Theatrical Review: Mockingjay- Part 2

Date: Saturday November 21, 2014
Time: 12pm
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Party: 2 (my mom and I)

Director: Francis Lawrence
Type: young adult, drama, book-to-movie adaptation, action, sci-fi

Cast:
Katniss Everdeen- Jennifer Lawrence
Peeta Mellark- Josh Hutcherson
Gale- Liam Hemsworth
Plutarach- Philip Seymour HoffmanFinnick Odair (District 4)- Sam Claflin
Beetee (aka "Volts") (District 3)- Jeffrey Wright
Haymitch- Woody Harrelson
Effie Trinket- Elizabeth Banks
Prim Everdeen- Willow Shields
Caesar Flickerman- Stanley Tucci
President Snow- Donald SutherlandJohanna Mason (District 7)- Jena Malone
District 13 President Coin- Julianne Moore
Katniss's bodyguard Boggs- Mahershala Ali
Propaganda director Cressida- Natalie Dormer
Propaganda crew member Messalla-Evan Ross
Propaganda crew member Castor- Wes Chatham
Propaganda crew member Pollux- Elden Henson

Duration: 137 minutes (+ trailers)

Opening Remarks and Trailers:

We were the only ones in the theater when we arrived. 2-3 people came in after the trailers, but they slipped in through the back so we only heard them come in.

I'm not sure if I've asked this yet, but are we going to have to suffer through that Superman/Batman trailer EVERY SINGLE TIME we go to the movies? The god-awful excessive promotion of this is actually talking me OUT of seeing this movie.
That was my last thought before the movie itself started.

Before that, we had some pretty awesome looking trailers for "Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass" (although I have to ask if there was any conceivable reason to make the Mad Hatter a lead character if he wasn't being played by Johnny Depp), "Allegiant" (why the hell are they making this into two movies, again? It looks fairly complete to me...), "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (we got to see Leia this time! I'm also theorizing whether the female lead and Oscar Isaac's characters are Han & Leia's twins... I'm pretty sure she's one of them, with him, it's just wishful thinking, lol).

Then there was a brand new movie called "God of Egypt" which looked SUPER AMAZING. The effects especially. Gerard Butler appears to be playing the villain God, Set. And Robert Sheehan (who played Simon in "City of Bones") might be one of the main characters. I just hope it really is as amazing as it looks and it doesn't wind up being that waste-of-time "Clash of the Titans" remake.

Write-up:

The End of Another Franchise

For my previous "Hunger Games" reviews, follow the links below... if that kind of thing strikes your fancy:http://moviegoerconfessions.blogspot.com/2013/07/71-hunger-games-2012.html
http://moviegoerconfessions.blogspot.com/2013/11/theatrical-review-hunger-games-catching.html
http://moviegoerconfessions.blogspot.com/2014/11/theatrical-review-mockingjay-part-1.html
Now onto business...

I was just thinking the other day how, once this movie is done, the only YA franchise we have left is Veronica Roth's series... and that's going to be agonizingly carried out over the next couple years. Those who've read "Allegiant" know why- I'm not going to dispense with any spoilers until that time comes (in 2018).
Beyond that, we'll have a bunch of "Star Wars" movies, the rest of "50 shades" (2017 cannot come fast enough... assuming "50 Shades Darker" follows in the same footsteps of the first movie, which I enjoyed far more than the book. Although the 2nd book is my favorite in the series by far), and a bunch of John Green adaptations ("Paper Towns" got horrible reviews, but I loved the book so I still want to see it).

What'll we do without any serieses of book-to-adaptations? Who knows?
But what's for sure is that the ending of every franchise is a celebration with some bittersweet aspects. Most of them are in the realm of "crying cuz it's over, but happy that it happened"... Harry Potter and Twilight were that for me, easily.

With "Mockingjay" and the Hunger Games, even before going into the movie, I know for a fact it will be bittersweet because the impending victory (this is not a SPOILER, by the way. Find me one franchise where the rebels/good guys don't win, then we'll talk) comes after some very drastic and heartwrenching sacrifices.
Far worse than losing Fred Weasley, Tonks and Lupin in "Harry Potter"- but to be fair, those deaths were shown so quickly that we barely had time to grieve. Of all people, Snape was probably the one person we were allowed time to mourn. [And I proceeded through the series all over again, books & movies, so I could truly appreciate him and his actions].

And much to my continued annoyance while reading the book, one of those casualties/deaths DID NOT INCLUDE PEETA.
I can be pretty rabid about wanting someone killed off in a series (film, TV, book, etc.). Especially villains. But also when something appears to be a dead end with no hope of redemption. This was not assisted by the fact I shipped Katniss and Gale for the series and something happens that blows up (figuratively AND literally) any possibility of that. After Bella married Edward and become a vampire, I didn't think there was a more final way to put an end to a YA novel coupling. Any member of Team Jacob reading this would probably laugh and point "NOW YOU KNOW HOW WE FEEL."

More on Shipping YA book/movie couples

Excluding "Twilight" (Team Edward for life!), it really does suck when the girl always ends up with the guy she just met opposed to the one she knew her whole life. Clary & Simon had that same issue in the "Mortal Instruments" series, but then again, that whole cockblock [not a typo!] that was Clary & Jace being fooled into believing they were brother and sister... I'm sorry, that was incredibly stupid. I enjoyed the series, but it had so many annoying roadblocks keeping Clary & Jace apart that I almost gave up on a number of times.
The only example of friends winding up together was "Some Kind of Wonderful"- it STILL does not make up for Andy & Ducky not happening in "Pretty in Pink."

Anyway, the movies made me like Peeta more than I did in the books- where I think I was more indifferent towards him. The credit, without a doubt, goes to Josh Hutcherson for just being so good at being likeable. So going in, I could only hope that his performance would save me again. That I wouldn't spend most of the movie wishing him dead because the grip that tracker-jacker torture had on him could not be broken.

Onto The Movie itself...

After all that build up, I hope that I at least have enough to talk about to fill up the rest of the post.
We re-enter the movie maybe a couple weeks after the previous part ended. Katniss is just getting her voice back after Peeta nearly choked her to death. And I spend a great deal of the movie white-knuckled, shell-shocked and in that old "Mockingjay-death-to-Peeta" state of mind.
Being with him in those scenes was so difficult. I don't have a lot of memory of the book at this point, but I didn't remember Katniss actually taking my side and really wanting nothing to do with him. Heck, there's a scene where President Coin, Plutarch and Haymitch make her talk to him when she really doesn't to. The madness comes out when they first send Prim to talk to him, which I don't remember from the book, but if it was made for the movie, it made sense. First because he knows and trusts her and second because we need more Prim screen time to make up for later on.
Spoilers from this point forward...
And just prepare for me to go into length about the characters... it's always best to read the books first.
In previous book-to-movie adaptations (although most of this was "Twilight"), I loathed when they spent time away from the protagonists and spent time with the villains or side characters. But in this case, I enjoyed President Snow's additional screen time to see more of what was going on.
There was an intriguing "dinner party" scene where he offs somebody in a way much more subtle than Darth Vadar choking out the creator of the Death Star. Snow being the ruthless ruler he is, it's not surprising that he's dealt with a fair number of assassination attempts. But I enjoyed the fact (not sadistically, but for storytelling purposes) that this was starting to take a toll on him. And he could very well die soon of his own fruition.

I don't know if I would have found as much comfort in Plutarch's presence in the story had Philip Seymour Hoffman not died. But whatever presence he had was grounding and comforting, especially when a lot of it was bleak and tense. The CGI renderings of him to fill in the blanks he left behind after his death were so live-like, I'm welling to bet they were bittersweet for greater fans of his .
And his absence also gave Woody Harrelson a chance at having a great additional scene that made me grateful for both their characters. Haymitch had the least screen time in this film than any other before it, but he made each one really count for something.

Jena Malone appears a small number of times as Johanna, being somewhat of the antithesis/voice of reason within District 13's rebel stronghold. Although her most memorable moments were stealing Katniss's morphine (anyone who knows Johanna from "Catching Fire" or reading the books, this was one of those "well-of-course") moments and slowly forming a Joker grin while listening to Katniss's plan at the wedding.

To me, having Finnick and Annie's wedding in the middle of this movie felt a little contrived and pointless. I didn't know whether or not he was going to die in an upcoming scene and if he had, what was the point of all this? Just to take us away from the bleak nature of this movie? To give Katniss and Prim one final nice scene together?
It wasn't nearly as gratifying, heartwarming or exciting as Bill and Fleur's wedding in part 1 of the "Deathly Hallows."

One review I remember mentioned something about Stanley Tucci having one last scene as Caesar Flickman that was memorable... when I saw it, I figured I misread it as being something more than it was. But somehow I missed the line "he manages to end his brief appearance with the single most insincere smile his toady of a character has ever smiled." Actually, until that moment, I always liked his character. Then I freaking HATED him or wished he was joking about Katniss being horrible.

After the wedding, a few scenes of Katniss fighting to storm the Capitol, and Peeta continuing to deteriorate my opinion of him, we have Katniss going with Boggs, Gale, Finnick and her propaganda team to infiltrate the Capitol.
Which obviously is tricky business because there are booby traps everywhere, even those not marked on their portable electronic map.
Plus the fact Peeta was shipped to them. I don't remember that in the book either, him joining their squad in this way, but either way, it felt like foul play was at work. That coupled with Boggs telling Katniss that Coin wanted to save Peeta from the arena instead of her because she wants to be in control of everything. Losing him was a little bit of a game-changer, but I also hated it because I had started to like him at this point.

Peeta lashes out only one other time, killing one person whose name escapes me, which made me feel a bit better. After a while, I started to ignore the ticking bomb in the room and focus on the other dangers ahead. I screamed once and it was at something that wasn't even deadly. The only way for them to go day to day was to keep asking/answering whether something was real or not. Apparently, the tracker-jacker torture involved using images that were real and some that weren't. And that same Peeta I liked in the first couple movies was back.
I still don't regret feeling any of that negativity, though.

Gale and Peeta actually got to have a scene together, which was interesting, but much shorter than the whole Edward/Jacob conversation in the tent in "Eclipse." They ultimately agree that Katniss will choose whomever when the war is all over.
But being on Team Gale, I still feel letdown about how he and Katniss parted ways. The scene was barely a blimp in the radar of the movie. He didn't know whether the final assault on the Capitol was his issue (in the book, I think he knew he was behind it) and she simply said goodbye to him. They never saw each other after that. At least Jacob, however annoying he was at times, contributed to the plot and was around after the main story ended.

All the boobytrap scene had really great CGI and special effects. But they were also terrifying, more than anything in either arena from the first two movies. In the sewers, there were all these monsters looked like the demons in the cave from the "Half-Blood Prince." The action happened so fast you almost didn't know who was who. But the fact Peeta got involved and actually attacked them (rather than his fellow humans) was great to see from his character. It let me know things would be okay from that point forward.
But losing one character here was particularly difficult. It almost felt unnecessary, but considering how they were surrounded, there really was no way out.
Besides the Peeta-turn-around, the one good thing that came out of going underground was giving Pollux a time to shine. I fouind him very endearing in Part 1 and having him lead the squad through the tunnels he knew like the back of his hand- that was great, and he did it without saying a word. (He's an Avox- had his tongue cut out by the Capitol as punishment).

There's a scene where everyone left ducks into a fashion boutique where they hid for the night. I believe this was supposed to the one scene Effie had in the entire "Mockingjay" novel. Instead, this went to Tigress, a former "Hunger Games" beautifier that Snow had tired because she wasn't pretty anymore. The only thing left at this point is for the squad to split up with Katniss and Gale going undercover.

Snow makes an announcement that all the Capitol denizens need to hide in his mansion. So I'm rolling my eyes thinking this is a human-shield tactic. Then at the front, they're ordered to hand all their children over. More eye rolling. Parachutes (like those with sponsor gifts in the Hunger Games) come down and I figure out very quickly that they are not a good thing.  Everything turns around very quickly. So much that you almost have no time to react. Barely even have time to notice Prim and scream when she's killed in one of the bombings.

In this part of the book, Katniss is rendered mute from the shock of it all. She figures out very quickly what happened and who was responsible. But I suppose they needed one final scene with her and President Snow to really establish her future mindset and explain why she takes the actions she does.
I remember reading the end of a chapter where she has an arrow notched for Snow. But turn the page and she kills President Coin and he dies choking on his own tongue and blood from laughing so hard at the sheer madness of it all. I honestly don't remember my reaction: whether it was a surprise or I had expected it.
It was frustrating that she never got to explain herself to anyone when everyone in the crowd was in a frenzy over what she did. But I like the scene with Haymitch, reading Plutarch's letter about sneaking her out of the city and also understanding her actions.

But I started to wonder/worry that they were going to gloss over Prim's death... until Katniss returns home (in the Victor's part of District 12) and sees Prim's cat. Her reaction still came off better in the book, but J-Law makes this hard to watch for good reasons. We all feel the way she does (at least I should hope so at this point).

I liked the ending where she, Peeta and Haymitch are living together. And she also comes to his room and falls asleep in Peeta's arms.
But then we went into the re-written epilogue section... which I felt was a little overkill with the sticky-sweet factor. I knew she and Peeta would end up together, but did we really have to see them have a couple kids? And she tells one of them about having nightmares and playing "games"... I'm sorry, guys, but give me a freaking break here.
I realize that there would be no Hunger Games (President Coin's push for them with the Capitol's children ended with her death) and there's no reason left to not want kids. But it felt a little too cliché to me.
[Just re-read the last couple pages- the only differences are which of the two child is older and the narrative was converted to dialogue... either way, I rolled my eyes when I read it because I honestly didn't care to know any of that. But that's just me...]

Final Comment:

I really enjoyed the first two movies. The second even more than the first one. But splitting this movie in two might have done it less favors. There were moments with certain character I really enjoyed, but after a while, I just wanted to it all to be over. It wasn't thoroughly enjoyable, but then again, war rarely is.
My mom was saying afterwards that she felt numb after all that's happened through the series. And I tend to agree.

Grade: B+

Theatrical Review: The Hunger Games- Catching Fire

Date: November 23, 2013
Time: 1:15pm
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Party: 3 (my mom & fellow movie-going/book-reading aunt)
Duration: 146 minutes (+2 trailers)

Director: Francis Lawrence
Type: young adult, drama, book-to-movie adaptation, action, sci-fi

Cast:

Returning Players
Katniss Everdeen- Jennifer Lawrence
Peeta Mellark- Josh Hutcherson
Gale- Liam Hemsworth
Haymitch- Woody Harrelson
Effie Trinket- Elizabeth Banks
Cinna- Lenny Kravitz
Prim Everdeen- Willow Shields
Caesar Flickerman- Stanley Tucci
President Snow- Donald Sutherland

Newcomers
Head Gamemaker Plutarach- Philip Seymour Hoffman
Finnick Odair (District 4)- Sam Claflin
Johanna Mason (District 7)- Jena Malone
Beetee (aka "Volts") (District 3)- Jeffrey Wright
Wirress (aka "Nuts") (District 3)- Amanda Plummer
Mags (District 4)- Lynn Cohen

Trailers:

There were two.

First was for yet another YA book series getting adapted to film.
"Divergent" by Veronica Roth is coming to theaters next March.
The book's down to $8 at Wal-Mart, but I have yet to pick up a copy. (But in my defense, I have five other books yet to read... and yeah, after seeing this trailer, now I gotta read it).

So far, I just know it takes place in the future where kids are classified as one of four personality types that go on to define their futures... but I didn't realize our heroine (played by Shailene Woodley) couldn't be classified by the system.

Then there was "I, Frankenstein," which looks like a modern take on the Mary Shelley story with a hint of "Underworld" folklore (seeing as it's done by the same people behind that franchise).

It was a decent crowd, roughly a dozen or so other people in addition to the three of us.

Write-up:

Just to save myself a little bit of typing, for those unfamiliar with the franchise, I'll provide the link to my "Hunger Games" review to recap.
http://moviegoerconfessions.blogspot.com/2013/07/71-hunger-games-2012.html
Skip down to the "discussion" sub-heading for the basic premise

Spoilers from this point out... but again, I urge newbies to read the book or at least see the first movie before preceding with the second. Otherwise, it might be difficult to follow.

Aside from the addition of more characters and upping the dramatics with the plot, the biggest change is a brand new director.

Francis Lawrence only has a few movie credits to his name from the director's chair, getting his start with music videos for Green Day and Britney Spears. Gary Ross's directing for the previous installment drew a lot of criticism, particularly regarding the shaky camera angles. Based on the fact Lawrence has been signed for the rest of the series, the franchise has themselves a winner.
Kinda like David Yates with the Harry Potter franchise, but books five through seven had a similar feel, so that made sense.

Plot
(I'll try to keep up with the main points without giving away too much)

The story picks up from where the previous movie left off and could be broken into three parts.

The Aftermath & Victory Tour

Settings: District 12, Districts 1-11, The Capitol

Katniss and Peeta are back in District 12 after being crowned co-champions of the 74th Hunger Games. Katniss receives a not-so-cordial visit from President Snow. In a passive-aggressive manner, he gives Katniss a "task" to fulfill when she and Peeta are on the Victory Tour: Convince him that their plan of ingesting the poisonous berries in the Games wasn't to defy the Capitol, but because they'd rather die than be without each other. Along with their mentor, Haymitch and their PR person, Effie, Katniss and Peeta set off to visit the other districts with The Capitol as their last stop.

Their first stop: District 11, home to fallen Tributes, Rue and Thresh.
Because Rue was her ally and closest friend in the arena, Katniss decides to give a tearful speech about her. This pledge of good faith earns her the respect of District 11 and, unfortunately, leads to bloodshed. While not at the same magnitude, similar incidents happen throughout the districts, no matter how much Katniss and Peeta "stick to the script." They attempt to remedy the situation by getting engaged. 
Naturally, The Capitol was the most extravagant of the affairs. While there, Katniss makes the acquaintance of the new gamemaker, Plutarch.

Once back in District 12, things only seem to go from bad to worse when a new Head Peacekeeper is appointed. Meanwhile, Plutarch and Snow are scheming for a way to "eliminate" Katniss before uprsings start to happen again... and arrive at a brilliant, albeit horrifying solution.

Every 25 years, a special version of the Hunger Games known as the "Quarter Quell" is held. Notably, they come with their own set of rules and/or changes in protocol. This is to keep things interesting while serving as education for the newest "crop" of tributes.
For the 75th Hunger Games, the "crop" is made up of previous victors... seeing as District 12 has only produced three champions with Katniss being the only female, she has to return.

Preparing for the Quarter Quell

Setting: The Capitol

Regarding the male tribute, Haymitch was drawn out of the bowl, but Peeta volunteered to take his place...

Unlike the previous time around, Katniss and Peeta decide to train as if they were from District 1 or 2, i.e. "Careers." Throughout the trials, they size up the other victors to determine who the best allies would be.
Katniss is put off by the womanizing Finnick and overtly sexual Johanna, but finds kinship with the older, but intelligent, Beetee and Wiress from District 3. She also likes the older woman, Mags, who volunteered to come from District 4 alongside Finnick.

During the interview segment, Katniss shows off Cinna's latest creation: the wedding dress she would have wore to her wedding with Peeta. But when she does the "girl on fire" twirl, it reveals a mockingjay.
Unfortunately, this doesn't end well for Cinna and his demise is the last thing Katniss witnesses before re-entering the arena

Re-entering the Arena

Setting: Somewhere in the tropics

The tributes arrive, finding themselves surrounded by water, which is surrounded by jungle. Bloodshed ensues, Katniss grabs her favored weapon and finds herself with Finnick as an ally, along with Mags.

They quickly found there are multiple horrors waiting for them, both natural and man-made (or man-"taught"). Later on, they meet with Johanna who "retrieved" Wiress and Beetee (who she calls "Nuts" and "Volts") for Katniss. Wiress constantly repeats "tick, tock," something Johanna chalked up to PTSD, but Katniss realized it refers to a set pattern of "horrors" in the arena based on a clock.   

When the tributes come down to a small enough number (only a handful of Careers remaining in addition to Katniss's group), they concoct a plan to off them while sparing themselves direct confrontation.

But not all goes according to plan... and by the end of the movie (which is a cliff-hanger, by the way), Katniss comes to realize there was another plan in place and it puts her at the helm of it.
That plan being... REVOLUTION.

Book-to-Movie and Sequel Chatter

Now that the structured part of this review is over, I can work on the editorial portion.

For starters, the movie was AWESOME. Probably will go on to be in my top 3 theatrical outings this year (or maybe top 5, so I can make room for "Iron-Man 3" and "Now you see me" along with "Thor: The Dark World" and "Star Trek Into Darkness").

Like the "Hunger Games" before it, the adaptation from book to film was on-point. Although I read the book just once over a year ago, I felt like it hit on all the major points and didn't leave too much out. (At this length, they would have been in a lot of trouble if they left out anything huge because there'd simply be no excuse for it).

It's said so often in Hollywood that it's practically cliché by this point... to say that sequels are tricky because they rarely surpass the original. That's especially difficult in franchises like this one that's either adapted from a book series or derives from the sci-fi/fantasy genre.
Having said that, "Catching Fire" is yet another successful sequel. In comparison to some of the other sequels I saw this year, most of which were done particularly well, it's probably the best.

The biggest issue I can draw is that the subject matter of the storyline might be so intense that it lessens the "re-watchability" factor,  just speaking as someone who loves to revisit movies several times :-P
If I were to chart the intensity level, "The Hunger Games" has an oscillating curve that has distinct peaks & troughs (highs and lows). With "Catching Fire," it'd be compare to something you'd find on a Richter scale on the west coast. As soon as the tension dies down, it comes back up within 5 minutes, opposed to having break periods lasting 10-15-20 minutes in its predecessor. Not to mention the violence is more graphic and "personal" this time around. The various dangers in the arena were well done, which made them borderline terrifying at times (I wasn't a fan of the poisonous smoke or the jabberjays that plays into the psychological side of things).

But in other aspects, I think it had a better storyline and the characterization was handled especially well.

Characters and Actors, Old & New

Katniss maintains the "reluctant heroine" archetype throughout the series, but does so in varying capacities.
She was very guarded going into the first movie, unwilling to trust and rely on other people. While trying to convince Snow she isn't out to defy The Capitol, she's become a better actor. This is especially noticeable when she's being interviewed by Caesar Flickerman, more at ease with being herself and playing to the audience the way Peeta had done so easily the last time around.
Even with an Oscar under her belt, Jennifer Lawrence continues to be on her game, living and breathing this role as if she is this character when the cameras aren't on.

Gale reminded me why I preferred him to Peeta going into this phenomenon. But then again, Liam Hemsworth looks so much cuter with dark hair (I don't care for him as a blonde). He continues to struggle with his feelings for Katniss, getting a few kisses in to make his feelings known, but it can't be easy for him sitting on the sidelines while she's forced to keep people believing she and Peeta are an item.

At the same time, though, I'm grown more fond of Peeta this time around.
Right now I'm recollecting how unhappy I was with him while reading the book. He spent the first few chapters in a mood after what Katniss said at the end of the previous book... how she thought this whole thing, including how he felt about her, was an act. The truth was that he meant everything he said and it hurt his feelings that she didn't reciprocate that, let alone believe him.
Not only did they downplay that drama to the point where it was non-existent, but I especially loved whatever relationship the two of them had here. There were a few scenes where Katniss had nightmares and Peeta was there to support her, being there as if he was the only friend she had in the world. Although it does help that they shared a lot of the same experiences.

Woody Harrelson continues to be one of my favorite supporting actors with this second outing as Haymitch, always on hand to provide much needed advice (and tough love) to our favorite District 12 denizens... but not nearly as present and impactful as I found him in the previous film.
Perhaps this was meant to make more room for Effie to shine. Die-hard Panem fans (and IMDB disciples like myself) would notice her character wasn't even referred to by name in "The Hunger Games". She not only ushers Katniss and Peeta throughout the districts for the Victory Tour, but she treats the audience to a myriad of amazing yet confounding outfits. And the fact she gets so close to them and loathes the fact they have to go back into the arena was something that grabbed me about her character this time around (yet I forgot to include it in this entry until a couple hours after I wrote it :-P )

On that particular note, I gotta give my props to the costume department... especially to the people behind the Mockingjay dress. They were careful to only show it from behind in the trailers, but it was spectacular enough to warrant an audible gasp... it doesn't make Cinna's demise any less painful, though :( that was one of the saddest moments in the series for me, up there with when Rue got killed.

Before getting to the other tributes (two in particular), I want to draw attention to Katniss's sister, Prim and how much she's matured. Fans of the series will note the significance, but since the latest Games, she rose to the role of being an assistant healer to her mom... especially notable in the scene where they need to take care of Gale after he receives corporal punishment from the new Head Peacekeeper. She's become a much stronger individual, something Katniss finds admirable, but at the same time, she loathes how the state of things has "hardened" her and taken away her child-like innocence.

One of my favorite aspects of this movie was how they spent more time getting to know the other tributes... how Katniss develops friendships with some of them and how she's uneasy about others. While other tributes kinda dismissed Beetee and Wiress as weirdos, Katniss gravitated towards them, perhaps feeling that their unconventional talents have equal warrant to combat.

I knew Sam Claflin previously as Snow White's Prince William in "Snow White & the Huntsman"... even though he was up against Chris Hemsworth, I thought he was the better looking man of the two.
My mom thought he looked exactly like Jake Abel of "Percy Jackson" fan... and I saw quite a bit of that as well... Finnick's character is very chauvinistic and a little self-absorbed so Katniss didn't care much for him at first, but he proved to be an excellent ally in the field.

Johanna was one character I really disliked in the book on the ground she seemed like a bitch and through Katniss's narration, you felt that she felt sexually threatened by her, in that Johanna was more at ease with showing off her figure in front of Peeta. To that effect, there's a scene in the movie where she strips off her "chariot" outfit in the elevator for Katniss, Peeta and Haymitch to see. (If any men saw this movie, I'll bet they were disappointed it was PG13 and didn't warrant any on-screen nudity here).
My attitude towards her changed in the latter chapters of the book when she became an ally and the announcement of Jena Malone playing her made her one to watch.

Actually, when Johanna wasn't being a flirt, she reminded me a lot of your typical "Real World" housemate, foul-mouthed and copping an attitude about sticking it to the man, which I thought was a cool "modern" twist they threw in. (I had actually never seen any of MTV's reality series, but I've heard things).

And to foreshadow a bit more, I am a week away from covering one of her movies (the one that made me fall in love with her as an actress).

Final Comments

I stayed through the credits to hear some of the songs that were playing. I guessed right that the first was Coldplay and loved the track by Of Monsters and Men... although I doubt that'll be enough to make me want to run out and get it :-P

On paper and on screen, as I previously stated, "Catching Fire" probably will go on to be in my top 5 theatrical features this year. It stays faithful to what made the original great and made it progressively better in all aspects (plot, characterization, conflict, etc.).

Grade: A