The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Quite frequently film franchises are born from what will sell on a marketing level. Even if a particular franchise has quality, it originally took a back seat to what will get that target audience in those seats.It usually starts with a helping of the age bracket being looked at, throw in an author who, in this case, is a younger writing author, coupled with a few actors with smoldering good looks, to be released in either summer or the holiday time, the latter in this case, and viola, we have "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire", an instant money-maker.

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a "Victor's Tour" of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is shimmering, but the capitol is still very much in control as President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and a 'game creator' he hired, Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell)--a competition that could change Panem forever. As the time grows closer to the next games, can their team, Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), Effie (Elizabeth Banks), and Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) even prepare them for this next round of potentially lethal exercises?

Others to round out the cast are Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne, Jeffrey Wright as Beetee, Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman, Jena Malone as Johanna, Willow Shields as Primrose Everdeen, Katniss' younger sister, Sam Claflin as Finnick, Lynn Cohen as Mags, Patrick St. Esprit as Commander Thread, Alan Ritchson as Gloss, Toby Jones as Claudius, Stef Dawson as Annie, and E.Roger Mitchell as Chaff.

This was directed with just the right amount of emotion and adventure by Francis Lawrence ("Constantine" '05, "I Am Legend" '07, "Water for Elephants" '11, "Gotham" (TV movie) '12). I say right amount, because since this is already a 'cash cow' franchise, we don't either need to veer or want to veer away too much when it comes to character development and how they connect with each other, lest we make our audience (cash cow) uncomfortable. Heaven forbid! This was written by Simon Beaufoy (""The Full Monty" '97, "Among Giants" '98, "The Darkest Light" '99, "Running Time" 2000, "Everyone's Happy" 2000, "Blow Dry" '01, "This Is Not a Love Song" '02, "Yasmin" '04, "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" '08, "Slumdog Millionaire" '08, "127 Hours" '10, "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" '11), and Michael Arndt ("Little Miss Sunshine" '06, "Toy Story 3" '10, "Brave" (additional material) '12, "Oblivion" (as Michael deBruyn) '13). As you can see by the resumes of these guys, this was written far better than I ever would have dreamed. It was a little long-in-the-tooth, but all in all, was cohesive, and kept you moving very smoothly. Let's only hope these same guys will be writing the next installment to this ever popular franchise which is out next year.

I believe that when "The Hunger Games" was released last year, for one to assume that it would be the only film was obviously living under a rock, because to give up on this goose who lays the golden eggs would be equivalent to shooting yourself in the foot.

Out of 4 Stars: 3                         Rated: PG-13                        146mins.