take the last chapter of a trilogy and break it into two parts in order to better "develop the characters" and "do justice to the book" which basically means making two mediocre films instead of one good one.
Yes, Lord Elrond, I feel your pain.
For those who need help here, the Hunger Games films can basically be broken down into the following categories:
"Good effort!" (Film 1)
"The Movie was meh, but the Credits were Sick!" (Film 3)
"I Will Have Nightmares Forever" (Film 4)
And then, there's Film 2: Catching Fire.
The best way to explain my response to this film is to paraphrase Guillermo del Toro's description of how he felt when he saw Fellowship of the Ring for the first time in theatres: this was the most transported I have (almost) ever been, watching a film. Period.
The best way to explain my response to this film is to paraphrase Guillermo del Toro's description of how he felt when he saw Fellowship of the Ring for the first time in theatres: this was the most transported I have (almost) ever been, watching a film. Period.
So, in the style of a previous post, here's an essay on what makes Catching Fire such a dazzling piece of cinema (with pictures!).
By way of an introduction, each of the other HG films leaves quite a lot to be desired. Out of them, the first is definitely the strongest, but even that has nothing on part 2. Whether it was production values (first film) or basic problems with the screenplay (films 3 and 4), each of them has an Achilles heel that brings down what are otherwise respectable works of cinema.
Catching Fire, on the other hand, does pretty much everything right. I know, I know - nothing is ever perfect, right? Well, technically, yes. But Catching Fire comes as close to movie perfection as I've almost ever seen. Script? Check. Acting? Check. Production design? Check. Music? Mega-check. Finding something wrong with this film is like trying to find a hobbit in Thangorodrim. I know, right?! (just smile and nod). Here is my best attempt at enumerating the good qualities of this movie:
1. World-building
For those who may not know, this movie takes place in the fictional, totalitarian world of Panem, a bleak country kept in line by the overbearing Capitol (OK, "overbearing" is an understatement. That would be like calling Tom Bombadil "slightly weird"). The Capitol keeps control of the 12 districts with the spectre of the "Hunger Games," a televised annual competition in which 24 boys and girls fight to the death for the entertainment of the country's elite residents. As such, the nation is kept under a cloud of fear, and it's precisely this all-pervasive terror that imbues every moment of this film. It doesn't matter what's happening - every moment feels fraught with real tension, real danger. Even when the sun is shining and there are no 'bad guys' in sight, Katniss (and the audience) can never escape the all-encompassing, smothering terror of living in a world in which your life does not truly belong to you. (Yes, I enjoy feeling 'smothering terror' for 2 hours; this is one of the many reasons why my wife thinks I'm weird. She's probably right. My Legolas action figure begs to differ.) Thus, the world of Panem not only looks fantastic, thanks to the amazing production design (see below), but what really sells the reality of this alternate universe is the emotion that pervades it. Much of this is due to Donald Sutherland's brilliant turn as the evil President Snow, whose sinister presence seeps into every scene in the film, whether onscreen or not.
In terms of a specific moment that stands out, the best has to be during the Victory Tour at the start of the film, when the peacekeepers execute a citizen for giving the Mockingjay salute. A hysterical Katniss tries to comfort herself with the idea that she and Peeta just need to keep up their act until the tour is over; her mentor, Haymitch, brings her back to reality by snapping his fingers in her face and waking her up to the chilling truth: "You never get off this train." It doesn't matter what she does - Snow will always have a stranglehold on her life. This moment helps set up Katniss' eventual determination to bring him, and the whole Panem system, down.
2. Production design
Kicking off a film franchise is always a risky business (naturally, I know this from my extensive personal experience). The studio lays down a dragon-hoard of cash and doesn't know whether or not it'll pay off. So it's understandable that The Hunger Games: The One without a Subtitle, suffered from a lower budget than it deserved. This is why it sometimes feels like it was shot on an iPhone in your friend's backyard. A very shaky iPhone held by a kindergartener on a sugar binge.
As if that weren't bad enough, then there are the scenes that practically scream "HAHAHAHA I AM TOO MUCH FOR YOU, PUNY BUDGET." For example, the magnificent chariot entrance to the Capitol, which gives the filmmakers a chance to show off the enormous buildings, beautiful architecture, adoring masses of fans.... takes place at night. In darkness. So you can't actually SEE it. Why? Because apparently this ain't your grandparents' day and massive CGI shots don't come in packs of 12 for a nickel down at the corner store. Back in my day, sonny, you could get a line of charging Mumakil and an army of Uruk-hai for 5 cents! But you had to walk 13 miles uphill both ways through a molasses river with a bear trap stuck to your foot! But my personal favourite low-budget moment is the scene where Katniss steps into the hovercraft that will take her to the arena. This is how the scene unfolds:
1. Katniss steps into the ship
2. Katniss sits down and gets a needle
3. Katniss exits the ship
That's right. In the pivotal scene in which Katniss FLIES to the arena, there is not a SINGLE shot of the ship actually FLYING. Why? Because
Anyhow, enough of dissing film 1. Despite its less-than-stellar look, it was still a decent movie. And thankfully, after its success the studio execs were probably like "Hey, we could make some serious money off this franchise - let's splurge on the next one!"
And boy, did they ever.
Film 2's production design is so sumptuous, you absorb about 10,000 calories just watching it. Every scene, every set, every costume, every prop is perfect. Watching this film truly does transport you to the world of Panem, and it is wonderful (watching it, that is. Not being there for real because that would just be scary). It doesn't hurt that all of the arena scenes were shot on IMAX film to make them even more expansive and all-encompassing (yay for huge scary monkeys!).
3. The characters
This is probably the hardest part to write about because it's the closest to my heart. Over the course of these films, I grew to love these characters so much, and film 2 was where they really hit home for me. It's a combination of the screenplay, direction, and of course, acting, that makes these characters so special. But the casting - this is where they nailed it, big time. Bigly. YUUUUGE.
More than enough has already been said about Jennifer Lawrence's brilliance in the lead role, and deservedly so. But Peeta is just perfect. And so is Snow. And Haymitch, Effie, and all the rest. That's the thing - they nailed every single character. Spot on. My personal favourite (in addition to Peeta, Haymitch, Cinna, Snow, and literally everyone else) is Caesar Flickerman. He serves as a perfect example of how even a relatively small part can elevate a film to a whole new level. Each one of his interview scenes adds incredibly to the overall feel of the film because of how his charisma, his over-the-top smarminess (spell check is telling me that smarminess isn't a word, but YOU IS WRONG GOOGLE), serve to underscore the central idea that what is in reality something terrible (a televised death match) is consumed as prime-time entertainment for the masses. Sound kind of like watching the news? And speaking of Caesar Flickerman, this leads into my final point...
4. The music
So, we all know that Howard Shore's music for Lord of the Rings is the all-time greatest movie soundtrack ever (fact, not opinion). But if there's another sci-fi/fantasy trilogy with incredible music that serves not only to elevate emotion but enhance the story itself, it's this one (sorry Star Wars - after The Last Jedi, you're on my naughty list). Want proof? Here. I suppose this point is technically about the HG trilogy as a whole, but it's in film 2 that the score has its best moments. The top three would be:
1. This one. Oh man. Don't watch this in front of your grade 8 class. They will see you cry like a baby. Not good.
2. This one. From 4:03 onwards. So beautiful.
3. And this one. From 1:45 - 2:30 and 3:40 til the end.
And there are so many more, but let's be honest - there are a grand total of 2 people reading this right now and one is probably my wife and I can just show her the rest of the clips on the iPad tonight.
Why Catching Fire is the Only Good Hunger Games Film**: An Unnecessarily Long Essay by the Litrovert
By way of an introduction, each of the other HG films leaves quite a lot to be desired. Out of them, the first is definitely the strongest, but even that has nothing on part 2. Whether it was production values (first film) or basic problems with the screenplay (films 3 and 4), each of them has an Achilles heel that brings down what are otherwise respectable works of cinema.
Catching Fire, on the other hand, does pretty much everything right. I know, I know - nothing is ever perfect, right? Well, technically, yes. But Catching Fire comes as close to movie perfection as I've almost ever seen. Script? Check. Acting? Check. Production design? Check. Music? Mega-check. Finding something wrong with this film is like trying to find a hobbit in Thangorodrim. I know, right?! (just smile and nod). Here is my best attempt at enumerating the good qualities of this movie:
1. World-building
For those who may not know, this movie takes place in the fictional, totalitarian world of Panem, a bleak country kept in line by the overbearing Capitol (OK, "overbearing" is an understatement. That would be like calling Tom Bombadil "slightly weird"). The Capitol keeps control of the 12 districts with the spectre of the "Hunger Games," a televised annual competition in which 24 boys and girls fight to the death for the entertainment of the country's elite residents. As such, the nation is kept under a cloud of fear, and it's precisely this all-pervasive terror that imbues every moment of this film. It doesn't matter what's happening - every moment feels fraught with real tension, real danger. Even when the sun is shining and there are no 'bad guys' in sight, Katniss (and the audience) can never escape the all-encompassing, smothering terror of living in a world in which your life does not truly belong to you. (Yes, I enjoy feeling 'smothering terror' for 2 hours; this is one of the many reasons why my wife thinks I'm weird. She's probably right. My Legolas action figure begs to differ.) Thus, the world of Panem not only looks fantastic, thanks to the amazing production design (see below), but what really sells the reality of this alternate universe is the emotion that pervades it. Much of this is due to Donald Sutherland's brilliant turn as the evil President Snow, whose sinister presence seeps into every scene in the film, whether onscreen or not.
In terms of a specific moment that stands out, the best has to be during the Victory Tour at the start of the film, when the peacekeepers execute a citizen for giving the Mockingjay salute. A hysterical Katniss tries to comfort herself with the idea that she and Peeta just need to keep up their act until the tour is over; her mentor, Haymitch, brings her back to reality by snapping his fingers in her face and waking her up to the chilling truth: "You never get off this train." It doesn't matter what she does - Snow will always have a stranglehold on her life. This moment helps set up Katniss' eventual determination to bring him, and the whole Panem system, down.
2. Production design
Kicking off a film franchise is always a risky business (naturally, I know this from my extensive personal experience). The studio lays down a dragon-hoard of cash and doesn't know whether or not it'll pay off. So it's understandable that The Hunger Games: The One without a Subtitle, suffered from a lower budget than it deserved. This is why it sometimes feels like it was shot on an iPhone in your friend's backyard. A very shaky iPhone held by a kindergartener on a sugar binge.
As if that weren't bad enough, then there are the scenes that practically scream "HAHAHAHA I AM TOO MUCH FOR YOU, PUNY BUDGET." For example, the magnificent chariot entrance to the Capitol, which gives the filmmakers a chance to show off the enormous buildings, beautiful architecture, adoring masses of fans.... takes place at night. In darkness. So you can't actually SEE it. Why? Because apparently this ain't your grandparents' day and massive CGI shots don't come in packs of 12 for a nickel down at the corner store. Back in my day, sonny, you could get a line of charging Mumakil and an army of Uruk-hai for 5 cents! But you had to walk 13 miles uphill both ways through a molasses river with a bear trap stuck to your foot! But my personal favourite low-budget moment is the scene where Katniss steps into the hovercraft that will take her to the arena. This is how the scene unfolds:
1. Katniss steps into the ship
2. Katniss sits down and gets a needle
3. Katniss exits the ship
That's right. In the pivotal scene in which Katniss FLIES to the arena, there is not a SINGLE shot of the ship actually FLYING. Why? Because
Anyhow, enough of dissing film 1. Despite its less-than-stellar look, it was still a decent movie. And thankfully, after its success the studio execs were probably like "Hey, we could make some serious money off this franchise - let's splurge on the next one!"
And boy, did they ever.
Film 2's production design is so sumptuous, you absorb about 10,000 calories just watching it. Every scene, every set, every costume, every prop is perfect. Watching this film truly does transport you to the world of Panem, and it is wonderful (watching it, that is. Not being there for real because that would just be scary). It doesn't hurt that all of the arena scenes were shot on IMAX film to make them even more expansive and all-encompassing (yay for huge scary monkeys!).
(OK, the monkeys look a little CG, but pobody's nerfect).
This is probably the hardest part to write about because it's the closest to my heart. Over the course of these films, I grew to love these characters so much, and film 2 was where they really hit home for me. It's a combination of the screenplay, direction, and of course, acting, that makes these characters so special. But the casting - this is where they nailed it, big time. Bigly. YUUUUGE.
More than enough has already been said about Jennifer Lawrence's brilliance in the lead role, and deservedly so. But Peeta is just perfect. And so is Snow. And Haymitch, Effie, and all the rest. That's the thing - they nailed every single character. Spot on. My personal favourite (in addition to Peeta, Haymitch, Cinna, Snow, and literally everyone else) is Caesar Flickerman. He serves as a perfect example of how even a relatively small part can elevate a film to a whole new level. Each one of his interview scenes adds incredibly to the overall feel of the film because of how his charisma, his over-the-top smarminess (spell check is telling me that smarminess isn't a word, but YOU IS WRONG GOOGLE), serve to underscore the central idea that what is in reality something terrible (a televised death match) is consumed as prime-time entertainment for the masses. Sound kind of like watching the news? And speaking of Caesar Flickerman, this leads into my final point...
4. The music
So, we all know that Howard Shore's music for Lord of the Rings is the all-time greatest movie soundtrack ever (fact, not opinion). But if there's another sci-fi/fantasy trilogy with incredible music that serves not only to elevate emotion but enhance the story itself, it's this one (sorry Star Wars - after The Last Jedi, you're on my naughty list). Want proof? Here. I suppose this point is technically about the HG trilogy as a whole, but it's in film 2 that the score has its best moments. The top three would be:
1. This one. Oh man. Don't watch this in front of your grade 8 class. They will see you cry like a baby. Not good.
2. This one. From 4:03 onwards. So beautiful.
3. And this one. From 1:45 - 2:30 and 3:40 til the end.
And there are so many more, but let's be honest - there are a grand total of 2 people reading this right now and one is probably my wife and I can just show her the rest of the clips on the iPad tonight.
***
There you have it. I would probably rate this movie right up there with Interstellar in terms of "Movies that can't technically be my favourite because they are not Lord of the Rings but totally would be if I were to allow myself to be like that."
What do you think? Feel free to send me a comment. Or a pita.
* What changed my mind was the way in which the directors almost never glorify the violence; it is instead supposed to be understood and experienced as something terrible, not something cool. The kills in these films are not usually graphic, but they are hard to watch because each one of them is steeped in a sense of injustice. This is in contrast to movies like Gladiator in which watching Maximus slice apart his foes is designed to get a cheer. Still, the violence in the Hunger Games will be a non-starter for some and that is totally OK.
**That is, until the release of part 5 - "The Hunger Games: Escape from the Peeta Pit"
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