With a jaw-dropping surprise twist at the end, the long-awaited “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” premiere doesn’t disappoint long-time fans of the novels.

“Catching Fire” is the second of what will end up to be a four-movie adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ wildly popular book trilogy (with the third book cut into two films). So far, the two movies have been extremely successful with their amazing special effects, top-notch actors and exciting action scenes.

Fan favorites Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth deliver a better-than-ever performance, accompanied this time around by a few equally talented new additions including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amanda Plummer and Jeffery Wright. Additionally, “Catching Fire” has a new director: Francis Lawrence.

If you are someone who has been waiting to see this movie since finishing the book, you will not be disappointed. “Catching Fire” begins with Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) carefully surveying the land around her as she crouches down in the forest. Despite what you might think, she is at the outskirts of free land outside of her Panem home in District 12, and not in a scene from the games.

For those who are unfamiliar, Panem is an authoritarian state that has been built upon the remains of North American ruins after a huge, catastrophic war. This is where Katniss’ rebellious character is fully developed.

“Catching Fire” is everything audiences could have hoped for. Lawrence has really grown her character and embodies just what you would expect Katniss Everdeen to be like from the books. This is furthered by her costumes, which were flawless. In fact, everyone’s detailed outfits added a lot of depth to each scene.

The rest of the cast is also outstanding, especially Elizabeth Banks, who portrays Effie Trinket. Unlike in the first film, Banks’ character delivers more humor and emotion in “Catching Fire” — something we have not seen before.

But even the best films have their faults, one being the lack of character exploration in Primrose Everdeen (Willow Shields), Katniss’ sister. Her character could have been developed a bit further so that the audience could get to know her more, since she is a major secondary character in the books. But given movie time constraints, it is notably difficult to put every detail of a book into a two-hour film.

For the most part, the comedic, emotional and action-packed scenes were well balanced throughout. The arena scenes especially were brilliant, and the editing was truly impressive. The setting was filled with realistic tropical scenery that fit the location perfectly. Director Francis Lawrence proved he was the right person to make this movie, as he left the audience wanting more.

Clearly it would be helpful and almost necessary to watch the original “Hunger Games” or read the book before seeing “Catching Fire,” but the series is so captivating and exciting that this would be an easy task. Anyone who is a fan should go see it if they haven’t already. And if you aren’t yet a fan, you soon will be. This isn’t a movie to miss out on.

Published on December 4, 2013 at 1:00 am

Contact Brittany: baruss01@syr.edu