"Nobody ever wins the Games."
Hello everyone!
Well, exciting in the sense that this is one mission accomplished at least, if nothing else.
The one thing that usually bugs me to no end is when I have to sort of hit pause midway through, but I didn't even realize that I only had the last two movies for this one.
In any event, we are now headed into the sequel of last week's blog choice.
As you may have noticed, I've fallen into the dystopian future reading hole at the moment, as I'm also debating maybe reading Divergent again at some point or other, but for the most part I wanted to see whether or not I would still dislike this trilogy as much as I did back then.
Turns out I don't. I actually really like it.
That doesn't mean Catching Fire is the best movie ever, but it IS good!
Now as we all know, Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) has won the Hunger Games with Peeta Mellark (Hutcherson), both of them making it out alive where usually only the one would be crowned victor, but she managed to trick the Gamemaker with poison berries.
She's now almost ready to start on the Victory Tour, during which they will visit the other Districts before loping back home.
But she's unhappy about it, and so is Gale (Hemsworth), who is ALSO unhappy about the whole love affair with Peeta thing, as I've correctly spotted in the first movie; newsflash for you, you selfish jackass, if she HADN'T done any of that, she'd be dead, so get your head out of your own ass for two seconds and recognize she doesn't automatically belong to you.
Anyway, Katniss is visited by President Snow, who informs her that her little defiant moment in the arena has apparently sparked the seeds of a rebellion across Panem, and she needs to help him calm the nation down. Above all else, she has to convince him of her undying love for Peeta - or else everyone she loves is dead, Gale included.
Because, what do you know, their kiss earlier (the one Gale just 'had to do at least once') was caught on a hidden camera.
So off they go on the train, and Peeta tentatively suggest they could maybe be friends, if not more, because he can't continue on playacting for the camera and then ignoring each other once they're off. Katniss agrees, somewhat reluctantly, but also somewhat relieved (I'm convinced she just can't stay away from Peeta, to be honest).
Things go immediately wrong in District 11 where they veer away from the cards Effie gives them to read; Peeta makes a promise he can't keep, and Katniss is just being her usual self, but an old man whistles Rue's melody from the first arena, for which he's shot dead.
Peeta is furious at Katniss for not telling him about Snow's visit, and Haymitch (Harrelson) drills something else into her head: this thing they're on, this train? It doesn't end. Because she and Peeta are victors, they've now become mentors, so every year from this moment on, their love story will be paraded out in front of Panem. There is no going back.
So they try everything they can to placate the crowd, including having Peeta get down on one knee and propose to Katniss in the Capitol, but it doesn't help, as evidenced by the Presidential banquet, where Snow indicates to Katniss she hasn't really done anything much (we also get to see that something's clearly wrong with him, as the colour of his drink changes when he takes a sip, indicating there might be some blood in his mouth).
In fact, things go from bad to worse as the Capitol plans this wedding, but Katniss returns home to District 12, urging Gale that they should run away, but he refuses after hearing about the rebellion, all jazzed up that they're going to fight - then the new contingent of Peacekeepers arrives.
Immediately, 12 goes under military regime and Gale finds himself at the whipping post for insubordination, just barely rescued by Katniss, Haymitch and Peeta combined, which further enrages Snow, but the new Gamemaker Plutarch placates him with an idea of his.
This idea turns out to be that, for the 75th Hunger Games, the third Quarter Quell, the tributes will be picked from the remaining pool of victors.
This means Katniss is going back into the arena, something she normally wouldn't have had to ever do again; shocked, shaken and out of her mind, she begs Haymitch to help her save Peeta, to which Haymitch tells her Peeta has already been to see him, trying to get him to save Katniss. He also throws in her face that she could live a hundred lives and never deserve the boy, which I agree with. Peeta's innate goodness is basically too good for the world at this point.
Even Effie is shocked, as is very clear once she arrives to pick the tributes; I can't decide whether she's relieved or incredibly sad when she pulls Haymitch's name out of the bowl, but Peeta volunteers, and the two tributes are sent off with the farewell salute, started, rather touchingly, first by Katniss's mother, followed by her sister Prim and Gale, and then the rest of them until they, too, lift their arms in farewell.
This time around, things are different because the other victors have known each other for years - and all of them are bona fide killers, so Katniss and Peeta are immediately at a disadvantage, which is why Haymitch wants them to pick allies for this round of the arena.
On the other hand, Cinna (Kravitz) wants them to be disdainful and aloof during the presentation while they burn on fire, which I think they accomplish pretty well, to be honest.
After a round of training, Katniss wants the tributes from District 3 and the old woman from 4, whereas in contrast everyone and their mother wants HER for an ally after seeing her shoot (it's a funny scene given that she starts off pretty much alone, and by the end all the tributes are pressed up to the glass, gawking), something she disdains in her usual, annoying way.
The real kicker comes during the final interviews, when it becomes clear the other victors turned tributes are incredibly angry and stoking the audience at the Capitol, which only culminates when Katniss shows up in a wedding dress Snow orders her to wear - but Cinna modifies so that it turns into a Mockingjay costume before their very eyes.
Peeta cinches it, saying they secretly got married, and that Katniss is pregnant.
It doesn't help, but it IS a stroke of genius to garner more sympathy from the viewers, not that it really does anything; the arena is where they're off to, and for his disobedience, Cinna is taken down right before Katniss's eyes as she's about to head up into the arena. So she's incredibly angry right at the start, going straight for the bow at the Cornucopia, and there running into Finnick Odair (Claflin).
Finnick shows her the golden wrist bangle Effie had made for Haymitch, indicating they're allies, and together with the old woman and Peeta, they head into the jungle, where they immediately get in trouble after Peeta hacks into the force field surrounding the arena, causing the electrical shock to stop his heart.
Dun, dun, dun!
But don't worry, Finnick revives him, and then they get attacked by poison gas or mist or something, which Mags will never be able to outrun so she eventually walks straight into it to give the rest of them a chance to reach the water. They do, heal their poisonous sores, and then notice there are some weird, big ass monkeys watching them (they look like the ones that bathe in the hot springs in winter up in the Himalayas or somewhere there).
Naturally, the monkeys attack, herding them back to the narrow strip of beach, where they regroup with Johanna, a tribute from District 7, and the two from 3, who have apparently all allied and were searching for them, running into a section of the arena where blood rains down onto tributes. Ew.
By this point, Katniss has noticed something odd: each one of the tributes appears to be somehow protecting Peeta for some reason. This becomes very clear during a battle at the Cornucopia, where audience gets to actually sees this as Finnick bodily grabs him to hold him back, ensuring he doesn't get right into the thick of things and standing guard over the kid (this doesn't help him later running after Katniss to the jabberjays, sadly).
With only two more Career tributes left, Beetee unveils his plans: they've now figured out the arena is a clock that periodically gets struck by lightning, so they'll head to the lightning tree and try to electrocute the beach and the water, to kill the other two. After that, who the heck knows, but that's the plan.
Peeta and Katniss, meanwhile, are making their own plans, where Peeta shows her that the golden pendant he had Effie make contains pictures of the people Katniss cares about most: her mother, her sister and Gale, saying if he makes it out alive, there's no one who really needs him (indicating that his family is basically the worst family ever), while meanwhile Katniss has people to live for.
She counters him immediately, saying SHE needs him, she really does (made more obvious after he gifts her a pearl earlier on in the movie), and they share a sweet kiss before the plan has to be set in motion. And since they agreed to take off on their own after this lightning business, all's well ... until they get split up.
Peeta remains at the tree with Finnick and Beetee, which arguably gives them a disadvantage as only Finnick is an actual killer and fighter, but they send Johanna and Katniss away with the wire, to unspool it, and thus lose two really great fighters to be honest.
Not that it lasts long as, when the wire snaps (is snapped), Johanna wallops Katniss, cuts into her arm, and tells her to stay down while she lures the other two Careers away. Katniss, disoriented, returns to the tree, hiding from a frantic Finnick who's searching for the two of them, having clocked into that something went wrong.
The tree is in sights when Beetee gets zapped by the force field, and Katniss nearly shoots Finnick (the president would DEARLY love for her to do it, we get glimpses of him throughout and it's delightful, especially his annoyance and his interactions with his granddaughter). He finds her in the foliage and holds his hands up, defenseless, urging her to remember who the actual enemy is. Like a lot of other things, this makes no sense, but then she looks up and sees the tell-tale ripple indicating the force field's weak spot, and wraps the wire from the tree around her arrow.
Finnick tries to get her the hell away, but as lightning strikes, she shoots the arrow INTO THE SKY, which causes the arena's dome to explode, effectively halting the games then and there. She's airlifted out, thinking she's dead, only to wake up on a hovercraft with Beetee, and finding Haymitch, Finnick and PLUTARCH of all people huddled around the table.
This is when they finally explain to her that they're all part of the rebellion; that the plan was always to get her out, and get her to District 13 which is where they're going now; but that it was too risky to tell her, even though half the tributes were in on it, because one she can't lie, and two Snow (Sutherland) was always watching her.
Katniss is fine with all of this, until she asks about Peeta, and they have to tell her he was taken back to the Capitol, which sends her in a frenzy and she attacks Haymitch, because he had sworn he'd get Peeta out, no matter what happened to her.
Sedated, she only wakes up later with Gale sitting on her bed, and he assures her that her mother and sister are alright - but that in retaliation for her actions, Snow, sent in bombs. There is no more District 12, essentially.
Katniss struggles to hold back tears, but then turns quietly furious as the final shot reveals her Mockingjay pin, turning into the bird on the wheel, and finally breaking free, indicating the transformation that's about to begin for her once she reaches the rebels.
CLIFFHANGER ENDING!
I'll admit, the movies really keep on killing it. The book sometimes lacks the fire because we see everything solely from Katniss's perspective, and she's a bit depressing to read, but the movie shows us other people and their actions often enough, giving us a glimpse into Snow, Plutarch, and the rest of them, and allowing us to see just what kind of machinating game is happening behind these titular Hunger Games.
It's telling that no one trusts Katniss enough to share plans with her, since they all recognize she's a wild card who'll never follow orders or rules of any kind but do what she thinks best in that moment, with no thought for consequences or the future afterwards.
It's also telling how everybody comes to genuinely like Peeta, whose goodness makes him stand out among everyone else - and his way with words! It's definitely his idea to throw in secret marriage and baby, not Haymitch's, and you'd think he'd make a formidable mentor if he'd been given the chance at some point.
But it's also really nice to see that Effie is obviously on their side, as are so many of the others, risking their own lives against Snow's cruelty to try and break this wheel they're on. As always, the visuals and colours are absolutely stunning, the costumes are on point, and if you're watching these movies I bet you can't wait to head right into the first part of Mockingjay, to see what Katniss does in retaliation for this particular situation.
Because you know she's not going to rest until she gets Peeta. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. Peeta has become her lifeline (one more reason for stupid Gale to be jealous about) and she cares about him, so he's going to be her priority, without a doubt.
But there's a whole lot more at stake here, and we'll see just what it is when we review Mockingjay (the book) this Thursday!
I hope to see you there. And remember - may the odds be ever in your favour.
xx
*images and video not mine
No comments:
Post a Comment