It’s been a while that I actually posted anything on this blog and I’m so sorry for my unplanned hiatus. I do have a reason obviously. Market research industry at this time is pretty busy. But that’s not the point of this post. I am back with a review of a much anticipated sequel to a successful first movie of The Hunger Games franchise, Catching Fire.

I’m currently listening to the soundtrack of the movie just to bring back all the feels I felt while watching the movie. I am trying not to keyboard smash all over this entire review of mine. I am trying to keep myself sane and not fangirl but it is very very hard.

For most movies, when the first person who directed the movie handed the role over to someone else for the sequel, the sequel tended to suck because the feel and tone were different and that would take away the enjoyment of the movie as a whole. For Catching Fire, Francis Lawrence took over the director seat from Gary Ross but the feel and tone of the whole movie weren’t any different from the first. In fact, it was better.

For people who read the book, you know how thick the book was and it had so many things happening in the book but Mr. Lawrence managed to cut to the chase. He knew what to cut from the movie and what not to and managed to keep the essence of the whole book. Obviously, he couldn’t bring in characters like Madge or Darius, etc back because they weren’t there in the beginning as those were the choice of Gary Ross. So, he continued from there and did as much as he could, if not better.

I just love the entire movie, so much I can’t really pinpoint which ones I love the most so I will try. I love that they kept in “You could live a hundred lifetimes and not deserve him” line from Haymitch to Katniss about Peeta. I literally, no kidding, pump my hand up in the air, in the middle of the cinema going “YES!” I love how the arena was better than how I imagined it to be from the book. The kiss between Peeta and Katniss in the arena was better than I thought it would be. When I was reading the book, I didn’t sense that it would be as passionate but that scene was woah! It was really good.

Another thing I love is the cast. The cast is just so good. They embodied the characters really well. I couldn’t think anyone else could take their part because they did it justice. I have to admit I had doubts before about Sam Claflin being Finnick Odair but he did wonderful. I took everything I said about him when he was cast. I took it all back. He was so good. He was charming, good-looking and he played the broken person really well too. Another person was Jena Malone as Johanna Mason. Johanna is like the Santana Lopez of Catching Fire. She didn’t give a flying crap about what you think of her. You would call her a bitch but I would call her a kickass babe. I love that scene when she was in the arena screaming at the camera about an uprising. It was better than how I imagined it. She did really really well. And what about Philip Seymour Hoffman? I already admire this man as an actor and for him to take on the role of Plutarch Heavensbee and just owned it? Nothing bad I can say about him. I can’t. He was a better Plutarch than I ever could have thought. He was so good at being that man whom you do not know is good or bad.

And let me get into my shallow self a little but boy, has Josh Hutcherson grown. When did this guy become hot? Did he work out because hello, he filled up those clothes really well. And the arena costume, that swimsuit-ish costume? Oh, showing off that body really well *coughs*. I’m in no team, as some people like to have these days but if I were to choose a team, it would be Team Peeta-my-god-when-did-you-get-hot Mellark.

Anyway, if there’s anything I could critique, it’d be the scene between Peeta and the female morphling when she died. I wished they had kept to the book. But the change wasn’t bad. It’s just my preference because the book version was really moving and one of those scenes where I cried the most. But the movie version wasn’t a bad change. It was still emotional for me. I still cried.

In conclusion, the sequel was better than the first and here’s hoping that the third and fourth instalment are as good, if not better, than this one.

If you have not catch the movie yet, I suggest you get your arse off that couch and get to your nearest cinema and watch it.