The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Jennifer Lawrence continues to fight for survival in a bigger, better sequel…

Last year our screens were set alight with the adaptation of the first book in Suzanne Collins’ popular and best-selling trilogy, The Hunger Games. The film was an action-packed, nightmarish vision of a dystopian world in which every year one boy and one girl is chosen at random from each of 12 districts to do battle in a deadly arena. Last one left alive is the winner. But in the first film we saw how Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), who volunteered to fight in the games in her sister’s place, bested this cruel regime put in place by the ruling Capital when she threatened to end the games in an unexpected act of defiance way with her fellow district member Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). Their victory over those games is short-lived though. Having both returned to District 12, Katniss and Peeta are still having to put on a show for the cameras in order to survive punishment. Their act isn’t convincing everyone though with more and more people in the districts uprising to rebel against the Capital. If Katniss and Peeta don’t appease them who knows what the vicious Capital leader President Snow (Donald Sutherland) will have in store for them, or what he will do to their families?

To say more about this sequel, or even its predecessor, would be to spoil it for people who haven’t seen the first film or read the excellent trilogy itself. One thing I can say overall though is that The Hunger Games is a series that has it all. Not only are they effective thrillers that have superb set pieces and action, all the books (and in turn the films themselves) are clever, biting satires of politics and the media, especially reality TV. It is therefore ridiculously relevant to our society at the moment. The first film had all of these aspects, in particular the idea of the reality TV that was anything but real or fair, with victors playing up to the cameras in order to stay alive. However great that first film was though, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) is all that times 20. The action is upped, the stakes are higher for Katniss and Peeta (and for everyone around them) and the satire is ever relevant. Writers Simon Beaufoy and Michael deBruyn brilliantly adapt Suzanne Collins’ work for the big screen, with their script for this sequel including all the right moments from the book. Director Francis Lawrence also makes this sequel much more hard-hitting and brutal than the first film, as well as much more realistic. In fact a couple of parts that I thought would have to be omitted from this version due to keeping the film certificate down are actually kept in, in a bold move that means more violence, more blood and more horror. The pathos and heart-breaking moments are also all the more present (I nearly cried 5 times) Lawrence not afraid to keep these parts in to get to the depth of the characters’ harsh lives.

The one thing I will say about the pace of the film is that it takes a little while to get going. The first act is mostly just introduction to the world of Panem again and an update on what has happened to Katniss and Peeta (and what is about to happen). This slow first part actually makes this sequel feel like two separate films, a problem the book has as well.  The first part is more of an issues film and more politically satirical, the second is a thrilling survival tale packed with action. It is after this slow first part though that the fun really starts… This is with the introduction to a new games line-up and to some very interesting characters. Katniss and Peeta meet previous victors of the games, all quirky, twisted and potentially dangerous in their own special way. Finnick Odair (Sam Claflin) in particular is one standout – a preening blonde-haired poster boy for the games. After my initial doubt at Claflin being cast in this role, he manages to prove me wrong. He hits all the right notes with Finnick playing him at first as a vacuous pretty boy, but with Claflin gradually hinting at something more below Finnick’s vain surface.

Other new actor additions add a sense of gravitas and realism to the proceedings, fleshing out smaller roles with great performances. Jeffrey Wright is superb as Beetee, a calculating electronics expert from District 3, as is Amanda Plummer in a brief role as Wiress the fellow member from District 3 who might not be all quite there… We are also introduced to a new Head Gamesmaker this year – Plutarch Heavensbee, played brilliantly by the ever reliable Philip Seymour Hoffman. However the newest arrival in this sequel who is by far the best, and funniest, is Johanna Mason played by Jena Malone. Malone plays her to perfection – having read the book myself it genuinely feels as though she has literally been pulled straight out of the book, in all her rude, obnoxious (yet hilarious) glory. Her portrayal really is that good.

Alongside this impressive new cast list though the returning characters all make an impression this time round as well. Josh Hutcherson builds on the much smaller role Peeta has to play in the second book, making him more of a fighter and less of a victim while still showing him as a sweet boy who wears his heart on his sleeve. Liam Hemsworth also makes the most of a shorter role as Gale, Katniss’s closest friend, whose part seems to have been greatly reduced from what is in the book. Still he manages to get across the bond Gale feels for Katniss as well as his courage at standing up for what he believes in. Three more worth a mention are Donald Sutherland who is brilliantly creepy and menacing as President Snow, Woody Harrelson who is still excellent as the drunken Haymitch, and matching him for laughs is Elizabeth Banks as the OTT Effie Trinket who gets the best lines and the best and most outrageous outfits to wear.

However the real star pulling power of the film is Katniss herself, or more precisely Jennifer Lawrence. She has won people over with her amazing portrayal of the courageous girl, as well as with her real life sweet and funny personality. And again that likable presence is what shines through onscreen. As Katniss she is stoic and determined to fight against anyone she has to. But Lawrence also knows when to show Katniss’s vulnerable side in order to show how great her struggle against the Capital truly is, as well as her doubt at being able to survive what she is about to face. It is this mix of attitude and fear that Lawrence plays brilliantly well and that makes her so mesmerising to watch.

This sequel to the first Hunger Games is bigger and better than the first and much more thrilling to watch once we get past the first act. Jennifer Lawrence is amazing once more as Katniss – maybe even more so as we dig deeper into this fascinating strong female character. This along with the introduction of some fab new other characters and another trip to a (spoiler!!! – but kind of obvious really) new and much more deadly arena makes for a fun film that you’ll want to see more than once. Again as with the first film, the design for their dystopian world is superb, each moment feeling horribly realistic (except for the usual problem of naff CGI animals!) and certain parts feel like they are directly lifted from the book. It is also a terrifyingly relevant story to our society, satirising our culture and our politics effortlessly. And how many blockbusting record-breaking films can boast that? With the next sequel already being filmed director Francis Lawrence can hopefully reprise his success with this sequel and make the 3^rd book come to life as he has done here. But I’m sure with a little work and the reliable presence of Jennifer Lawrence, the odds will ever be in their favour…

Seven Psychopaths – when too many ideas make a film go wrong…

In Bruges was a surprising hit back in 2008 about two hitmen who hide out in the small Belgian city of Bruges after a job goes wrong. It was also incredibly funny and well-written with an excellent cast, and it made a name for writer and director Martin McDonagh. McDonagh’s follow-up film to this is Seven Psychopaths, a similar comedy-drama about more gangsters and other nasty people, and people getting caught in amongst them.

Struggling scriptwriter Marty (Colin Farrell) is trying to write his next hit screenplay. Trouble is all Marty has is a title: ‘Seven Psychopaths’. His best friend Billy (Sam Rockwell) is forever trying to inspire him…as long as he gets a writing credit as well. He is desperate to get involved with Marty’s project though, seeing as how his current career isn’t exactly what you would call honest. He makes a living by stealing dogs with his partner-in-crime Hans (Christopher Walken) and then giving them back to the owners for the reward money. But when Billy and Hans mistakenly steal the beloved dog of notorious gangster Charlie Costello (Woody Harrelson) the trouble that follows both of them, and by consequence Marty as well, might just be able to inspire Marty to write something about seven real life psychopaths…

McDonagh’s film has been met with a lot of heavy expectation following the excellent In Bruges. And for the first half of Seven Psychopaths he manages to live up to it. It’s funny and well-paced, the cast are all brilliant, and the writing is excellent. But that’s just the first half… It’s later on when the film suddenly becomes a complete mess. It becomes a self-reflective discourse in scriptwriting, as we watch Marty struggling to write his film while at the same time trying to escape the gangsters on their trail. McDonagh makes it too clever for its own good – too self-aware of the world of film with the characters discussing not only how Marty will finish his script, but how their own stories will end. While there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with this idea, it becomes too bloated and the energy generated from the first half of the film quickly disappears, leaving you bored and restless of the characters onscreen talking about nothing. In other words, the entire second half becomes a discussion of how McDonagh will end his own screenplay, reflecting his own anxiety over writing his difficult second feature. But Barton Fink or Adaptation this ain’t. This idea also left me feeling slightly insulted as it feels that McDonagh is genuinely confused about what he wants to say and why, tieing himself up in knots about the subject matter he is trying to portray to the viewer.

The feel of the film also changes for this second part, leaving you with a strangely disjointed affair – the first is a quick-paced, fun gangster film with plenty of comedic moments, the second becomes a dull drama. Both separate might have worked, but the sudden change is so jarring that you pray McDonagh will return to the latter. He does, briefly for a fantasy sequence and then later for a climax…but even this overwrought conclusion feels boring. There is also a contrived plot twist halfway through that you can see coming a mile off.

That said Seven Psychopaths has some of the best and funniest performances from everyone involved. Sam Rockwell eclipses everyone whenever he’s around, creating a larger-than-life character in Billy (who also gets most of the best lines). Woody Harrelson is also in OTT mode (when is he not?) as gangster Charlie Costello and gives an excellently funny performance as well. And Christopher Walken is of course amazing as the rugged old-timer Hans as well. He also adds more of an emotional balance to the film, especially for scenes between him and his cancer-stricken wife Myra (Linda Bright Clay). Colin Farrell is also good but seems to be in the shade of the other characters a lot of the time, especially when Rockwell and Walken are onscreen. But still he manages to hold his own throughout the film. Oh, and Tom Waits pops up as an intriguing guy who carries a white rabbit around with him. Amazing.

The women in McDonagh’s film get a raw deal though, only appearing onscreen for what is collectively about ten minutes. Abbie Cornish as Marty’s girlfriend and Olga Kurylenko as Costello’s girlfriend are barely able to make a mark and don’t have much to do in the way of plot. McDonagh only makes up for this lack of female characters slightly with Linda Bright Clay who gets the chance to give a very heartfelt performance as Hans wife Myra and who actually has something to do with the story.

Overall though this film is a classic case of too many ideas being crammed into one film (comedy, drama, action, a comment on violence, and a discussion on scriptwriting and Hollywood). McDonagh’s trademark writing style of funny dialogue about nothing in particular, while it is still present, becomes too much for a boring second half in which you can guess exactly what happens in the end. The tacked on end credit scene is testament to a confused idea that doesn’t know when to stop. After the simplicity of In Bruges, writer and director Martin McDonagh has gone into overload here and while it does feature some fine, funny performances (especially from Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson) these are lost in the end to a over-complicated and problematic concept.

The Hunger Games

Now that Harry Potter is over and the Twilight saga is nearly at an end, Hollywood has been desperate to find the next big franchise to adapt. And they’ve found it in Suzanne Collin’s trilogy of books, beginning with The Hunger Games. It’s set in a dystopian future in a land called Panem which is divided into numbered districts, all of which are stricken by poverty, starvation and overruled by an unforgiving authority. Every year children between the ages of 12 and 18 are selected to take part in the gruesome Hunger Games: a fight to the death between 24 contestants (2 children from each of the 12 districts) from which only one of them will survive and be crowned the winner.

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), a 16-year-old from District 12, hunts for food to keep her, her Mum and her little sister Primrose (Willow Shields) alive. But when Primrose is the next child randomly selected to take part in the games, Katniss offers to take her place, saving her sister’s life and sacrificing her own. What follows is Katniss and the other contestant from her district, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), being initiated into the glam world of the Capitol where they train with the other contestants and appear on lurid TV chat shows, while all the time they have to face the fact that their final fight for survival draws ever closer.

Everything about The Hunger Games is perfectly realised: the story, the direction, the design, the performances… It all makes for a very entertaining film that you’ll want to see more than once. The confident direction from Gary Ross (who previously directed Pleasantville and, erm, Seabiscuit) is excellent and once the games finally start he uses the right mix of tension and action with breaks of emotion. One thing I was worried about was the recent news of cuts to the violence in the film and having it released as a 12A certificate. Dumbing down the brutal killings would have been a very bad move. But the gore is still quite strong in The Hunger Games, not to mention horrific and sudden at times, which is what it needs to be to show the true horror of the situation these kids are in.

The plot is a clever reflection on high society ruling over the working classes: the games are a way of showing the poor who is in charge. And the use of Reality TV is a chilling comment on the RTV we are so used to seeing today: the contestants as they are moulded into someone the public want them to be, the unethical idea of filming everything, even the idea of the contestants trying to get sponsors (rich people who can give them extra help in the games, boosting their chances of survival). Although I’ve now made The Hunger Games sound like a very issue heavy film, it’s still an extremely enjoyable watch and the inclusion of these subjects only shows the strength of Suzanne Collin’s amazingly detailed book and her, Gary Ross’s and Billy Ray’s script.

Jennifer Lawrence makes the perfect Katniss. After seeing her in X-Men: First Class, I thought she might have been too old to play a 16-year-old (seeing as how she seems so grown up in X-Men). But she still has that look and determination of youth about her and she makes Katniss the right mix of bravery and smarts with also a hint of sadness and vulnerability at moments when the true nature of what she’s involved in hits her.

The supporting cast are all great too whether it be kooky OTT Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket, Stanley Tucci as slimy, TV chat show host Caesar Flickerman (he even manages to pull off the blue haired bouffant look), Josh Hutcherson as Peeta the other contestant who Kat doesn’t know if she can trust, Liam Hemsworth as Kat’s helpful friend Gale back in the district, or Lenny Kravitz as Kat’s stylist and kindly mentor Cinna. But the best is Woody Harrelson as a previous District 12 contestant who won before and who is there to (reluctantly) give the two kid’s advice. He’s brings a bit of much-needed comedy to the proceedings at times, but he also plays it serious and sincere when he needs too.

The design in The Hunger Games is truly incredible too: the unforgiving districts are bare, dusty and drab, the Capitol has vast futuristic-looking buildings, and the simulated arena for the games is a huge forest placed inside a big constructed hanger/warehouse. The costumes are also great and bring to mind something out of The Fifth Element – they’re kooky and vibrantly coloured in the rich Capitol, contrasting with the plain, drabness of the districts.

As you can probably tell I loved The Hunger Games. It has taken a story which has been used in a few other films before (Battle Royale, The Running Man) and shaped it into something new and interesting to reflect today’s society. It’s fast-paced, emotional, full of tension, and horrifying at times. And once it gets to the games it makes for a brilliant and truly gripping watch. I’m dying to see it again and to read the books. And it’s definitely the new franchise to keep a very close eye on.