"Catching Fire"

      The winter after Katniss and Peeta win the 74th Hunger Games, they go on their victory tour. This tour brings them around to all 12 districts and finally to the Capitol, to celebrate, as the name suggests, their victory. While on this tour Katniss must prove to President Snow that her love for Peeta is real, and therefore help dispel the rebellion that their victory sparked. However President Snow feels that the rebellion against him and the Capitol has gotten, if anything, worse since the tour. Therefore he decides to put an end to Katniss and the other victors who stand as beacons of hope to the people of Panem.

    Brilliantly directed by Francis Lawrence, this film stars Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, Donald Sutherland as President Snow, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, Elizabeth Banks as Effie, and Stanley Tucci as Caesar. This movie also stars Lenny Kravitz, Sam Claflin and Liam Hemsworth. You couldn't have asked for better actors, and they do a marvelous job making their characters believable.

     I believe the film closely follows the book, while it did not get all the minute details that extreme, hardcore fans always look for in the movie counterparts, they still did one of the best jobs I have ever seen in a book to movie film. I know some people were complaining that Plutarch Heavensbee did not pull out the watch that had the faint outline of a mockingjay on it at the capitol party scene. This however did not bother me it is such a small detail in the scheme of the movie and only the people who read the books would actually appreciate it.

    The emotion in the film is so heavy throughout and it really makes you feel like your there experiencing the events with the characters. *Spoilers* When Mags dies in the books it is extremely sad but watching it in a movie had to have been even more emotional. Seeing the reaction of Finnick as she died was a major part of that. Then when she finds out that Peeta was left behind you can see the hurt and loss in her eyes and it just kills. *Spoilers* Needless to say it was beautifully crafted and all of those moments are leading up to a final event that I don't think even I'm ready for!

        Mockingjay Part 1 is coming out November of next year and Part 2 is coming out November of 2015! I don't think I can wait that long.. I would definitely recommend this movie to everyone, though if you haven't watched the first one, The Hunger Games, then you should watch that first before Catching Fire. I would rate this film a 9.5 out of 10! Follow me on Twitter and share this with your friends!

Peace,
Jake