Taglines: Remember who the enemy is.
The film begins as 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 simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow (Donald Sutherland) prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games, The Quarter Quell – a competition that could change Panem forever.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is anAmerican science fiction adventure film based on Suzanne Collins’ dystopian novel, Catching Fire, the second installment in The Hunger Games trilogy. The film is the sequel to The Hunger Games, and the second installment in The Hunger Games film series, produced by Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik and distributed by Lionsgate. Francis Lawrence directed the film, with a screenplay by Simon Beaufoy and Michael Arndt. Francis Lawrence took over from Gary Ross as director. Adding to the existing cast, the supporting cast was filled out with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Sam Claflin, Lynn Cohen, Jena Malone, Amanda Plummer, Alan Ritchson, and Meta Golding.
The plot of Catching Fire takes place one year after the previous installment; Katniss Everdeen has now returned home safely after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Throughout the story, Katniss senses that a rebellion, against the oppressive Capitol, is simmering through the districts. Filming began on September 10, 2012, in Atlanta, Georgia, before moving to Hawaii.
About the Story (2013)
One year after the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark return home to District 12. After a hunt in the woods with her friend Gale Hawthorne, Katniss is visited at her home by President Snow. He tells her that her decisions in the arena have triggered rebellions, especially in District 8, and also warns her to use the upcoming Victory Tour to show Panem that her acts of rebellion in the arena were just to show love towards Peeta. She reluctantly accepts.
During the first visit in the Victory Tour, which is held in District 11, an old man holds up the three-fingered sign that’s occasionally used in District 12 to show respect and admiration for someone. Peacekeepers interpreted this as an act of rebellion, and dragged the man to the front of the stage in the square and shoot him dead with a pistol, much to the horror, shock and dismay of Katniss. Haymitch angrily tells her “you never get off this train” which means that Katniss and Peeta are mentors for the District 12 tributes and act as a “distraction” to the districts so that the people of Panem will forget “what the real problem is.”
Katniss, Peeta, Effie and Haymitch return home and Katniss quickly goes to Gale. They both devise a plan to run away, but fail. The Capitol sends Peacekeepers to District 12 to crack down on the citizens. The new head Peacekeeper, Romulus Thread, whips Gale after Gale attacked Romulus to stop him from killing an old woman. Haymitch convinces Thread to leave Katniss, Peeta and Gale alone as they are loved ones to the country. While Katniss is watching TV with her family, she, Peeta and Haymitch learn that the previous victors from each district will be selected for the 3rd Quarter Quell. At the reaping, Effie draws Katniss and Haymitch’s names, but Peeta volunteers to take Haymitch’s place.
The victors from each district visit President Snow’s palace for a royal dinner party. While having a dance, Katniss meets new head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee. After the dinner party, the victors are sent to the training center and a hotel. Haymitch warns Katniss that the tributes are furious at being returned to the games and advises a reluctant Katniss to make allies. During the interviews with Caesar Flickerman, Katniss wears a wedding dress, but her stylist Cinna rigs it to transform into the representation of a mockingjay. President Snow witnesses this and sends Peacekeepers out to kill Cinna before Katniss is elevated into the arena.
Katniss and Peeta make alliances with the District 4 tributes, Finnick Odair and Mags, a few minutes into the games. Finnick saves Katniss by throwing a trident into a male from District 5 who was trying to kill Katniss. While the group is trudging through the jungle, Peeta accidentally hits his machete against the force field, electrocuting him and stopping his heart. Finnick resuscitates him.
Before going to sleep, Katniss notices a poison fog coming for them at a fast pace, and the group flees. When Peeta is incapacitated by the fog, Mags walks into it, sacrificing herself and allowing Finnick and Katniss to carry Peeta to safety. After fleeing from a group of wild and extremely ferocious mandrills, Katniss, Peeta and Finnick escape to a beach where they ally with Wiress and Beetee from District 3, and Johanna Mason from 7.
Wiress is in shock from a blood storm and repeatedly says “Tick-Tock.” Katniss realizes that the arena is set up like a clock, with disasters occurring every hour and lightning striking at midnight. The group is then attacked by the Career pack in which Wiress is killed in the fight but Katniss and Johanna kill two of the Careers, sending the surviving Careers back into the jungle. Beetee devises a plan to electrocute the last two Careers by combining a spool of wire and lightning, sending Katniss and Johanna to help prepare the trap.
The women are ambushed by the remaining Careers; Johanna attacks them, incapacitates Katniss and slits the tracker out of her arm before disappearing. Shaken by Johanna’s assault, Katniss returns to the tree and finds Beetee knocked out next to a metal tipped spear wrapped with the wire. Katniss is now suspicious of potential secret foes and attempts to kill Finnick, but he reminds her to ‘remember who the real enemy is,’ as Haymitch had advised her prior to the games. Seeing that the lightning is about to strike, Katniss attaches the remaining wire to an arrow and shoots it into the force field just as the lightning hits, taking down the dome’s force field as well as the Capitol’s surveillance.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
Directed by: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Jena Malone, Amanda Plummer
Screenplay by: Simon Beaufoy
Production Design by: Philip Messina
Cinematography by: Jo Willems
Film Editing by: Alan Edward Bell
Costume Design by: Trish Summerville
Set Decoration by: Larry Dias
Music by: James Newton Howard
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some frightening images, thematic elements, a suggestive situation and language.
Studio: Lionsgate Films
Release Date: November 22, 2013
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