I am so incredibly lucky that I was able to attend the Catching Fire fan camp and red carpet premiere in Los Angeles. You can read my recaps of Day One, Day Two and Day Three. I met so many awesome cast members, and fans, laughed my butt off, got NO sleep whatsoever, and made a ton of memories. But the best part of the whole experience was being able to see the movie early.

And now that the movie is out in TWO days (or tomorrow, if you’re seeing it at the night showings like me!), I want to share my review. As always, its completely spoiler free!

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire 

Rated:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some frightening images, thematic elements, a suggestive situation and language

Directed By:

Francis Lawrence

Cast:

Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Haralson, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone.

Find the rest on IMDB here.

IMDB Movie Synopsis:

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark become targets of the Capitol after their victory in the 74th Hunger Games sparks a rebellion in the Districts of Panem.

Worst synopsis ever. LOL.

We’re into the deeper world of The Hunger Games trilogy. Fresh from her time in the Games, Katniss Everdeen is under pressure. She’s deeply affected by the Games and the deaths she’s responsible for. She has created a buzz with her defiance of the Capitol, and now she has to pay for it, and convince the Districts that she is deeply in love with Peeta, and help to bring down the rebellion stirring in the Districts to keep her family safe. When that doesn’t work, she and Peeta are thrown back into the games, and this year’s Games are going to be much different.

My Review:

We’ve all come to expect that movies will never be as good as the book. This is true. Its hardly EVER that a movie is better than a book.

But I’ll tell you one thing: Catching Fire comes extremely close!

I was SO incredibly impressed with this movie. It is definitely a movie that is made for the fans. It was an emotional roller coaster from beginning to end. I was constantly crying. I was crying because of heartbreak. I was crying because I was laughing so hard. I was crying because there were just moments that were so beautiful, I couldn’t handle it. It was exciting and scary, even though I knew exactly what was going to happen, and there were several moments in the movie where I forgot to breathe normally or I’d gasp, very loudly.

This movie takes the very exciting, tense, emotional book and translates it on the big screen nearly perfectly. I’ve never seen a movie follow a book so well. There were things left out, of course, but those things made sense to leave out, in the grand scheme of things. They got all the important moments of the book, and there were so many direct quotes, you could almost quote alongside the movie, which I did a few times.

They captured so many of the moments that were important to ME, as a fan. I was looking back at the Top Ten Tuesday I did last week which was the top ten things from the Catching Fire book that I wanted in the Catching Fire movie, and they showed every single one. I was so excited about this. They really did such a great job of recognizing the important moments, and the little things they did add, like what’s going outside of the Games, and Snow’s granddaughter, really helped to enhance the story and build it up for Mockingjay Part 1.

I loved each and every tribute. The difference between the first movie and the second movie is that a lot of the tributes in this movie become incredibly important, especially in Mockingjay. We care about Finnick and Johanna and Mags and Wiress and Beetee. So their casting was incredibly important and I think each and every single one of them nailed it, perfectly. Sam Claflin was an amazing Finnick, and no body else in the world could have played Johanna except Jena Malone. They adapted these characters perfectly into the movie. I can’t emphasize enough how much it impressed me.

The actions scenes were amazing! Katniss was wicked with her bow, Finnick drove me insane with excitement when he fought with his trident. There was so much romance in this movie, and each and every kiss between Katniss and Peeta (and there’s enough to satisfy all the Katniss-Peeta shippers out there!) was beautiful and scorching hot. I had to fan myself sometimes.

OH! And the cliffhanger. The cliffhanger of Catching Fire the book is one of the craziest cliffhangers I’ve read in a book, and it is so gut wrenching and scary and emotional and they took that short ending and made it so incredibly beautiful and it left me breathing so hard and it made me so excited and impatient for Mockingjay.

Ooh, and look for the Mockingjay movie symbol at the end. Perfection!

Simply, this movie was made for the fans, and it was absolutely incredible. I think that even reluctant fans, or people who aren’t into the Hunger Games, could see this movie and love it. It was just that great. It had action and romance, and so many tense moments and it made you laugh and cry, and have a good time. And I definitely canNOT wait until Mockingjay Part 1 next year!

Rating:

I do NOT give this out lightly, especially for a movie adaptation. This is how good this movie is.

5 out of 5

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Don’t forget to check out my recaps of the events! You can also see ALL the pictures from my adventures on my official Facebook page here.

Check back later this week because I *might* have a giveaway coming your way! ;)

Happy Hunger Games and May the Odds be Ever In Your Favor!