SPOILER ALERT!

After seeing the first Hunger Games movie, I was not satisfied with it. The filming was shaky which I personally found to be distracting. It was not what I imagined in my mind when I had read the books. It was okay, but it wasn’t amazing.

Despite my disappointment from the first film, I went to see Catching Fire, the second sequence in the series, hoping it would accurately match the greatness of my favorite book in the Hunger Game series. It exceeded my expectations. The filming along with the overall presentation of it was better than the first one. Even though it was a two and a half- hour long movie, it did not drag on at all. It included practically everything the book did. There were parts of the film that had me on the edge of my seat even though I have read the books.

For those of you that haven’t read the book (which I highly recommend), Catching Fire is about a girl named Katniss who upon winning a fight to the death, must tour 12 districts in unrest with her co-champion Peeta. Katniss becomes a sign of hope in the districts and so the government finds it essential to dispose of her. Meanwhile Katniss must pretend to be in love with Peeta to appease her spectators while wrestling with her feeling for her childhood friend, Gale.

There is only one criticism I have of the movie. As a Peeta Mellark fan, I was disappointed about how they played down and his love interest with Katniss. While she did have some emotional displays for Peeta in the games, it is mentioned that such displays in the game may be fake. On top of that, the movie made it seem like Katniss and Gale were in love and being with Peeta was just an obligation. The book does make her seem discontent with her situation with Peeta, but she has conflicting feelings for him that are not shown in the movie as much as I would have liked.

All in all, I would give this movie 4.5 stars out of 5 because it was thoroughly enjoyable. I would recommend it even if you didn’t like the first movie because it is an immense improvement. People who haven’t read the books will enjoy it too as long as they have seen the first movie. Even if you are squeamish when people die it is done tastefully and without gore. Any person who likes adventure, but also likes to think will be intrigued by the political issues that the film raises. It is definitely worth your time to go see Catching Fire.