If Katniss is the girl set to save the Districts from doom, then “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” is the chosen one in terms of book-to-movie adaptations.
Anyone who might remember the minting of the “Harry Potter” film series will remember how dubious everyone was at Daniel Radcliffe’s potential, and if the then-incomplete magical storybook world would end up working on the big screen.
Twelve years later, that franchise has set precedents so sky-high, barely any young adult fiction saga has been able to compete since (except maybe “Lord of the Rings,” if you put it in that category).
And now, “Catching Fire” has swooped in to redeem the category. With a dazzling 89 percent on [Rotten Tomatoes](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hunger_games_catching_fire/) and a beautiful job done weaving plot complexity, morality elements, character exploration and contemporary societal commentary, this is a movie intriguing even outside of its YA origins.
Heroine Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is back and showing all the appropriate signs of post-traumatic stress. Contrasting sharply with her forced-happy-celebrity persona is a girl jaded by the harsh, neglected life her fellow district-men lead.
The good thing is that the film (and honestly, the original book series) spends time fixating on this, rather than on the romantic elements YA so often falls down the rabbit hole with. Instead, Katniss and fellow winning tribute Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) deal with the less pleasant repercussions of winning, turning the potential “happily ever after” ending “The Hunger Games” could have left us with on its ugly head to show us how much worse real life can be.
Portrayals of luxurious life in Panem and the sadistic pleasure of the citizens watching the ugly-but-somehow-glamorous reality TV that is the Games are tinged with a satirical element that reminds us a bit of our own materialistic society today.
With fallacious counterparts such as “Ender’s Game,” “Twilight,” “The Golden Compass,” “The Mortal Instruments” and “Percy Jackson,” among others, “The Hunger Games” series is doing surprisingly well telling a story that could appeal to people without any previous exposure to the story. It simultaneously stayed true to the plot and the heart of the film, and left the audience hungering (no pun intended) for more at the end.
With the last shot on Katniss’ angry and upset face, you can feel her pain — and young adult fiction should ultimately be more about those kinds of feelings in a teen context, not belittling them through over-exaggerations of romance and trivial angst.
_MOVE gives “Catching Fire” 4.5 out of 5 stars._
