In your favor

OK, now we seem to be getting somewhere.

A new director, some well-placed additions to the cast, a brand new cinematographer, and a strong central performance from Jennifer Lawrence combine to make The Hunger Games: Catching Fire a vast improvement over the franchise’s first, sloppy mess chapter.

New director Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) and cinematographer Jo Willems (Limitless) get rid of most of the goofy, baroque sheen that made The Hunger Games so annoying. They also have a much better technique for filming action scenes, and they have made a film that feels quite brutal at times. A film about kids being forced to kill each other should be brutal, and not feel as if it is pulling punches for a PG-13 rating, as the first movie did.

Watching this new film, I was reminded of how the Harry Potter series switched into high gear with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, when Alfonso Cuaron washed out the color palette and added a new element of darkness to the proceedings. In many ways, Francis Lawrence steals Cuaron’s game, and that’s to the viewer’s benefit. This is an efficient, well-oiled movie machine now.

The sequel picks ups soon after the events of the first film, with Katniss and Peeta (Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson) enjoying a relatively calm, reluctant celebrity life after their rule-bending victory in The Hunger Games. President Snow (Donald Sutherland) is not happy with the rising popularity of Katniss, and lets her know, in person, that it will not be tolerated. Soon thereafter, Katniss and Peeta find themselves fighting for their lives again in a rarely invoked tradition of former Hunger Games victors competing against each other.

Gone is that quick cut, shaky cam, messed-up way of filming action to mask the fact that you can’t show R-rated violence in what is essentially supposed to be a violent movie. The action is not only easy to follow, but quite exciting. A sequence where Katniss and friends flee some sort of creeping gas cloud stands as one of the better action scenes this year.

Jennifer Lawrence takes Katniss to a new, far more interesting level this time out. In front of Willems’ lens, she looks a little more worn and embittered after the first time out. I found her more believable as a wartorn survivor. She also seems a little more engaged in this movie, as if the new director has simply pulled a better performance out of her. Her performance in the first film was fine, but the environment she was put in felt staged. Catching Fire feels more organic.

Donald Sutherland’s Snow gets a chance to be more involved and far more sinister than the first film, establishing himself as a true villain. Philip Seymour Hoffman climbs onboard as the shady new game master, and yes, he’s a far more menacing presence than Wes Bentley and his lame facial hair.

Hoffman is good here, but Sam Claflin wins my pick for best new addition to the cast as the preening Finnick Odair. He’s a great, mysterious Hunger Games competitor whose motivations are complicated. He also provides some decent comic relief. Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright and Amanda Plummer also join the cast as competitors, making the group of people actually in the game far, far more interesting than the first film.

In the great tradition of mega-franchises like Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire leaves you with a big cliffhanger that will have you feeling a bit incomplete. Don’t worry, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (two films will cover the third book) is merely a year away. Even better news: Francis Lawrence will direct the two Mockingjay films, so they have a solid chance of being good.