The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - review: Proof flesh-and-blood females can win out over boysy blockbusters

Katniss Everdeen, as played by Jennifer Lawrence, is still the best game changer in town
Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
22 November 2013

This second instalment of the four-part sci-fi franchise has been rushed out by Lionsgate, and it shows. The first half of the film is a mess, not so much a slow-burner, as a no-burner.

Luckily, the second half is a roaring... OK, OK, no more fire metaphors. Suffice to say, teen rebel and ace archer, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), is still the best game changer in town.

We last saw our hard-scrabble heroine triumphing in a televised contest, defying fascist leader President Snow (Donald Sutherland), and inspiring the rest of a divided, down-trodden nation. Now, Katniss and her fellow winner, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), embark on a stage-managed “Victor’s Tour”, but pedestrian director, Francis Lawrence, (replacing Gary Ross), fails to make the unrest in the districts gripping. It’s the same with the love triangle between Peeta, Katniss and her hunky best friend, Gale (Liam Hemsworth).

Then Snow announces that there will be another round of games, this time involving all previous winners, ie, a bunch of adults, plus Katniss and Peeta. The ensuing trials are visually rich (well, that $140m budget had to be spent on something). More importantly, the new characters – especially spiky, potty-mouthed tribute, Johanna (Jena Malone) – provide the perfect foil for Katniss.

As played by Lawrence, Katniss is tough rather than macho; fit, but not in a gym-toned way (her shoulders, for example, are gorgeously plump). All the more heartening, then, to discover that her fan base is expanding. A 10-year-old begged me to bring him along to the screening (he hadn’t seen the original, but had been told, by his mates, that the series was cool.) He loved Catching Fire.

The success of this sequel will demonstrate, beyond doubt, that flesh-and-blood females can dominate the boysy, blockbuster landscape. How apt. In parallel worlds, the end of an old order seems nigh.

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