The Hunger Games: Catching Fire 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review
Kristy Sturdivant
November 2nd, 2016
When it was announced way back in 2011 that THE HUNGER GAMES trilogy was going to be made into a movie, I was pretty excited. I was one in many eagerly waiting to see Katiniss Everdeen’s story portrayed on the big screen. Maybe it was the hype or the influx of Young Adult adaptations, but I was underwhelmed with the first film in The Hunger Games series. So last year when THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE was making its rounds in the theater, I was only slightly looking forward to catching it on Blu-ray. Lucky for me, the second film more than out shown my low expectations.
In THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE we meet back up with Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) as they are preparing for their victory tour after their scandalous win at the 74th Hunger Games. Little do they know that their win has been causing problems in Panem, so President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and new Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) are cooking up a little plan to put out the fire that has erupted in Katniss’ wake, which, of course, involves the 75th Hunger Games. Not only is Katniss about to be sucked into another Hunger Games, but there’s an increasingly persistent spotlight on her love life. She’s publicly committed to Peeta, but secretly has feelings for Gale (Liam Hemsworth).
If there is one thing that stood out in this second film, it was the acting. The audience was already familiar with the characters so there wasn’t any set up taking place, but even with that, the actors felt more comfortable with the parts they were playing. Josh Hutcherson and Woody Harrelson did a fine job, but really Jennifer Lawrence, Elizabeth Banks and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman were the ones that stood out. Lawrence and Hoffman are obviously fantastic actors, but I was surprised at how Elizabeth Banks brought some depth to Effie Trinket, who is a decent character but not one that stood out in my mind in the books. Banks somehow made her way more likeable than was ever expected. There are a lot of things that separate The Hunger Games from other failed YA adaptations, but the talented cast might be the most important.
The pacing was also much improved in THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE. Considering how much ground there was to cover, director Francis Lawrence did a pretty good job keeping the story moving with very few lulls. There were a lot of details left out of the film from the book (which is to be expected), but nothing so noticeable that fans would be overly disappointed. It’ll be interesting to see how he handles the final installment (which as I’m sure you know is being broken into two films) of the trilogy.
THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE ended up being my favorite film in this series, even though the first book was my favorite in the trilogy. If you have read the books then you know how dark things get in Panem in THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1 and PART 2 which I was interested to see play out onscreen, but at the same time I was dreading it because they made us wait a year to wrap everything up. Splitting the third book into two films seems like another money-grab from Lionsgate, but it seems to be the norm in book series adaptations.
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: A lot of the same issues we had with THE HUNGER GAMES 4K Ultra HD (click the link to read the review) I have with Catching Fire. The scenes outside, or even in the training room, are crystal clear and the 4K upgrade really shines. But the scenes in The Capitol (which also have the most CGI) are saturated and almost blurry at times. However, I do think there’s a little bit of an upgrade over the previous film, I’m not sure if that’s because there’s a new director or because it’s a slightly newer film.
Audio: Once again, the Dolby Atmos track is a nice upgrade and sounds wonderful.
There are no 4K exclusive features included on the 4K disc, but it does include a copy of the Blu-ray and you can read our review by clicking THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE BLU-RAY REVIEW.
Click the links below to read our 4K reviews of the other films in the Hunger Games series:
THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 1 4K Ultra HD
THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 2 4K Ultra HD
Click 4K Ultra HD to read more of our 4K reviews. And you can also follow us on Instagram (@flix66pics) to see previews of our upcoming 4K reviews and more pics of the packaging.
