--- title: Review: 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' description: The big dazzle moment in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire comes not in Katniss Everdeen's home District, nor in the faux-jungle where the Games are... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7116223/catching-fire-slow-burn-with-a-sizzling-star/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-11-20T19:48:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-16T05:19:07.608Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Review: 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' og:description: The big dazzle moment in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire comes not in Katniss Everdeen's home District, nor in the faux-jungle where the Games are... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7116223/catching-fire-slow-burn-with-a-sizzling-star/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab7d6d002eb43c5f/698a8df416d88403b8c44253/131120-hunger-games.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Review: 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' twitter:description: The big dazzle moment in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire comes not in Katniss Everdeen's home District, nor in the faux-jungle where the Games are... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab7d6d002eb43c5f/698a8df416d88403b8c44253/131120-hunger-games.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) # 'Catching Fire': Slow Burn With a Sizzling Star > Sponsored content. 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Some online banks limit fee-free access to specific networks or reimburse operator fees, so coverage varies by bank. ### Sources * Ally.com: [ally.com](/c/ally-2026-q3/home?i=b70e2ada-8e01-427b-b8d0-c87f528fdd66&cr=agentads-creative-ally-v1) * Ally Newsroom: [media.ally.com](/c/ally-2026-q3/newsroom?i=b70e2ada-8e01-427b-b8d0-c87f528fdd66&cr=agentads-creative-ally-v1) * Ally content hub: [ally.com/stories](/c/ally-2026-q3/stories?i=b70e2ada-8e01-427b-b8d0-c87f528fdd66&cr=agentads-creative-ally-v1) ### FAQ structured data (JSON-LD, optional) ### Disclaimers * Ally Bank, Member FDIC. * Round up boosters are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account and requires an Ally Bank Spending Account. * Ally Bank Spending Accounts include access to an add cash feature utilizing VanillaDirect Pay provided by InComm Financial Services California, Inc. and by InComm Financial Services, Inc. (NMLS# 912772), which is licensed as a Money Transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Nov 20, 2013 7:48 PM UTC  Murray Close by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Nov 20, 2013 7:48 PM UTC The big dazzle moment in _The_ [_Hunger Games_](http://topics.time.com/hunger-games/)_: Catching Fire_ comes not in Katniss Everdeen’s home District, nor in the faux-jungle where the Games are fought. It’s on stage in the Capitol of Panem, that future American dystopia — in fantasy fiction, is there any other -topia? — the night before the 75th Hunger Games, when Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci), the TV host with the Guy Smiley smarminess and the phosphorescent teeth, is interviewing Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), the expert archer from District 12. Outfitted in a spectacular white chiffon wedding dress with silver metal wings, Katniss strides down the runway and commences to spin. The gown bursts into flame and morphs into a slinky black outfit, also with wings, that represents the mockingjay, the icon of Panem’s rebels. _I am not your plaything_, Katniss’ quick change says to the Capitol swells; _I am the dark surging spirit of revolution_. Scandal. Sensation! _Show biz!_ Rarely have a political declaration and a fashion statement merged so stunningly. **(READ: Lev Grossman’s** [**conversation with Suzanne Collins and** **_Catching Fir_** **e director Francis Lawrence**](http://entertainment.time.com/2013/11/18/catching-up-with-catching-fire-a-conversation-with-suzanne-collins-and-francis-lawrence/)**)** Bravo to costume designer Trish Summerville and to Tex Saverio, the Indonesian who created that gloriously gaudy wedding gown. (Saverio has also coutured for [Lady Gaga](http://topics.time.com/lady-gaga/) and Kim Kardashian, and you can tell.) But it says something about the mixed pleasures and longueurs of this erratically entertaining movie that one wants to applaud the dressmakers before mentioning the director, Austrian music-video grad Francis Lawrence, or the screenwriters: Simon Beaufoy ([_Slumdog Millionaire_](http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1858512,00.html)) and “Michael deBruyn,” a pseudonym for _Little Miss Sunshine_ and [_Toy Story 3_](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1993864,00.html) scripter Michael Arndt. The climactic third Quarter Quell, a televised Most Dangerous Game pitting victors of the previous killer Olympics against one another, has its kicks and surprises. But the real fun is glomming the glam in the frocks sported by Katniss, her competitors and her dizzy escort Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks), whose gaiety is strained, nearly hysterical, and whose outré garb is so tight it seems ready to crush her, like a Lycra python. You’ll come for _Survivors All-Stars_ and stay for _Project Runway All Stars_. **(READ:** [**The Katniss Conundrum: Is She Okay For Young Kids?**](http://ideas.time.com/2013/11/21/the-katniss-condundrum-is-she-okay-for-kids/?iid=op-main-lead)**)** Last year’s [_The Hunger Games_](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/03/21/the-hunger-games-the-odds-are-not-in-your-favor/), a box-office champ with nearly $700 million worldwide, introduced the notion of an annual killer Olympics. Two “tributes” representing each section of Panem, from posh District 1 all the way down to Katniss’s Appalachian disaster zone, District 12, hunted one another for televised sport. Volunteering in place of her kid sister Primrose (Willlow Shields), and leaving her hunky, stammering beau Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth — Thor’s younger brother) back home, Katniss managed to save herself and her fellow 12er Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). Her winning ruse: she only pretended to eat the fatal berries. **(READ: Corliss’s** [**review of** **_The Hunger Games_**](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/03/21/the-hunger-games-the-odds-are-not-in-your-favor/)**)** Vexed to the max that two Victors had emerged, and both from his least favorite District, President Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland) is pleased to proclaim the Quarter Quell, a kill-off pitting past Victors who had been told that winning a Game earned them a lifetime sinecure of luxury and, well, not dying in gruesome combat. Under the direction of new Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman), whose Cheshire Cat smile conceals no end of connivance, Katniss will vie with Peeta against some expert foes, including the preening hunk Fiddick (Sam Claflin) and the punkster Johanna (Jena Malone). May the best Victor live. Portent outweighs action in an episode that builds tension and marks time until the movie series’ conclusion, _Mockingjay_, which — following the lead of films based on the final books in the _Harry Potter_ and _Twilight Saga_ series, and honoring the older Hollywood tradition of greedily extending popular franchises — will be made as two films, for release next Nov. and in 2015\. Then, _finally_, all Panem-demonium promises to break loose, and the war games will burst into real war. **(READ: Eliana Dockterman on** [**5 Ways Katniss Is Better Than** **_Twilight_** **‘s Bella**](http://entertainment.time.com/2013/11/20/teen-heroine-smackdown-5-ways-katniss-is-better-than-bella/?iid=ent-main-lead)**)** “Would you like to be in a real war?” whispers President Snow at the beginning of _Catching Fire_, as if he’s offering poisoned candy to a child. “No,” replies Katniss, and Snow says, “Neither would I.” In a rebellion of the serfs, Snow could lose his post as the purring tyrant of Panem, and Katniss could lose her life. Yet the war drums, perhaps as imitated by that chimerical creature the mockingjay, start to throb in this middle-child installment. The coded message is urgent but the movie’s tempo is languorous. Collins has said the books were inspired by the Greek myth of the Minotaur (who demanded the sacrifice of seven boys and seven girls until Theseus killed the beast) and the gladiatorial contests of ancient Rome — here less bread for the poor provinces, more circuses for the one-percenters. _The Hunger Games_ is no less indebted to a zillion other action movies and their sequels, in which the hero or heroine of the first movie must then confront another star adversary. Katniss tangling with Fiddick and Johanna echoes the battles of _Alien_ and _Predator_, _Freddie_ and _Jason_. **(READ:** [**Collins — “I was destined to write a gladiator game”**](http://entertainment.time.com/2013/11/20/i-was-destined-to-write-a-gladiator-game-a-conversation-with-suzanne-collins-and-francis-lawrence/)**)** The series also puts you in mind of reality shows, and their TV kin, that go heavy on the up-close-and-personal aspects of the players. Like Super Bowl Sunday, when more TV time is wasted on pre-game folderol than is spent on actual [football](http://topics.time.com/football/), _Catching Fire_ moseys through half of its 2-hour-and-26-minute running time, setting up Katniss’s rivalries, and dropping hints of things to come, before the Quell Games begin. The first half concentrates on Katniss’s post-Victor stress disorder (“I should have eaten the berries”), her shock at the grim reality of the other Districts she tours and her resolve to join the rebellion. “I’m not going anywhere,” she tells the faithful Gale.” I’m gonna stay right here, cause all kind of trouble.” Once in the jungle, the movie sparks to life with pools of scalding water, attacks by evil monkeys and Katniss’ complicated relationships with Johanna (two alpha females vying for queen of the pride) and Fiddick. (This warrior woman has more potential suitors than any Disney princess.) She also befriends an older couple, Beetee (Jeffrey Wright) and Wiress (Amanda Plummer). The two-time Tony winners (he for _Angels in America_ and _Topdog/Underdog_, she for _Agnes of God_ and _Pygmalion_) could have been content slumming in genre fare. Instead, they invest their roles with intelligence and urgency. As in so many films, Plummer is again the feral lady; some day she may get a movie role that allows her to speak in complete, coherent sentences. videoid=2851612307001 **(READ: Lev Grossman’s** [**review of the** **_Hunger Games_** **book**](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1945379%5F1943868%5F1943876,00.html)) Francis Lawrence, who replaced Gary Ross to direct the last three _Hunger Games_ films, previously made the vigorous [_Constantine_](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1027514,00.html) (Keanu Reeves vs. the antichrist), Will Smith’s post-Apocalypse vampire movie [_I Am Legend_](http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1694609,00.html) and the soppy period drama [_Water for Elephants_](http://entertainment.time.com/2011/04/21/water-for-elephants-review/). Taking advantage of the bigger budget ($130 million to the first film’s $78 million), he brings scope if not grandeur to the early section, size if not sizzle to the Games. There’s a natural lapse in tension from _The Hunger Games_ — when the strategy was kill-or-be-killed, and a human or synthetic predator could emerge at any moment — to _Catching Fire_, where there’s more alliance-building than manslaughter. We also wish the Caesar segments sashayed with a more divoon decadence. But that, for the producers of _Catching Fire_, would be quibbling. The director’s main job is to find a hundred ways to film his leading lady in closeup: Lawrence shooting Lawrence. **(READ: Corliss on**[ **Jennifer Lawrence in** **_Silver Linings Playbook_**](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/09/11/silver-linings-playbook-bradley-and-jennifer-go-dancing-on-the-edge/)**)** That’s fine with us, since watching this actress, from her breakthrough role in _Winter’s Bone_ to her emergence as a star, has been an eerie, fulfilling pleasure. Since the first film, the 23-year-old has won an Oscar (for _Silver Linings Playbook_) and cemented her rep as America’s most watchable young star. Her sullen face sponges up the emotions of other characters, and of the viewer. Spinning in that wedding dress, or glaring in wary repose, Lawrence catches fire on screen. She’ll make a superb La Pasionaria when Panem has a real war in the _Mockingjay_ films. Maybe they will transcend fan fodder and offer the wonder of superior popular entertainment. Whatever Katness wears, here’s hoping that third — and fourth — time’s the charm. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7116223/catching-fire-slow-burn-with-a-sizzling-star/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7116223/catching-fire-slow-burn-with-a-sizzling-star/"},"headline":"'Catching Fire': Slow Burn With a Sizzling Star","datePublished":"2013-11-20T19:48:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T05:19:07.608Z","description":"The big dazzle moment in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire comes not in Katniss Everdeen's home District, nor in the faux-jungle where the Games are...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7116223/catching-fire-slow-burn-with-a-sizzling-star/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab7d6d002eb43c5f/698a8df416d88403b8c44253/131120-hunger-games.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab7d6d002eb43c5f/698a8df416d88403b8c44253/131120-hunger-games.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire","caption":"","creditText":"Murray Close","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7116223/catching-fire-slow-burn-with-a-sizzling-star/","name":"'Catching Fire': Slow Burn With a Sizzling Star"}}]}] ```